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The buzzing tremor coming from Oikawa’s desk pulled him from his wandering thoughts on the days earlier ordeals. He stared absently ahead of him for a moment longer before taking a breath and finally shoving himself away from the comfort of his bed. He knew from the ringtone that it was Iwaizumi, and he could already guess what his friend wanted to talk to him about.

Oikawa reached for the phone and leaned against his desk for support as he answered.

“Hi, Iwa-chan~” he casually greeted, playing with his fringe that was still dripping from the bath he had just taken.

“Hey,” the rough voice came in response. Oikawa thought he could hear the faint sound of a television in the background and imagined his friend sitting in the familiar living room that he had practically grown up in himself.

“So, what’s up?” Oikawa hummed. “Did you call to see how studying went? Or to interrogate me on whether I was mean to (y/n)-chan after you guys left?”

“I’m not really worried about you being an ass to her anymore,” Iwaizumi snorted. “At least, not in the same way you were before.”

Oikawa paused at this. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you tell me that?” he countered. When no response came, the ace continued. “You were acting weird today with Yahaba. That sort of annoying way you act when things don’t go your way.”

“Annoying?” Oikawa huffed before slumping onto the chair beside him. He crossed his arms onto the surface of his desk, rhythmically tapping his fingers onto the wood. “I just got irritated at him correcting me. I mean, it is pretty frustrating to be corrected by an underclassmen.”

“I don’t think that’s what bothered you,” Iwaizumi suggested, leaving Oikawa’s drumming fingers frozen in place. An irritable frown then grew upon the setter’s lips. He didn't like how Iwaizumi kept moving around the point. He was usually direct with everything.

“If you think you know something, just come out and say it,” Oikawa impatiently demanded.

An exasperated huff sounded through the phone in response. “Fine, you were jealous.”

Oikawa audibly scoffed at this, disbelief thick in his tone. “Jealous of Yahaba-kun?”

“Jealous of the attention (y/n)-san gave him,” Iwaizumi proposed. “But how should I know the details? You were the jealous one.”

Oikawa’s brows furrowed together. “I mean…I didn’t really like the idea of either of them flirting with each other at first, but I don’t really care anymore. It’s none of my business anyway.”

“How mature of you,” a sarcastic drone whirred through the phone. “Like I told you before, you’re just too used to constantly being fawned over by girls, and (y/n)-san has always treated you like the idiot you are,”—Oikawa frowned at this—“so when her attention was on Yahaba, it annoyed you.”

“Do you really think I’m that simple minded?”

“Is that a serious question?” Iwaizumi bluntly asked.

Oikawa snorted and then shrugged to himself. “Well, I guess it sort of makes sense. (Y/n)-chan is hard to impress, after all. She shouldn’t throw out her praise so carelessly,” he huffed.

“You’re seriously such a kid sometimes,” Iwaizumi grunted, and Oikawa could imagine the eye-roll that most likely accompanied his friend’s statement. “Anyway,” the ace started again, “don’t be an ass tomorrow during the practice match, especially since we’ll probably be against Yahaba. I know how you can get all riled up.”

A devious smirk formed on the setter’s face at the reminder.

“I’ll treat him like I would any opponent,” Oikawa innocently retorted. “I respect my adorable protégé after all,” he cunningly mused, a full blown grin now spread upon his face.

There was a short pause on the other side of the line and then the sound of an audible sigh. “You have a really annoying smile on your face right now, don’t you?”

“Are you psychic, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa jokingly inquired.

“Don’t have to be psychic to know what a shitty personality you have,” his friend simply responded, leaving the brunette mockingly pouting at the statement.

The setter then absently moved his hand across his desk, hitting one of his textbooks that had become overly familiar to him over the last couple of days. The item brought his thoughts back to his stubborn tutor, and he found himself thinking back to the scenarios from earlier.

A long silence stretched between the captain and wing-spiker, the only noises being the slight hum from Oikawa's phone and the quiet droning of Iwaizumi’s television.

Oikawa stared thoughtfully ahead of him before resting his head onto his arm and casually gazing at the glaring book ahead of him.

“Iwa-chan?” he questioningly called, receiving an answering grunt in return. He paused again before finally asking, “What do you think of (y/n)-chan?”

There was silence and then the sound of the phone shifting. “She’s nice?” the ace finally answered with a questioning tone, as if unsure of what sort of response Oikawa expected.

“I guess I’m just confused,” Oikawa finally admitted. “I practically hated her a day ago, and today I felt bummed that our study session ended so soon.”

“Probably because you never actually hated her,” Iwaizumi responded a-matter-of-factly, and Oikawa found his head tilting in confusion. “You never really knew her before, but now you’re getting an idea of how she actually is. You just assumed what she was like before and hated the idea you had in your head.”

“But…” Oikawa started to speak, but his voice faded uncertainly.

Oikawa wasn’t sure what to say, because his friend was right. He had assumed a lot about his tutor, and then he found out today that she really wasn’t bad company. Sure, she could be a bit irritating sometimes—and she could definitely put him in difficult situations. Like how she had so openly disliked him at first, as she obviously displayed in her note to him. And, just today, she had casually labeled him as the type of person he hated himself.

But—even so—he didn’t hate her. She was annoying, but she was charming as well…in her own way.

“So am I right?” Iwaizumi’s voice broke through.

Oikawa grimaced before childishly grumbling, “She really can be irritating, though...”

“And so can you,” Iwaizumi immediately retorted. “Maybe she’s more like you than you think.”

Oikawa scowled at this. “That’s like comparing me to Tobio.”

A snort sounded through the line. “She’s nothing like Kageyama. He’s really oblivious compared to her—and a lot people, for that matter. I’m almost positive if we x-rayed his head, we’d find that he had a volleyball for a brain.”

“That would explain a lot,” Oikawa laughed, leaning back into his chair with a gleeful grin plastered on his face. Nothing quite cheered him up like trash-talking the genius setter.

"So, is everything good with you now?" the ace curiously inquired.

"More or less," Oikawa joked. "But don't worry, Iwa-chan, I'm fine! You know, you'll make such a great mother someday~" he cooed.

"Don't gross me out," Iwaizumi blatantly stated.

Oikawa chuckled to himself in response, then pushed away from his desk and stood up with a stretch. “Well, it’s late so I’m going to head to bed now,” he finally spoke. “Talk to you later, Iwa-chan~”

“Alright,” Iwaizumi’s voice casually called out, “See you tomorrow.”

Oikawa quipped another quick farewell before hanging up and setting his phone back onto his desk. He began to move towards his bed, but then paused and stared back at his phone.

Silence fell over him in the brief moment of consideration and, before he knew it, the device was back in his hand. He stared at the glowing screen before him and observed the newly added contact information from earlier.

If he was being honest with himself, he was feeling curious. The type of curiosity that kind of made him want to text (y/n) at the moment. Simply out of curiosity, of course.

Would she text back if he were to message her? And what would her text look like if she did reply? Would she use emoticons, like his own, or be more to-the-point, like Iwaizumi’s? Was it too late to even consider texting her? What else could she even be doing now? Oikawa couldn’t imagine her doing anything but studying. That’s all he knew of her, after all. That, and the fact that she was bad at making friends...Also, she really liked burgers.

Oikawa found himself wondering what sort of interests she even had besides the few he knew. What did she like to do in her free time? Did she have her own passion like he had volleyball? Did she even like volleyball?

He also had a weird, unsettling feeling that nagged at the thought that he’d ever find out any of the answers to those questions. What if she simply remained this annoying mystery that she was now? Simply his study-addict, burger-loving tutor? Is that all he would ever come to know?

For whatever reason, the mere thought of that being true bothered the hell out of him. And for that same unconscious reason, Oikawa soon found his fingers pounding away at the buttons on his phone.

It was simple and innocent enough. It wouldn’t even mean anything if he didn’t get a reply back, because it was that casual. But none of that really mattered anyways, because all Oikawa knew was that sending the message would be enough to satisfy whatever it was in him that needed the satisfying.

[to: (y/n), 10:48 PM]
Goodnight (y/n)-chan~ ^^

He sent the message and waited for the confirmation that notified him that it got through before moving to set his phone back down on his desk. The sudden vibration from it had him jumping in surprise, and he fought to catch his pone before it fell—swiftly pushing the device back in front of him and eagerly staring at the reply.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]
Goodnight.

He paused with an assessing gaze before an amused grin graced over him. So she was a blunt texter. He wasn’t sure what else he expected. She probably wasn’t used to texting anyone but her family, after all.

