#haiba

"Yes, I have. I was wondering when he would show up. Lev Haiba was it? Welcome to the team." The tallest in the gymnasium showed his bright smile before bowing to the coach. "Kuroo, Yaku, go make sure he’s nice and warmed up before we see what he's got." The rooster head nodded and waved Morisuke over to teach the newbie how to properly stretch. Once they stood up Haiba's eyes widened with a joking smile towards my brother.

Oh dear. Here we go.

"Are you sure you're a third year? You're like half my height." I rolled my eyes at his unnecessary comment. However, I did snicker a bit as I watched my brother kick him in the knees, making him fall to them.

"Now look at who's short." Haiba's head perked up a bit at the sound of my laughs. His eyes darted around for a moment before landing on me, looking a bit confused but brushed it off as he stood up.

Practice carried on as normal as it could and we all found out that Haiba was a fairly skilled spiker, he definitely has some learning to do but most first years do. However, it's always promising when they have a love for it, and clearly he does. Just the way he talks about it and his eyes light up, you can tell. The boys showed him the clean up routine while I started packing my school bag, all of my work long done seeing as it had been a light day for such. My brother jogged over to me and started apologizing for taking so long.

"It's alright, go get changed, you're smelly and sweaty. I'll start packing your volleyball bag, okay?" He nodded and took off to walk with Kuroo to the locker room.

I grabbed his marked water bottles, knee pads, back up jersey, emergency tape, and volleyball, placing all the items in the bag in an organized order and leaving room for his current clothes and shoes. My knees started to cramp from squatting for so long so I started stretching before slipping into a full split. Reaching out and touching my toes before switching to the other side. I stood up before the boys came back out, not wanting to risk any of the first or second years staring, I may be comfortable with my body right now but that doesn't mean they gotta stare.

"You ready to go home?" I looked to my right and saw Mori a few steps away. I simply nodded my head and followed him.

——————

It took two weeks of Lev being there for practices before he finally asked about me. Everyone was down for a water break and my brother forgot his back up water bottle today so I brought down mine from my normal seat on the bleachers. Today I decided to wear a pair of black sweatpants, that weren't too loose but not form fitting, just the right kinda comfy, along with a red crop top, again not form fitting but comfortable. Thankfully it ended just above the waistband of my pants so it wasn't revealing anything. I sat with my brother and placed my legs over top his, leaning back on my hands and chatting with him and the new first year libero, Shibayama, when I heard Lev start talking to Kuroo and Kai.

"So, who is she exactly? I mean she's here everyday and she seems really close to the shorty." My brother popped his head up at the name. I locked my legs in place and kept him down for a second to cool it.

"Oh, her? That's Y/N." I turned my head over at the mention of my name and waved a bit before trying to turn back to my previous conversation.

"Oh, cool!" A small tinge of pink threatened to make its way to my face but I tried distracting my mind. "So, wait why does she come here then? Is she dating Yaku or something?" I almost choked on the water I was drinking. Almost. Next thing I heard was a hyena laugh erupting in the air. "What? I'm serious! What am I missing?"

"Can you really not see the resemblance?" I heard Kenma mutter, trying not to laugh at the situation.

"Lev," I called over, his head shot up and towards me, "Morisuke and I are siblings, that's why I’m always here." I giggled at how his face lit up in understanding.

Meanwhile, Lev sat their relieved that you weren't dating Yaku and that he was just your brother. He thought you were gorgeous, and looking closer now; he can see the family resemblance and felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner. You both had the same hair color and eyes, similar face shapes and were similar heights. How hadn't he noticed it sooner? And from what he has witnessed from you hanging out with everyone during practice, he already loved your personality. He wanted to ask you out then and there but knew it was too soon and definitely not the place.

——————

Another two weeks had passed before I had my first conversation with the self proclaimed 'Ace of Nekoma'.

"Uh, hey, Yaku?" I turned at the mention of my last name to see Lev standing in front of me. More accurately, I saw his jersey covered stomach until I looked up at the skyscraper.

"Oh, hey Lev! You can just call me Y/N, no need for calling me my last name. It gets confusing with my brother and I both here. But what's up?" His cheeks were a pretty tinge of pink and I'm sure mine were too.