A second vibration shook the palm of his hand, bringing his attention back to the device yet again.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]
(-^o^-) zzzz…

Oikawa snorted at the sight. Was that supposed to be a sleeping face? Seriously, why was it so happy looking then? She really was an amateur when it came to texting…

He continued to stare at the messages, a budding giddiness filling him and soon resulting in another laugh to escape his lips.

“How cute…” he unexpectedly chuckled to himself before abruptly freezing.

Cute…? He hadn’t meant that. Well, the messages were funny, but…

He switched his phone off and left it on his desk before swiftly moving back to his bed.

He seriously just needed sleep. Today had been a weird day for him, but there was nothing a goodnight's sleep could fix. At least…he’d find out if that were true in the morning.

The setter tossed around in his bed for a minute before settling onto his side, staring absently at the dark of his wall and waiting for his weariness to consume him and hoping it happened before his own festering thoughts did…

. . .

“Free ball!”

The thuds of connecting receives echoed throughout Seijou’s gymnasium, and a pair of looming brown eyes moved from following the flying sphere to glancing back at the entrance.

“Toss it to me!” Iwaizumi roared from the side.

Oikawa’s gaze flickered back to the air and he clumsily sent the ball flying over to the team’s ace. There was a second of silence before the thunderous clap of the ball hitting the ground filled the room, followed by calls of encouragement and cheer.

“Nice Kill, Iwaizumi-san!” several teammates bellowed.

But the enthusiasm was short lived, for the burly wing-spiker was soon approaching the captain with a blatant look of annoyance etched on his face.

“Seriously, what’s with you?” he accusingly asked. “You’ve been out of it all practice!”

The teammates exchanged looks with one another as Oikawa’s own face fell in exaggerated astonishment.

“It was just a mistake, Iwa-chan!” he hurriedly excused himself. “What are you getting so mad about? We scored, didn’t we?”

“That’s not the point,” the ace irritably grunted with an added roll of his eyes. “There’s no point of playing if you’re going to be half-assed about it.”

Oikawa huffed at this and Watari approached the two warily.

“Let’s just calm down. It’s just a practice match, after all,” he sheepishly spoke with his hands raised out before him.

Both third-years sharply turned to the second-year libero with piercing stares that caused him to jump in surprise. Hanamaki crossed the net and approached his teammates with a questioning look, allowing Watari to awkwardly make his escape.

“Why are you so distracted anyway?” Hanamaki loudly asked Oikawa, the rest of his scrimmage team following behind him from the opposite side of the net.

“Who’s distracted?” Oikawa defensively responded.

The sudden loud clang of the gymnasium’s door opening soon had Oikawa’s head hastily turning to the source with expectant eyes. As he watched both coaches enter into the building, blatant displeasure soon replaced his previous anticipation. The wing-spiker’s own eyes lit up with realization as he watched the scene play out.

“You’re looking for teacher-chan!” Hanamaki suddenly exclaimed.

Oikawa’s head immediately snapped back towards the light-haired third-year. “I’m not looking for anyone!” he barked, a haggard sigh soon escaping the ace beside him.

“So that’s what this is about?” Iwaizumi groaned.

Hanamaki shook his head with an amused grin on his face while Matsukawa simply snorted with amusement. Oikawa scowled at the group of third-years, crossing his arms defiantly with an irritated grimace strewn on his lips.

“You guys are so full of shit,” he angrily huffed.

“What are you guys doing?” Coach Mizoguchi demanded as he and the head coach approached the loitering team. “You’re supposed to be having a practice match, not standing around gossiping like old women.”

“We were, but then someone here got a little distracted,” Matsukawa spoke with teasing eyes aimed at the sulking captain.

“For the last time, I wasn’t,” Oikawa stated with clear finality. Though, he admittedly was a little preoccupied looking out for (y/n), he didn’t want to admit that in front of the coaches (or the rest of his team for that matter). “I just thought a…friend…of mine was going to show up to practice today, is all,” he stumbled out.

He was used to referring to (y/n) as his tutor, but it would be a bit weird to say that he invited his tutor to watch practice, wouldn’t it? And she was a friend…Or at the very least an acquaintance.

The coach simply sighed and dismissed them all to do individual practice. Oikawa turned away and felt the familiar frown return to his face as he made his way to the volleyball basket.

It wasn’t outlandish for him to have been expecting her when she had told him that she was coming, was it? If she decided that she didn’t want to come, she could have at least sent him a text or something. It made sense for him to feel annoyed and upset, right? Right...

Because Oikawa didn’t know what he was expecting, anyway. (Y/n) was probably not interested in volleyball at all. And it’s not like she didn’t have her own things to do. He was stupid for thinking that all she ever did was study. She had her own life too, and she probably didn’t want to spend any more of it with him than she was already being forced to. The same should go for him as well.

Plus...what Iwaizumi had told him before was probably also true. Oikawa could admit to himself that the female attention he got sometimes got to his head. He was just a guy, after all. Having been so busy recently—between having practice and getting tutored—he really didn’t have any free time to do anything else. So maybe Oikawa was simply craving that attention again, and he was unconsciously expecting it from (y/n).

Yeah...that makes sense, the brunette knowingly nodded to himself.

Now that he realized this, he didn’t need (y/n) to fill that 'role' for him anymore. He could figure out other ways—he had before. So he shouldn’t let the girl get under his skin. She was simply helping him pass an exam, after all.

Oikawa forced a smug smile on his face as he grabbed onto a ball in front of him. He was glad to have had all that finally figured out.

“Hey, pass me one.”

The setter turned to face the team’s ace who was sending him a suspicious stare.

“What’s with that smile?” Iwaizumi pointedly asked through narrowed eyes. “It kinda pisses me off.”

Oikawa simply pushed a ball into his friend’s grasp with a knowing chuckle escaping his lips. “I just figured out what’s been bothering me, is all" he smugly started. "Iwa-chan…I wish I was as unlucky with girls as you. Maybe I wouldn’t be in this predicament if I—OW!” The setter glumly rubbed at his aching gut while Iwaizumi held his fist up, clenched and prepared to attack again.

“What are you going on about this time, anyway?” the ace casually asked Oikawa, as if he hadn’t just sucker punched him. He then moved to grab another ball and threw it over to Hanamaki before sending the captain an expectant look. “Is this about (y/n)-san?”

“Sort of, but not really,” Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly. The wing-spiker raised a questioning brow at him.

“I’m deprived!” Oikawa finally let out, as if it should have been obvious. “(Y/n)-chan is the only person I’ve been spending time with lately besides you guys, and a man needs some female attention in his life! I mean, she’s a girl, but she’s (y/n)-chan, so it’s sort of like trying to satisfy your appetite by drinking water—But I can’t live off of just water, Iwa-chan! I need food! Meat! Rice! Vegetables! A full course meal, not an appetizer! Do you understand?” he finished with a huff, turning towards the ace who simply stared blankly back at him.

“You really are an idiot, huh?” Iwaizumi bluntly responded.

Oikawa simply sighed and shook his head with pity. “You wouldn’t understand. Poor lonely, Iwa-chan—” He jumped to avoid the volleyball that was hurled at him and stuck his tongue out teasingly at the scowling ace.

As Oikawa turned to pick the ball up, he noticed the second-year setter had beat him to it. The boy held it out for Oikawa to grab while eyeing the captain expectantly.

“So (y/n)-san’s not coming after all?” Yahaba asked.

“It’s too late now anyway,” Kindaichi chimed in from behind the setter, handing the second-year a water bottle. The tall middle-blocker then wiped his forehead with the towel he held in his hand before adding, “Wish I could have met her, though. I’m curious to see what Oikawa-san’s tutor is like. What about you, Kunimi?” he asked his jaded-looking friend that seemed preoccupied tying his shoes.

The boy shrugged indifferently after straightening up. “I guess,” he responded, soon jogging to go back onto court where the rest of the team were practicing their blocking and spiking.

Yahaba sighed loudly. “I was looking forward to (y/n)-san coming,” he frowned.

Oikawa glowered towards the boy with an obvious frown of his own twitching on his lips. Was he seriously just trying to piss him off or something? He really didn’t need to beat their heads with the fact that he obviously liked her.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki seemed to overhear the underclassmen’s statement as they were passing to grab their water bottles. They exchanged looks with each other and the curly-haired middle-blocker was soon slyly approaching the second-year with a cunning smile playing on his lips.

“Why’s that, Yahaba-kun?” Matsukawa mischievously inquired.

“Does Yahaba have the hots for Teacher-chan?” Hanamaki added with a laugh, moving to pat the blushing second-year on the back. “Are you planning on asking her to tutor you too? Maybe she’ll give you some private lessons—”

“Stop it, that’s so embarrassing!” Yahaba pushed the third-year away, his faced glowing with embarrassment, much to their amusement. On the other hand, Oikawa didn’t feel too amused at all.

Iwaizumi seemed to pick up on his friend’s disdain, a devilish grin spreading across the ace’s face as he approached the blushing second-year himself. “You should go for it, Yahaba. I know Oikawa would support you. He understands what you’re going through, after all.”

Yahaba looked genuinely confused by the third-year’s mannerisms. “Uh, it’s not a big deal or anything,” he rushed out. “She’s cute, but I’m sure Oikawa-san wouldn’t want me hitting on his tutor—”

“No, he won’t care!” Iwaizumi insisted with an intimidatingly cheerful smile. “Oikawa was saying earlier how (y/n)-san is like an appetizer, anyway. Or was it water?” he thoughtfully wondered, leaving Yahaba looking helplessly confused.

“Eh—? Appetizer? Water?” the second-year stuttered out, but Iwaizumi simply continued.

“Either way, he won’t mind. Right, Oikawa?” the ace innocently asked, turning towards the scowling setter beside them.

“Actually,” Oikawa snapped, “(Y/n)-chan isn’t really into—” He suddenly stopped himself.

It wasn’t his concern anyway. She was just his tutor. Nothing more than an acquaintance, really.

Oikawa bit at his lip and turned away with a complacent shrug. “Do whatever you want,” he casually finished.

Iwaizumi stared disbelievingly at the brunette for a second before snorting and shaking his head incredulously.

Yahaba looked uneasily between the captain and vice-captain. “Well…I mean, I wasn’t really planning on doing anything anyway. It seriously isn’t a big deal…” he finished uncertainly. “Uh, I’m going to head back now,” he awkwardly stated while pointing towards the court.

“Yeah, come on guys. You’re slacking today,” Hanamaki chided while jogging away with Kindaichi and Matsukawa following behind him.

“What bad influences!” Matsukawa teasingly called from over his shoulder.

The two captains sent each other stubborn looks of annoyance until Iwaizumi finally turned to follow after his teammates. “You’re not fooling me for a second, you know,” he quickly muttered before running off.

Oikawa stared after the ace with a confused look, not understanding what his friend had meant. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to trick him, he seriously just didn’t care. All Oikawa wanted was to pass his exams, and that was that.

At least…that’s what he would keep telling himself. But it was even getting hard for him to believe, especially when he found himself eagerly spinning towards the entrance of the gymnasiums door for what felt like the millionth time that practice, followed by the immediate pit of disappointment that gripped him when he was yet again met with the wrong face.

Oikawa let out a loud an audible breath of frustration.

Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway.

There was nothing wrong with him feeling so bothered. Who liked to be stood up? Nobody.

So—no—Oikawa wasn’t fooling anyone, because there wasn’t anything he needed to hide.

He took in a deep breath and tried to clear his mind from any troubling thoughts before running over to join his teammates behind the net, preparing to finish off the rest of the practice with the unsettling focus that the game brought out of him.

. . .

As the day grew later, the coaches finally announced the end of practice and dismissed the team to leave. The members began to make their exit from the gymnasium—all except the captain, who vigorously continued to practice his renowned jump serves.

“Oi, come on already,” Iwaizumi huffed at his friend. “The whole team’s going out to eat.”

Oikawa simply ignored his friend and threw the volleyball in his hand ahead of him, running up into a high jump and then violently striking the floating object down. The ball blasted through the air with amazing energy before plummeting straight into the top of the net, not making it passed the tall barricade. A blatant ‘tsk’ of annoyance sounded through Oikawa’s scowling expression before he went to grab for yet another ball.

“You’ve practiced enough today,” the ace continued to pester at his aggravated friend. “Let’s go now before you keel over and die with that ugly expression on your face.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys soon,” Oikawa calmly dismissed.

Iwaizumi simply stared at the setter, seeming to be contemplating on whether he should keep badgering him or not. After a short pause, he finally let out a defeated sigh and turned towards the entrance.

“Fine—but if you don’t meet us at the gate in five minutes, you’re treating us all to ramen!” Iwaizumi called out from behind his shoulder before exiting the gymnasium.

“You guys would have probably made me pay anyway,” Oikawa quietly huffed before throwing the second ball into the air.

Several serves later and Oikawa was far from satisfied. He just wasn’t at his best today, and having off days pissed him off. He could put countless amounts of hours into practicing and then simply have one off-putting day that made it all feel like it was for nothing. But he also knew it was more than that. He was aggravated, and that was messing up his concentration. And he knew all that bullshit about wanting 'female attention' that he tried to convince himself with earlier was just that—shit. The answer was simple. It was because of her, (y/n). She was the reason for his aggravation.

The sudden sound of the gymnasiums door squeaking open had him letting out a blatant breath of annoyance.

“I told you I’d meet you guys there soon. I was just cleaning—” his voice cut off as he turned to see an unexpected face. It was the face he had been expecting all throughout practice, but he had long since given up on the thought of her showing.

“Oikawa-kun…” the girl managed out between her heavy breathing. It seemed as if she had just been running. “I’m sorry, I got caught up having to help with classroom duty and then my teacher—”

“Why are you apologizing?” Oikawa asked, cutting her off. An unreadable expression masked his face as he moved to collect the volleyballs littering the court.

Geez—what was this annoyingly warm satisfaction that immediately washed over him as he saw her? Was he seriously that dependent on her showing up?

“It was rude for me to say I was coming and then not show up…” she spoke hesitantly. “And when I tried to text you, I realized I had forgotten to charge my phone last night…” the girl glumly finished.

“How careless of you, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa light-heartedly teased, but there was an off-putting tone in his voice that seemed to make the girl wary.

“…Are you okay?” she slowly asked.

The setter raised a brow at her. “I’m fine? Well, tired as hell and pretty hungry…But fine,” he shrugged.

“Um,” she hesitated, “Well…if you’re hungry, do you want to go eat somewhere? I don’t mind paying, either,” she finished uncertainly.

Oikawa simply laughed in response, causing (y/n)’s brows to visibly twitch and an unsettled grimace to grow across her lips.

“Don’t feel like you have to buy my forgiveness,” he said while tossing the balls away into the basket. “I told you, it’s no big deal.”

Seriously, he didn’t want to have to admit to her just how big of a deal it actually had been. He had been completely thrown off during practice and more attentive towards waiting to see if she’d show up, like some stupid dog waiting for it's owner to return.

“Well, I do feel bad about that, but I’m not asking because of it. I just wanted to—”

“(Y/n)-chan,” Oikawa interrupted, turning to face the girl directly. Her brows furrowed together in response to show her confusion at his suddenly stern tone. “I thought you were busy on Thursday’s. That’s why you said Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s worked best for you, right?”

“I mean, sometimes I am, but today I’m not really—”

“We should stop just this thing where we feel obligated to spend more time with each other than necessary," he sighed. "It’ll get difficult after a while, and I don’t want to trouble you more than—”

“What’s your problem?” she cut in, aggravation thick in her tone.

Oikawa tilted his head at this. “What are you getting angry about? I’m just saying that—”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed. “You’re just being annoying right now! You obviously were upset that I didn’t show up, and you’re trying to act like it didn’t bother you by being an ass!”

Oikawa grimaced, but turned so she couldn’t see the falter in his expression. “Don’t you think you’re being just a little dramatic, (y/n)-chan?” he grunted, turning away from her as he pushed the basket to the side of the court. “And who are you to say what bothered me or not anyway?”

“Just stop it already,” her voice came again, harsher than before. “Don’t try and make it seem like I’m just some loser who's desperate for a friend. This ‘thing’ isn’t one-sided. If it was, you wouldn’t have insisted I come to practice in the first place—and you wouldn’t have texted me last night.”

Oikawa’s brow twitched at this and he snapped his head back towards her, meeting her determined expression with his own burning gaze.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are you going to keep being passive-aggressive about it?” she finally demanded with a stubborn glare.

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed. It annoyed him how she was able to see right through him, especially since she had to be so damn mature about it. He knew he was acting like a kid, but that didn’t mean she had to scold him like she was his mom or something. He already had Iwa-chan for that.