"Uh, you, you used to play volleyball, right?" My eye brows furrowed a bit, I wonder who told him.

"Yeah, I used to be a libero in middle school. Why?"

"I was wondering uh, would you help me? With receiving? I've improved a bit since coming here and I appreciate the team helping me but I just.." The taller man looked to the side for a second as he trailed off.

He's being vulnerable with me right now.

Him sighing brought me out of my thoughts.

"It just doesn't click when they explain it. So I guess what I'm asking is will you teach me how to receive? I'm hoping that different learning methods help more." I bit my lip as I thought about it.

"Sure, I can teach you on weekends." His eyes lit up and it was the most precious thing I've ever seen.

"Really? I didn't think you'd agree!" I giggled at his excitement.

"Yes, really. But I gotta ask. Who told you I used to play volleyball? Only some of the team and family know that." He scratched back of his head sheepishly.

"Yamamoto did." The realization washed over me, I shouldn't be shocked really.

"Makes sense. Okay well, you get back to practice before coach, rooster head and my brother kill you." He nodded before jogging off back to practice. I shook my head as I tried to fight this stupid blush on my face. And to forget why I quit volleyball in the first place.

Two days later and I was meeting Lev and the park for volleyball training. I wore a red and black Nekoma tank top and a pair of my old volleyball shorts. It wasn't long before the bean stalk walked up with a wide smile on his face. The sight alone made me blush and smile a bit from the contagiousness of it.

"Okay, ready to start coach?" I giggled and nodded my head.

"Okay, let's start with the basics. Show me your form when you receive." He fumbled for a second but got in an awkward stance with his arms out. "We have a lot of work to do, I thought my brother would have gotten on your ass about that alone." His head tilted in confusion, like a sad golden retriever who just got tricked from having a treat. "Okay, well keep in mind, libero’s are the most physically flexible on the team so I'll have a bit of an advantage when it comes to receives, right?" He nodded his head, not following where I was going with it. "Which means first you'll have to loosen up, gain some flexibility, but first I'll teach you a general stance. Watch me." He studied my form and my movements and I fought the blush rising under his watchful eye. "See how I'm planted but I can still lean into it?" His mouth made an 'o' shape as the pieces started falling into place. He tried again, his form significantly better but not perfect, which was to be expected. I took a step forward before reaching out my hands. "May I?" His eyebrows furrowed before he blushed and nodded, realizing what I meant. I straightened out his arms fully, reminded him not to cross his thumbs unless he would like to have them broken. I tapped his feet with my own and had him widen his stance just a smidge and then he was basically perfect for form. "Perfect! Can you tell me why I did what I just did?" He focused for a second before forming his sentence.

"My arms weren't locked, which... would have made the ball deflect easier. And since I tried copying your stance.. my legs didn't match with my height and build?" I smiled proudly.

"You got almost all of it! Good job! The only thing you were missing is a minor detail, you were focusing too much weight on your feet. You have the right idea, being an immovable tree, but even the biggest trees sway in the right storm. Now, while holding this position, I want you to try leaning. Lean as far as you can without falling over and if you need to move one foot to the side then do so." I showed him what I meant and he quickly caught on. Following my directions perfectly. "That was perfect! You ready to try and hit some volleyballs?" He nervously smiled but nodded, his confidence already improving from his newfound knowledge. I grabbed my two volleyballs, went over to the nearest park table and stood on it. My serve was one of the more powerful ones, rivaling with Bokuto's or Kuroo's when they get overly invested in a game. I kept it in the same general direction each time, knowing it would take some extra practice from him to do major moving or even rolling receives. He got three in a row before one bumped to the side.

After an hour or so of him receiving he got almost twenty in a row and I was very proud of the progress after just an hour and a half. He looked like he would drop at any moment though and I couldn't really blame him.

"We're gonna take a break, I know you need one, we can go for another half hour or so. For now do you want to take a lap or two around the park?" He perked up and nearly sprinted to the table I was now standing next to. "I'm proud of you, I can already see progress."