He let out an annoyed huff and broke his gaze from hers. “Alright—fine. It did bother me, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Oikawa expected her to immediately goad over how dumb he was for getting bothered over something like that, and he had several justifications already forming in his head that he was prepared to defend himself with. He soon found his barricade fall when the girl simply let out a small breath.

“Well, I’m sorry for upsetting you. It was my fault anyway.”

Oikawa felt his jaw immediately clench in response.

This reaction was actually more irritating than the one he expected, but he should have known this would be the way she would respond. (Y/n) wasn’t the type to provoke in this situation, because she really was different from the sort of person that Oikawa had imagined her to be—just as Iwaizumi had told him earlier.

The setter let out an audible sigh and irritably crossed his arms together. “Why do I let you get under my skin so much?” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” she asked with a raised brow.

He narrowed his eyes at her and closed the distance between them, reaching out to menacingly pinch at her cheek. “You think you’re sooo cute, don’t you (y/n)-chan?” he seethed through a devious grin.

“Stop it,” she complained, pushing his hand away and rubbing at her face. “Geez, are you an uncle or something?”

“I am, actually,” he proudly huffed. “And my adorable nephew is so much cuter than you’ll ever be.”

“I’m sure he’s very cute,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. She then moved her hand down from her face and glanced at Oikawa with a more reproachful stare. “So…Does this mean you’re done being mad at me?” she practically mumbled out.

Oikawa rolled his eyes this time. “I’m still annoyed,” he retorted, causing the girls expression to falter a bit. “But I’ve come to a conclusion after today. I actually do like you, (y/n)-chan.”

Her face immediately lit up and she took an excessively noticeable step away from the volleyball captain. “A-are you confessing to me!?” she exclaimed, raising her arms defensively as if he were about to attack her.

Oikawa frowned. “Don’t be stupid. I meant that you’re cool. As in, let’s make this ‘friendship’ thing we’ve been testing out official.”

Her head simply titled in confusion. “Wait, what?”

“Today, when you didn’t show up, it really did bother me...and the fact that it did bother me bothered me even more. I thought that it was because you’re a girl, and I was trying to appease myself with your attention, but it’s none of that. You’re just one of the first 'girl friends' I’ve had that doesn't fawn over me.” He faltered at this. “Like, a friend who’s a girl! Not girlfriend, girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I get it!” she snorted. “Geez, is that what all this is about? You really are an idiot, huh?”

Oikawa blinked at her with an assessing look, feeling a sense of déjà vu at her question. She would really get along with Iwaizumi.

He shook his head from the thought and continued. “Anyway, I want to stop pretending that I shouldn’t like you. You’re pretty cool. I mean, you’re also annoying…but that’s beside the point. Let’s just be friends now so things can go back to normal, ‘kay?”

(Y/n) simply stared at Oikawa through narrowed eyes, with her arms crossing over and lips set into a slanted frown. “I don’t know what’s going through that head of yours, but aren’t we already friends? I sort of assumed that, at least."

Oikawa slowly blinked at the girl and then suddenly chortled at her frustrated expression. “You’re right, (y/n)-chan~” he mused with glowing eyes. “I’m just being stupid as usual. Forgive me for my behavior, okay~?” he cheekily grinned.

“I’ll think about it,” she huffed, looking away with a stubborn pout.

“Oh yeah,” Oikawa pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked through until he found the girl’s text from the other night. “But, if we’re friends, you’ve gotta work on your texting—” he shoved the phone at her face and sent her an accusing stare. “I mean, seriously what is this? Is it happy or sleeping?”

The girl flushed at this and pushed the phone away from her face. “It’s happily sleeping, obviously. Get with the times, old man,” she stuck her tongue out at him and his eyebrow twitched irritably in response. He reached for her face and clasped onto her cheeks with his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

“What’s with that attitude, (y/n)-chan~?” he practically seethed.

She grabbed at his hands, attempting to pull him off. “Stop it,” she whined, but Oikawa didn’t miss the laughter that also fell from her lips. He grinned to himself and was getting ready to reproach with something else when the creak of the gymnasium door opening interrupted him.

Both (y/n) and him froze before turning to see Seijou’s ace staring with surprised eyes. An awkward silence fell over the scene and a sly smile soon grew over Iwaizumi’s face.

“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?” he grinned.

Oikawa and (y/n) exchanged looks before he quickly released his grip on her face and she hopped away from him.

“I was just teaching (y/n)-chan not to be annoying,” Oikawa casually dismissed with a wave of his hand.

“Oh,” he mused in an obviously disbelieving tone. “Is that what was happening?”

Iwaizumi sent the captain an obviously mocking stare and Oikawa glared at him in return, but this only seemed to amuse the ace more.

“I was coming to see what was taking you so long, but don’t worry about it anymore," he insisted almost too eagerly. "Tooru, you should walk (y/n) home. I’ll tell the team that you’ll treat us next time.”

He sent the pair a powerful thumbs up before quipping out a quick 'goodbye' and hurriedly closing the door behind him, but Oikawa didn’t miss the preceding shit-eating grin his friend had worn on his face just as he disappeared. He soon found an irritable smile twitching on his own lips.

“You were supposed to eat out with your team?” the girl suddenly asked, breaking Oikawa from his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah…” he spoke while rubbing the back of his head. “But don’t worry about it. I wasn’t feeling ramen today, anyway,” he shrugged.

“Oh, okay,” she started uncertainly before glancing at the doorway and then back towards the setter. “Well, you don’t have to worry about walking me back. I’m just going over to the station, anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa reproached as he made his way to the entrance, opening the door for the girl and gesturing for her to go through first. “What sort of man would I be if I made you walk back by yourself? Besides, I want to stop by somewhere and get some food too.”

The girl smiled at this and teasingly asked, “Your treat?” as she walked past him.

Oikawa snorted in response and rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, princess."

“I’m kidding!” she quickly took back, dismissing the idea with the wave of her hands. “I feel like I should be the one treating you anyway.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Oikawa thoughtfully mused, holding his hand to his chin. “You haven’t bought my forgiveness yet. Well, I guess I’ll just have to choose carefully then,” he finished, looking at her with glittering eyes. The girl raised a brow questioningly at him in response.

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” she warily asked.

“Yup!" he eagerly grinned, causing her eyes to narrow suspiciously. "Let’s head there after I change back into my uniform,” Oikawa chimed before turning towards the club-room building. “Don’t go wandering off, okay (y/n)-chan~?”

“Well don’t take long!” she reproached as he disappeared up the stairs and to the second-floor.

The setter hurriedly worked at pulling off his practice clothes and replaced them with his school uniform. He vaguely hoped that he didn't smell too bad from the days practice, but hopefully the deodorant he had on him would take care of any lingering and unwanted aroma. He wasn't really the type to stink so bad anyway, he mostly carried around the stuff for Iwaizumi. The guy was practically a lethal weapon after sweating so much.

After changing, the setter finished gathering his belongings into his bag and double-checked to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. He then left the room and began to lock the door before glancing over his shoulder to see the familiar girl still in the same place, only she was facing the opposite direction and rocking on her heels as she waited.

Oikawa knowingly smiled to himself and then quickly and quietly moved to creep up behind the fidgeting girl, smoothly leaning in over her shoulder. “Did I take long?” he asked.

She let out a yelp of surprise and jumped forward, much to Oikawa’s amusement. He laughed to himself and tossed his bag over his shoulder. “Ready to go?”

“Let me recover from my heart attack first,” she irritably puffed out, sending him an accusing glare. He chuckled at this and ruffled at her head.

“Don’t be so dramatic, (y/n)-chan~” he teased before she snippily batted his hand away from her. “And let’s hurry before I die of starvation. It’ll be your fault if that happens, you know?”

“I’ll be sure to reflect on it if it comes to that…” she grumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Oikawa loudly and mockingly asked. “You want to buy me dessert too?”

The girl flinched at this and she stiffly turned to walk ahead. “Let’s just hurry before it gets too late,” she haggardly declared.

Oikawa simply smiled to himself and jogged to catch up to her, quickly falling into pace besides the grumbling girl.

He wasn’t exactly sure of it, but there was some sort of relief in him now, not to mention a definite change in his mood. He almost felt light and airy. Whatever had been bogging him down before seemed to have gone with his earlier revelation, and there was no longer that bitter taste that lingered in his mouth when he admitted to himself that he was able to get along with his genius of a tutor. In fact, he found no problem with it at all.

Description

The buzzing tremor coming from Oikawa’s desk pulled him from his wandering thoughts on the days earlier ordeals. He stared absently ahead of him for a moment longer before taking a breath and finally shoving himself away from the comfort of his bed. He knew from the ringtone that it was Iwaizumi, and he could already guess what his friend wanted to talk to him about.

Oikawa reached for the phone and leaned against his desk for support as he answered.

“Hi, Iwa-chan~” he casually greeted, playing with his fringe that was still dripping from the bath he had just taken.

“Hey,” the rough voice came in response. Oikawa thought he could hear the faint sound of a television in the background and imagined his friend sitting in the familiar living room that he had practically grown up in himself.

“So, what’s up?” Oikawa hummed. “Did you call to see how studying went? Or to interrogate me on whether I was mean to (y/n)-chan after you guys left?”

“I’m not really worried about you being an ass to her anymore,” Iwaizumi snorted. “At least, not in the same way you were before.”

Oikawa paused at this. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you tell me that?” he countered. When no response came, the ace continued. “You were acting weird today with Yahaba. That sort of annoying way you act when things don’t go your way.”

“Annoying?” Oikawa huffed before slumping onto the chair beside him. He crossed his arms onto the surface of his desk, rhythmically tapping his fingers onto the wood. “I just got irritated at him correcting me. I mean, it is pretty frustrating to be corrected by an underclassmen.”

“I don’t think that’s what bothered you,” Iwaizumi suggested, leaving Oikawa’s drumming fingers frozen in place. An irritable frown then grew upon the setter’s lips. He didn't like how Iwaizumi kept moving around the point. He was usually direct with everything.

“If you think you know something, just come out and say it,” Oikawa impatiently demanded.

An exasperated huff sounded through the phone in response. “Fine, you were jealous.”

Oikawa audibly scoffed at this, disbelief thick in his tone. “Jealous of Yahaba-kun?”

“Jealous of the attention (y/n)-san gave him,” Iwaizumi proposed. “But how should I know the details? You were the jealous one.”

Oikawa’s brows furrowed together. “I mean…I didn’t really like the idea of either of them flirting with each other at first, but I don’t really care anymore. It’s none of my business anyway.”

“How mature of you,” a sarcastic drone whirred through the phone. “Like I told you before, you’re just too used to constantly being fawned over by girls, and (y/n)-san has always treated you like the idiot you are,”—Oikawa frowned at this—“so when her attention was on Yahaba, it annoyed you.”

“Do you really think I’m that simple minded?”

“Is that a serious question?” Iwaizumi bluntly asked.

Oikawa snorted and then shrugged to himself. “Well, I guess it sort of makes sense. (Y/n)-chan is hard to impress, after all. She shouldn’t throw out her praise so carelessly,” he huffed.

“You’re seriously such a kid sometimes,” Iwaizumi grunted, and Oikawa could imagine the eye-roll that most likely accompanied his friend’s statement. “Anyway,” the ace started again, “don’t be an ass tomorrow during the practice match, especially since we’ll probably be against Yahaba. I know how you can get all riled up.”

A devious smirk formed on the setter’s face at the reminder.

“I’ll treat him like I would any opponent,” Oikawa innocently retorted. “I respect my adorable protégé after all,” he cunningly mused, a full blown grin now spread upon his face.

There was a short pause on the other side of the line and then the sound of an audible sigh. “You have a really annoying smile on your face right now, don’t you?”

“Are you psychic, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa jokingly inquired.

“Don’t have to be psychic to know what a shitty personality you have,” his friend simply responded, leaving the brunette mockingly pouting at the statement.

The setter then absently moved his hand across his desk, hitting one of his textbooks that had become overly familiar to him over the last couple of days. The item brought his thoughts back to his stubborn tutor, and he found himself thinking back to the scenarios from earlier.

A long silence stretched between the captain and wing-spiker, the only noises being the slight hum from Oikawa's phone and the quiet droning of Iwaizumi’s television.

Oikawa stared thoughtfully ahead of him before resting his head onto his arm and casually gazing at the glaring book ahead of him.

“Iwa-chan?” he questioningly called, receiving an answering grunt in return. He paused again before finally asking, “What do you think of (y/n)-chan?”

There was silence and then the sound of the phone shifting. “She’s nice?” the ace finally answered with a questioning tone, as if unsure of what sort of response Oikawa expected.

“I guess I’m just confused,” Oikawa finally admitted. “I practically hated her a day ago, and today I felt bummed that our study session ended so soon.”

“Probably because you never actually hated her,” Iwaizumi responded a-matter-of-factly, and Oikawa found his head tilting in confusion. “You never really knew her before, but now you’re getting an idea of how she actually is. You just assumed what she was like before and hated the idea you had in your head.”

“But…” Oikawa started to speak, but his voice faded uncertainly.

Oikawa wasn’t sure what to say, because his friend was right. He had assumed a lot about his tutor, and then he found out today that she really wasn’t bad company. Sure, she could be a bit irritating sometimes—and she could definitely put him in difficult situations. Like how she had so openly disliked him at first, as she obviously displayed in her note to him. And, just today, she had casually labeled him as the type of person he hated himself.

But—even so—he didn’t hate her. She was annoying, but she was charming as well…in her own way.

“So am I right?” Iwaizumi’s voice broke through.

Oikawa grimaced before childishly grumbling, “She really can be irritating, though...”

“And so can you,” Iwaizumi immediately retorted. “Maybe she’s more like you than you think.”

Oikawa scowled at this. “That’s like comparing me to Tobio.”

A snort sounded through the line. “She’s nothing like Kageyama. He’s really oblivious compared to her—and a lot people, for that matter. I’m almost positive if we x-rayed his head, we’d find that he had a volleyball for a brain.”

“That would explain a lot,” Oikawa laughed, leaning back into his chair with a gleeful grin plastered on his face. Nothing quite cheered him up like trash-talking the genius setter.

"So, is everything good with you now?" the ace curiously inquired.

"More or less," Oikawa joked. "But don't worry, Iwa-chan, I'm fine! You know, you'll make such a great mother someday~" he cooed.

"Don't gross me out," Iwaizumi blatantly stated.

Oikawa chuckled to himself in response, then pushed away from his desk and stood up with a stretch. “Well, it’s late so I’m going to head to bed now,” he finally spoke. “Talk to you later, Iwa-chan~”

“Alright,” Iwaizumi’s voice casually called out, “See you tomorrow.”

Oikawa quipped another quick farewell before hanging up and setting his phone back onto his desk. He began to move towards his bed, but then paused and stared back at his phone.

Silence fell over him in the brief moment of consideration and, before he knew it, the device was back in his hand. He stared at the glowing screen before him and observed the newly added contact information from earlier.

If he was being honest with himself, he was feeling curious. The type of curiosity that kind of made him want to text (y/n) at the moment. Simply out of curiosity, of course.

Would she text back if he were to message her? And what would her text look like if she did reply? Would she use emoticons, like his own, or be more to-the-point, like Iwaizumi’s? Was it too late to even consider texting her? What else could she even be doing now? Oikawa couldn’t imagine her doing anything but studying. That’s all he knew of her, after all. That, and the fact that she was bad at making friends...Also, she really liked burgers.

Oikawa found himself wondering what sort of interests she even had besides the few he knew. What did she like to do in her free time? Did she have her own passion like he had volleyball? Did she even like volleyball?

He also had a weird, unsettling feeling that nagged at the thought that he’d ever find out any of the answers to those questions. What if she simply remained this annoying mystery that she was now? Simply his study-addict, burger-loving tutor? Is that all he would ever come to know?

For whatever reason, the mere thought of that being true bothered the hell out of him. And for that same unconscious reason, Oikawa soon found his fingers pounding away at the buttons on his phone.

It was simple and innocent enough. It wouldn’t even mean anything if he didn’t get a reply back, because it was that casual. But none of that really mattered anyways, because all Oikawa knew was that sending the message would be enough to satisfy whatever it was in him that needed the satisfying.

[to: (y/n), 10:48 PM]
Goodnight (y/n)-chan~ ^^

He sent the message and waited for the confirmation that notified him that it got through before moving to set his phone back down on his desk. The sudden vibration from it had him jumping in surprise, and he fought to catch his pone before it fell—swiftly pushing the device back in front of him and eagerly staring at the reply.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]
Goodnight.

He paused with an assessing gaze before an amused grin graced over him. So she was a blunt texter. He wasn’t sure what else he expected. She probably wasn’t used to texting anyone but her family, after all.