"Thank you... I have a good teacher." My face warmed up but was easily disguised from the high risen sun. "It helps, having someone explain the steps. The guys just.. expect me to figure it out! And it's frustrating when they just have me fail on digging up spikes for hours." He groaned, clearly not delighted about the guys treating him a little different because he's newer than the rest.

"I get that, I had a personal coach at one point and at one point I was... for lack of better words horrible at receiving. But then she taught me what I showed you and it all came naturally after that. The guys learned the way they're teaching you and think it's going to be the same way for everyone but it's not." He hummed, clearly knowing the feeling.

"Wait- you were bad at retrieves?" He was flabbergasted at the small fact.

"Yeah." The word came out in laughter. "Believe it or not, I wasn't naturally good at it, Morisuke is better than me though.." The words died in my throat.

"You're really good at volleyball, why did you quit?" I looked away as I remembered all the reasons why I quit.

"Just, lost the love for it I guess." I mumbled, he picked up that I didn't want to talk about it and left it there.

I didn't like lying to him but you can't just tell someone you met a mere month ago, 'oh yeah I quit because my older brother was better than me and everyone in my family noticed and acknowledged it but disregarded my achievements because Mori already got them.' It was easier to just say I fell out of love, it wasn't a full lie regardless of how much I love and adore the sport. The most important people in my life never noticed and I lost the drive for it. The next ten minutes of our walk were a comfortable silence as we finished a lap around the park.

"The sun really drained me, I should probably get home. I know you must be more tired than I am." I packed up my drawstring bag and turned to leave but stopped when I heard Lev call my name.

"Can we exchange numbers? F-For future practices?" I fished my phone out of my pocket and ignored the missed texts from my brothers, deciding to make them wait for an answer about my whereabouts. We switched phones and typed in our respective names and numbers before I departed home.

——————

A month later the most unexpected thing happened during practice.

"Yaku!" My brother and I turned. "Uh, Y/N! Can I speak with you?" I nodded and walked over to Coach Nekomata.

"Is there an issue coach?" I hope I wasn't getting in trouble for staying here every practice.

"Not at all, aside from one thing that I figured we could solve right now. I would like you to become the teams manager. Don't think I haven't noticed how much you helped Mr. Haiba with his receives or how you can get Kenma off of his games for practice. You're already here everyday and you know quite a bit about volleyball, may as well get some credit out of it." My eyes widened in shock as he offered me an official Nekoma Volleyball Club Jacket.

"I- thank you! Yes! Of course I'll become the team manager!" He smiled in delight and I quickly sling on the jacket

"Everybody! Listen up!" He yelled, everything stopping. He stepped in front of me, completely hiding my figure. "I would like to inform you all, you have a new team manager! That's all!" He stepped aside to reveal me in a Nekoma jacket for the team. All of the boys started hollering in joy and I heard Yamamoto say something about finally having a hot and cute girls manager for the team. Mori wasn't too pleased about it and all I can say is I hope Yama gets new knees soon. "Y/N, show them what you're made of." I smiled nervously before stepping forward.

"Kuroo, Kai." The two shot their heads up and towards my direction. "What do you both think the team needs to work on most?" Kuroo thought about it but Yuki had an immediate answer.

"Rolling and flying receives, receives in general for most of the first years but especially those two." He was gentle and diligent, soft spoken with authority.

"Kuroo? Do you agree?" He nodded his bed head.

"Yeah, Kai's right. Maybe a few people need help with serves but that's all really." I nodded in thought, thinking of how to split this up.

"Okay, we're going to have three spots today to improve that, independent skills can help a team and if many are lacking then the team is too. Alright, listen up everyone!" Some of the first years that were talking shut up at my authoritative yell. "Kuroo and Kai will tell you if you need help with receives or serving! We're going to have three spots for everyone, there's fourteen of you and I don't have enough eyes! Now I know not all of you need help, if that's the case you're still training! Sorry but you aren't getting out of that one! We earned the nickname 'cats' for a reason, so we gotta keep that title! Newer first years, you guys are just about the only ones that need help digging up the ball and maybe a second year or two! Shibayama, Yaku Morisuke and myself will be watching over and doing most of the teaching for the rolling and flying receives! Kuroo and Yamamoto will be sticking to helping out with the servers! Now, does anyone have a problem with this?" I received a bout of silence. "Good! Now rolling receives will be taking this half of the court!" I pointed to my left. "Flying receives and serving will take place on the sides of this half of the court! If one of us tells you to go somewhere, you go! I get it, you don't want to and you all would rather play separate three on three's or four on four's but that'll be tomorrow or the next day!" I watched the captains to place people where they deemed necessary and got to work.