A second vibration shook the palm of his hand, bringing his attention back to the device yet again.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]
(-^o^-) zzzz…

Oikawa snorted at the sight. Was that supposed to be a sleeping face? Seriously, why was it so happy looking then? She really was an amateur when it came to texting…

He continued to stare at the messages, a budding giddiness filling him and soon resulting in another laugh to escape his lips.

“How cute…” he unexpectedly chuckled to himself before abruptly freezing.

Cute…? He hadn’t meant that. Well, the messages were funny, but…

He switched his phone off and left it on his desk before swiftly moving back to his bed.

He seriously just needed sleep. Today had been a weird day for him, but there was nothing a goodnight's sleep could fix. At least…he’d find out if that were true in the morning.

The setter tossed around in his bed for a minute before settling onto his side, staring absently at the dark of his wall and waiting for his weariness to consume him and hoping it happened before his own festering thoughts did…

. . .

“Free ball!”

The thuds of connecting receives echoed throughout Seijou’s gymnasium, and a pair of looming brown eyes moved from following the flying sphere to glancing back at the entrance.

“Toss it to me!” Iwaizumi roared from the side.

Oikawa’s gaze flickered back to the air and he clumsily sent the ball flying over to the team’s ace. There was a second of silence before the thunderous clap of the ball hitting the ground filled the room, followed by calls of encouragement and cheer.

“Nice Kill, Iwaizumi-san!” several teammates bellowed.

But the enthusiasm was short lived, for the burly wing-spiker was soon approaching the captain with a blatant look of annoyance etched on his face.

“Seriously, what’s with you?” he accusingly asked. “You’ve been out of it all practice!”

The teammates exchanged looks with one another as Oikawa’s own face fell in exaggerated astonishment.

“It was just a mistake, Iwa-chan!” he hurriedly excused himself. “What are you getting so mad about? We scored, didn’t we?”

“That’s not the point,” the ace irritably grunted with an added roll of his eyes. “There’s no point of playing if you’re going to be half-assed about it.”

Oikawa huffed at this and Watari approached the two warily.

“Let’s just calm down. It’s just a practice match, after all,” he sheepishly spoke with his hands raised out before him.

Both third-years sharply turned to the second-year libero with piercing stares that caused him to jump in surprise. Hanamaki crossed the net and approached his teammates with a questioning look, allowing Watari to awkwardly make his escape.

“Why are you so distracted anyway?” Hanamaki loudly asked Oikawa, the rest of his scrimmage team following behind him from the opposite side of the net.

“Who’s distracted?” Oikawa defensively responded.

The sudden loud clang of the gymnasium’s door opening soon had Oikawa’s head hastily turning to the source with expectant eyes. As he watched both coaches enter into the building, blatant displeasure soon replaced his previous anticipation. The wing-spiker’s own eyes lit up with realization as he watched the scene play out.

“You’re looking for teacher-chan!” Hanamaki suddenly exclaimed.

Oikawa’s head immediately snapped back towards the light-haired third-year. “I’m not looking for anyone!” he barked, a haggard sigh soon escaping the ace beside him.

“So that’s what this is about?” Iwaizumi groaned.

Hanamaki shook his head with an amused grin on his face while Matsukawa simply snorted with amusement. Oikawa scowled at the group of third-years, crossing his arms defiantly with an irritated grimace strewn on his lips.

“You guys are so full of shit,” he angrily huffed.

“What are you guys doing?” Coach Mizoguchi demanded as he and the head coach approached the loitering team. “You’re supposed to be having a practice match, not standing around gossiping like old women.”

“We were, but then someone here got a little distracted,” Matsukawa spoke with teasing eyes aimed at the sulking captain.

“For the last time, I wasn’t,” Oikawa stated with clear finality. Though, he admittedly was a little preoccupied looking out for (y/n), he didn’t want to admit that in front of the coaches (or the rest of his team for that matter). “I just thought a…friend…of mine was going to show up to practice today, is all,” he stumbled out.

He was used to referring to (y/n) as his tutor, but it would be a bit weird to say that he invited his tutor to watch practice, wouldn’t it? And she was a friend…Or at the very least an acquaintance.

The coach simply sighed and dismissed them all to do individual practice. Oikawa turned away and felt the familiar frown return to his face as he made his way to the volleyball basket.

It wasn’t outlandish for him to have been expecting her when she had told him that she was coming, was it? If she decided that she didn’t want to come, she could have at least sent him a text or something. It made sense for him to feel annoyed and upset, right? Right...

Because Oikawa didn’t know what he was expecting, anyway. (Y/n) was probably not interested in volleyball at all. And it’s not like she didn’t have her own things to do. He was stupid for thinking that all she ever did was study. She had her own life too, and she probably didn’t want to spend any more of it with him than she was already being forced to. The same should go for him as well.

Plus...what Iwaizumi had told him before was probably also true. Oikawa could admit to himself that the female attention he got sometimes got to his head. He was just a guy, after all. Having been so busy recently—between having practice and getting tutored—he really didn’t have any free time to do anything else. So maybe Oikawa was simply craving that attention again, and he was unconsciously expecting it from (y/n).

Yeah...that makes sense, the brunette knowingly nodded to himself.

Now that he realized this, he didn’t need (y/n) to fill that 'role' for him anymore. He could figure out other ways—he had before. So he shouldn’t let the girl get under his skin. She was simply helping him pass an exam, after all.

Oikawa forced a smug smile on his face as he grabbed onto a ball in front of him. He was glad to have had all that finally figured out.

“Hey, pass me one.”

The setter turned to face the team’s ace who was sending him a suspicious stare.

“What’s with that smile?” Iwaizumi pointedly asked through narrowed eyes. “It kinda pisses me off.”

Oikawa simply pushed a ball into his friend’s grasp with a knowing chuckle escaping his lips. “I just figured out what’s been bothering me, is all" he smugly started. "Iwa-chan…I wish I was as unlucky with girls as you. Maybe I wouldn’t be in this predicament if I—OW!” The setter glumly rubbed at his aching gut while Iwaizumi held his fist up, clenched and prepared to attack again.

“What are you going on about this time, anyway?” the ace casually asked Oikawa, as if he hadn’t just sucker punched him. He then moved to grab another ball and threw it over to Hanamaki before sending the captain an expectant look. “Is this about (y/n)-san?”

“Sort of, but not really,” Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly. The wing-spiker raised a questioning brow at him.

“I’m deprived!” Oikawa finally let out, as if it should have been obvious. “(Y/n)-chan is the only person I’ve been spending time with lately besides you guys, and a man needs some female attention in his life! I mean, she’s a girl, but she’s (y/n)-chan, so it’s sort of like trying to satisfy your appetite by drinking water—But I can’t live off of just water, Iwa-chan! I need food! Meat! Rice! Vegetables! A full course meal, not an appetizer! Do you understand?” he finished with a huff, turning towards the ace who simply stared blankly back at him.

“You really are an idiot, huh?” Iwaizumi bluntly responded.

Oikawa simply sighed and shook his head with pity. “You wouldn’t understand. Poor lonely, Iwa-chan—” He jumped to avoid the volleyball that was hurled at him and stuck his tongue out teasingly at the scowling ace.

As Oikawa turned to pick the ball up, he noticed the second-year setter had beat him to it. The boy held it out for Oikawa to grab while eyeing the captain expectantly.

“So (y/n)-san’s not coming after all?” Yahaba asked.

“It’s too late now anyway,” Kindaichi chimed in from behind the setter, handing the second-year a water bottle. The tall middle-blocker then wiped his forehead with the towel he held in his hand before adding, “Wish I could have met her, though. I’m curious to see what Oikawa-san’s tutor is like. What about you, Kunimi?” he asked his jaded-looking friend that seemed preoccupied tying his shoes.

The boy shrugged indifferently after straightening up. “I guess,” he responded, soon jogging to go back onto court where the rest of the team were practicing their blocking and spiking.

Yahaba sighed loudly. “I was looking forward to (y/n)-san coming,” he frowned.

Oikawa glowered towards the boy with an obvious frown of his own twitching on his lips. Was he seriously just trying to piss him off or something? He really didn’t need to beat their heads with the fact that he obviously liked her.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki seemed to overhear the underclassmen’s statement as they were passing to grab their water bottles. They exchanged looks with each other and the curly-haired middle-blocker was soon slyly approaching the second-year with a cunning smile playing on his lips.

“Why’s that, Yahaba-kun?” Matsukawa mischievously inquired.

“Does Yahaba have the hots for Teacher-chan?” Hanamaki added with a laugh, moving to pat the blushing second-year on the back. “Are you planning on asking her to tutor you too? Maybe she’ll give you some private lessons—”

“Stop it, that’s so embarrassing!” Yahaba pushed the third-year away, his faced glowing with embarrassment, much to their amusement. On the other hand, Oikawa didn’t feel too amused at all.

Iwaizumi seemed to pick up on his friend’s disdain, a devilish grin spreading across the ace’s face as he approached the blushing second-year himself. “You should go for it, Yahaba. I know Oikawa would support you. He understands what you’re going through, after all.”

Yahaba looked genuinely confused by the third-year’s mannerisms. “Uh, it’s not a big deal or anything,” he rushed out. “She’s cute, but I’m sure Oikawa-san wouldn’t want me hitting on his tutor—”

“No, he won’t care!” Iwaizumi insisted with an intimidatingly cheerful smile. “Oikawa was saying earlier how (y/n)-san is like an appetizer, anyway. Or was it water?” he thoughtfully wondered, leaving Yahaba looking helplessly confused.

“Eh—? Appetizer? Water?” the second-year stuttered out, but Iwaizumi simply continued.

“Either way, he won’t mind. Right, Oikawa?” the ace innocently asked, turning towards the scowling setter beside them.

“Actually,” Oikawa snapped, “(Y/n)-chan isn’t really into—” He suddenly stopped himself.

It wasn’t his concern anyway. She was just his tutor. Nothing more than an acquaintance, really.

Oikawa bit at his lip and turned away with a complacent shrug. “Do whatever you want,” he casually finished.

Iwaizumi stared disbelievingly at the brunette for a second before snorting and shaking his head incredulously.

Yahaba looked uneasily between the captain and vice-captain. “Well…I mean, I wasn’t really planning on doing anything anyway. It seriously isn’t a big deal…” he finished uncertainly. “Uh, I’m going to head back now,” he awkwardly stated while pointing towards the court.

“Yeah, come on guys. You’re slacking today,” Hanamaki chided while jogging away with Kindaichi and Matsukawa following behind him.

“What bad influences!” Matsukawa teasingly called from over his shoulder.

The two captains sent each other stubborn looks of annoyance until Iwaizumi finally turned to follow after his teammates. “You’re not fooling me for a second, you know,” he quickly muttered before running off.

Oikawa stared after the ace with a confused look, not understanding what his friend had meant. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to trick him, he seriously just didn’t care. All Oikawa wanted was to pass his exams, and that was that.

At least…that’s what he would keep telling himself. But it was even getting hard for him to believe, especially when he found himself eagerly spinning towards the entrance of the gymnasiums door for what felt like the millionth time that practice, followed by the immediate pit of disappointment that gripped him when he was yet again met with the wrong face.

Oikawa let out a loud an audible breath of frustration.

Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway.

There was nothing wrong with him feeling so bothered. Who liked to be stood up? Nobody.

So—no—Oikawa wasn’t fooling anyone, because there wasn’t anything he needed to hide.

He took in a deep breath and tried to clear his mind from any troubling thoughts before running over to join his teammates behind the net, preparing to finish off the rest of the practice with the unsettling focus that the game brought out of him.

. . .

As the day grew later, the coaches finally announced the end of practice and dismissed the team to leave. The members began to make their exit from the gymnasium—all except the captain, who vigorously continued to practice his renowned jump serves.

“Oi, come on already,” Iwaizumi huffed at his friend. “The whole team’s going out to eat.”

Oikawa simply ignored his friend and threw the volleyball in his hand ahead of him, running up into a high jump and then violently striking the floating object down. The ball blasted through the air with amazing energy before plummeting straight into the top of the net, not making it passed the tall barricade. A blatant ‘tsk’ of annoyance sounded through Oikawa’s scowling expression before he went to grab for yet another ball.

“You’ve practiced enough today,” the ace continued to pester at his aggravated friend. “Let’s go now before you keel over and die with that ugly expression on your face.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys soon,” Oikawa calmly dismissed.

Iwaizumi simply stared at the setter, seeming to be contemplating on whether he should keep badgering him or not. After a short pause, he finally let out a defeated sigh and turned towards the entrance.

“Fine—but if you don’t meet us at the gate in five minutes, you’re treating us all to ramen!” Iwaizumi called out from behind his shoulder before exiting the gymnasium.

“You guys would have probably made me pay anyway,” Oikawa quietly huffed before throwing the second ball into the air.

Several serves later and Oikawa was far from satisfied. He just wasn’t at his best today, and having off days pissed him off. He could put countless amounts of hours into practicing and then simply have one off-putting day that made it all feel like it was for nothing. But he also knew it was more than that. He was aggravated, and that was messing up his concentration. And he knew all that bullshit about wanting 'female attention' that he tried to convince himself with earlier was just that—shit. The answer was simple. It was because of her, (y/n). She was the reason for his aggravation.

The sudden sound of the gymnasiums door squeaking open had him letting out a blatant breath of annoyance.

“I told you I’d meet you guys there soon. I was just cleaning—” his voice cut off as he turned to see an unexpected face. It was the face he had been expecting all throughout practice, but he had long since given up on the thought of her showing.

“Oikawa-kun…” the girl managed out between her heavy breathing. It seemed as if she had just been running. “I’m sorry, I got caught up having to help with classroom duty and then my teacher—”

“Why are you apologizing?” Oikawa asked, cutting her off. An unreadable expression masked his face as he moved to collect the volleyballs littering the court.

Geez—what was this annoyingly warm satisfaction that immediately washed over him as he saw her? Was he seriously that dependent on her showing up?

“It was rude for me to say I was coming and then not show up…” she spoke hesitantly. “And when I tried to text you, I realized I had forgotten to charge my phone last night…” the girl glumly finished.

“How careless of you, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa light-heartedly teased, but there was an off-putting tone in his voice that seemed to make the girl wary.

“…Are you okay?” she slowly asked.

The setter raised a brow at her. “I’m fine? Well, tired as hell and pretty hungry…But fine,” he shrugged.

“Um,” she hesitated, “Well…if you’re hungry, do you want to go eat somewhere? I don’t mind paying, either,” she finished uncertainly.

Oikawa simply laughed in response, causing (y/n)’s brows to visibly twitch and an unsettled grimace to grow across her lips.

“Don’t feel like you have to buy my forgiveness,” he said while tossing the balls away into the basket. “I told you, it’s no big deal.”

Seriously, he didn’t want to have to admit to her just how big of a deal it actually had been. He had been completely thrown off during practice and more attentive towards waiting to see if she’d show up, like some stupid dog waiting for it's owner to return.

“Well, I do feel bad about that, but I’m not asking because of it. I just wanted to—”

“(Y/n)-chan,” Oikawa interrupted, turning to face the girl directly. Her brows furrowed together in response to show her confusion at his suddenly stern tone. “I thought you were busy on Thursday’s. That’s why you said Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s worked best for you, right?”

“I mean, sometimes I am, but today I’m not really—”

“We should stop just this thing where we feel obligated to spend more time with each other than necessary," he sighed. "It’ll get difficult after a while, and I don’t want to trouble you more than—”

“What’s your problem?” she cut in, aggravation thick in her tone.

Oikawa tilted his head at this. “What are you getting angry about? I’m just saying that—”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed. “You’re just being annoying right now! You obviously were upset that I didn’t show up, and you’re trying to act like it didn’t bother you by being an ass!”

Oikawa grimaced, but turned so she couldn’t see the falter in his expression. “Don’t you think you’re being just a little dramatic, (y/n)-chan?” he grunted, turning away from her as he pushed the basket to the side of the court. “And who are you to say what bothered me or not anyway?”

“Just stop it already,” her voice came again, harsher than before. “Don’t try and make it seem like I’m just some loser who's desperate for a friend. This ‘thing’ isn’t one-sided. If it was, you wouldn’t have insisted I come to practice in the first place—and you wouldn’t have texted me last night.”

Oikawa’s brow twitched at this and he snapped his head back towards her, meeting her determined expression with his own burning gaze.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are you going to keep being passive-aggressive about it?” she finally demanded with a stubborn glare.

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed. It annoyed him how she was able to see right through him, especially since she had to be so damn mature about it. He knew he was acting like a kid, but that didn’t mean she had to scold him like she was his mom or something. He already had Iwa-chan for that.

He let out an annoyed huff and broke his gaze from hers. “Alright—fine. It did bother me, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Oikawa expected her to immediately goad over how dumb he was for getting bothered over something like that, and he had several justifications already forming in his head that he was prepared to defend himself with. He soon found his barricade fall when the girl simply let out a small breath.

“Well, I’m sorry for upsetting you. It was my fault anyway.”

Oikawa felt his jaw immediately clench in response.

This reaction was actually more irritating than the one he expected, but he should have known this would be the way she would respond. (Y/n) wasn’t the type to provoke in this situation, because she really was different from the sort of person that Oikawa had imagined her to be—just as Iwaizumi had told him earlier.

The setter let out an audible sigh and irritably crossed his arms together. “Why do I let you get under my skin so much?” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” she asked with a raised brow.

He narrowed his eyes at her and closed the distance between them, reaching out to menacingly pinch at her cheek. “You think you’re sooo cute, don’t you (y/n)-chan?” he seethed through a devious grin.

“Stop it,” she complained, pushing his hand away and rubbing at her face. “Geez, are you an uncle or something?”

“I am, actually,” he proudly huffed. “And my adorable nephew is so much cuter than you’ll ever be.”

“I’m sure he’s very cute,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. She then moved her hand down from her face and glanced at Oikawa with a more reproachful stare. “So…Does this mean you’re done being mad at me?” she practically mumbled out.

Oikawa rolled his eyes this time. “I’m still annoyed,” he retorted, causing the girls expression to falter a bit. “But I’ve come to a conclusion after today. I actually do like you, (y/n)-chan.”

Her face immediately lit up and she took an excessively noticeable step away from the volleyball captain. “A-are you confessing to me!?” she exclaimed, raising her arms defensively as if he were about to attack her.

Oikawa frowned. “Don’t be stupid. I meant that you’re cool. As in, let’s make this ‘friendship’ thing we’ve been testing out official.”

Her head simply titled in confusion. “Wait, what?”

“Today, when you didn’t show up, it really did bother me...and the fact that it did bother me bothered me even more. I thought that it was because you’re a girl, and I was trying to appease myself with your attention, but it’s none of that. You’re just one of the first 'girl friends' I’ve had that doesn't fawn over me.” He faltered at this. “Like, a friend who’s a girl! Not girlfriend, girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I get it!” she snorted. “Geez, is that what all this is about? You really are an idiot, huh?”

Oikawa blinked at her with an assessing look, feeling a sense of déjà vu at her question. She would really get along with Iwaizumi.

He shook his head from the thought and continued. “Anyway, I want to stop pretending that I shouldn’t like you. You’re pretty cool. I mean, you’re also annoying…but that’s beside the point. Let’s just be friends now so things can go back to normal, ‘kay?”

(Y/n) simply stared at Oikawa through narrowed eyes, with her arms crossing over and lips set into a slanted frown. “I don’t know what’s going through that head of yours, but aren’t we already friends? I sort of assumed that, at least."

Oikawa slowly blinked at the girl and then suddenly chortled at her frustrated expression. “You’re right, (y/n)-chan~” he mused with glowing eyes. “I’m just being stupid as usual. Forgive me for my behavior, okay~?” he cheekily grinned.

“I’ll think about it,” she huffed, looking away with a stubborn pout.

“Oh yeah,” Oikawa pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked through until he found the girl’s text from the other night. “But, if we’re friends, you’ve gotta work on your texting—” he shoved the phone at her face and sent her an accusing stare. “I mean, seriously what is this? Is it happy or sleeping?”

The girl flushed at this and pushed the phone away from her face. “It’s happily sleeping, obviously. Get with the times, old man,” she stuck her tongue out at him and his eyebrow twitched irritably in response. He reached for her face and clasped onto her cheeks with his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

“What’s with that attitude, (y/n)-chan~?” he practically seethed.

She grabbed at his hands, attempting to pull him off. “Stop it,” she whined, but Oikawa didn’t miss the laughter that also fell from her lips. He grinned to himself and was getting ready to reproach with something else when the creak of the gymnasium door opening interrupted him.

Both (y/n) and him froze before turning to see Seijou’s ace staring with surprised eyes. An awkward silence fell over the scene and a sly smile soon grew over Iwaizumi’s face.

“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?” he grinned.

Oikawa and (y/n) exchanged looks before he quickly released his grip on her face and she hopped away from him.

“I was just teaching (y/n)-chan not to be annoying,” Oikawa casually dismissed with a wave of his hand.

“Oh,” he mused in an obviously disbelieving tone. “Is that what was happening?”

Iwaizumi sent the captain an obviously mocking stare and Oikawa glared at him in return, but this only seemed to amuse the ace more.

“I was coming to see what was taking you so long, but don’t worry about it anymore," he insisted almost too eagerly. "Tooru, you should walk (y/n) home. I’ll tell the team that you’ll treat us next time.”

He sent the pair a powerful thumbs up before quipping out a quick 'goodbye' and hurriedly closing the door behind him, but Oikawa didn’t miss the preceding shit-eating grin his friend had worn on his face just as he disappeared. He soon found an irritable smile twitching on his own lips.

“You were supposed to eat out with your team?” the girl suddenly asked, breaking Oikawa from his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah…” he spoke while rubbing the back of his head. “But don’t worry about it. I wasn’t feeling ramen today, anyway,” he shrugged.

“Oh, okay,” she started uncertainly before glancing at the doorway and then back towards the setter. “Well, you don’t have to worry about walking me back. I’m just going over to the station, anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa reproached as he made his way to the entrance, opening the door for the girl and gesturing for her to go through first. “What sort of man would I be if I made you walk back by yourself? Besides, I want to stop by somewhere and get some food too.”

The girl smiled at this and teasingly asked, “Your treat?” as she walked past him.

Oikawa snorted in response and rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, princess."

“I’m kidding!” she quickly took back, dismissing the idea with the wave of her hands. “I feel like I should be the one treating you anyway.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Oikawa thoughtfully mused, holding his hand to his chin. “You haven’t bought my forgiveness yet. Well, I guess I’ll just have to choose carefully then,” he finished, looking at her with glittering eyes. The girl raised a brow questioningly at him in response.

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” she warily asked.

“Yup!" he eagerly grinned, causing her eyes to narrow suspiciously. "Let’s head there after I change back into my uniform,” Oikawa chimed before turning towards the club-room building. “Don’t go wandering off, okay (y/n)-chan~?”

“Well don’t take long!” she reproached as he disappeared up the stairs and to the second-floor.

The setter hurriedly worked at pulling off his practice clothes and replaced them with his school uniform. He vaguely hoped that he didn't smell too bad from the days practice, but hopefully the deodorant he had on him would take care of any lingering and unwanted aroma. He wasn't really the type to stink so bad anyway, he mostly carried around the stuff for Iwaizumi. The guy was practically a lethal weapon after sweating so much.

After changing, the setter finished gathering his belongings into his bag and double-checked to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. He then left the room and began to lock the door before glancing over his shoulder to see the familiar girl still in the same place, only she was facing the opposite direction and rocking on her heels as she waited.

Oikawa knowingly smiled to himself and then quickly and quietly moved to creep up behind the fidgeting girl, smoothly leaning in over her shoulder. “Did I take long?” he asked.

She let out a yelp of surprise and jumped forward, much to Oikawa’s amusement. He laughed to himself and tossed his bag over his shoulder. “Ready to go?”

“Let me recover from my heart attack first,” she irritably puffed out, sending him an accusing glare. He chuckled at this and ruffled at her head.

“Don’t be so dramatic, (y/n)-chan~” he teased before she snippily batted his hand away from her. “And let’s hurry before I die of starvation. It’ll be your fault if that happens, you know?”

“I’ll be sure to reflect on it if it comes to that…” she grumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Oikawa loudly and mockingly asked. “You want to buy me dessert too?”

The girl flinched at this and she stiffly turned to walk ahead. “Let’s just hurry before it gets too late,” she haggardly declared.

Oikawa simply smiled to himself and jogged to catch up to her, quickly falling into pace besides the grumbling girl.

He wasn’t exactly sure of it, but there was some sort of relief in him now, not to mention a definite change in his mood. He almost felt light and airy. Whatever had been bogging him down before seemed to have gone with his earlier revelation, and there was no longer that bitter taste that lingered in his mouth when he admitted to himself that he was able to get along with his genius of a tutor. In fact, he found no problem with it at all.