"Nice work. You beat me to the punch on focusing on their individual skills. From what you've been watching, who needs help with what?" I knew this was a test, he already knows.

"When it comes to these specific receives, Kenma needs help, he’s good at serving, sure it's not the most powerful but it gets over the net. First years though? Of course Lev needs help, and I'll be sure to keep up with training him because he ones need the most help. It's not that he’s bad at it, he just has a different learning style, similar to mine. Teshiro and number thirteen need help the most with receives too. But serving? I think the whole team could benefit, especially if we see that lefty again at Nationals. We need to try and find someone to serve left handed, and decently at that, to train our libero's to prepare just in case." He hummed in approval and nodded, easing the unsettling the feeling in my gut.

"So, you already have people picked out, why let the captains decide?" He had a fair question.

"Well they're on the court together most, they're going to know what players get targeted with power serves and struggle more in a match. They have more hands on experience together while I just observe and direct."

"Good job, you're already excelling in this position." I bowed in respect as I widely smiled.

"Thank you Coach."

"Now, go stretch properly with your brother." I nodded and jogged off to my brother.

"Hey, coach told me he wants us to properly stretch before helping with training." He let out a disgruntled hum before plopping to the floor with me. I fell into a near perfect full split.

"Damn, Y/N! Break your legs!" My eyes nearly rolled out of my head at Kuroo's comment. I stretched my hamstrings and tendons on my left before switching to my right, repeating the stretch. I could feel a pair of eyes on me and I know for a fact it's not the third years or Yamamoto. I looked around and found Lev blushing and staring at my exposed, toned legs. My face burned as I realized I caught my crushes attention.

"So you've been training Lev on weekends? And now you're our manager?" I looked at my brother in confusion, wondering why he was acting like this.

"Yeah? I told you I was training Lev on receives because him and I have the same learning style which isn't 'dig it up till you drop'. And I was asked to become manager, Coach Nekomata pulled me aside just before announcing it to ask me and I had no idea before then. Don't get mad at me for helping a friend and taking an opportunity, not everything is handed to me and I was actually really excited. Thanks." My words quickly turned bitter and sour, I stood up and let him be as I walked over to the rolling receive area. I need to smack a volleyball, just do something to let the anger out. Kuroo was the first to notice and asked me to show them my jump serve. I stretched my arms briefly before doing so, the smack against my hand barely comparing to the sound of the ball hitting the floor. This is where Bokuto, Kuroo and I were the same, when we were angry, we spiked and served until we felt the weight lift off our shoulders. The teams eyes were wide at my demonstration of force.

"Your serves don’t have to be like that, some of you may want to learn a jump float serve when you get the chance though. It's a good thing to have in your back pocket when you're in a tough situation." Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone went back to their respective areas to continue working aside from Lev.

"Hey... Are you okay?" I tilted my head down as I bit back the tears of frustration.

"I'm fine." My voice was just a whisper and clearly the beanstalk didn't know what to do. "Hey, go practice before coach kills you, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He solemnly nodded and went back to the flying receives area before I sat down on the bench. I didn't have to technically be bouncing around the gym, the serotonin got to me prematurely. It's not like Mom or Dad will care about me getting this accomplishment under my belt.

"Y/N," my brother started as we got in the door, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be manager. It'll just be the same from when you were on your own team, there's no point. You're just going to get hurt again." I sighed, our brothers were somewhere but none of the cars were here, meaning Mom and Dad were out at work.

"I'm not doing this for them. I'm taking an opportunity. And what was that all about earlier with Lev? You were being weird about it."

"I don't want you talking to him. You don't need him."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. He likes you for your body and you aren't like that. I don't wanna see you hurt." I stared at him incredulously.

"So you're saying if I keep talking to him and if I ever date him, I'll be a slut?" I was met with silence. "Thank you, so much Mori. What happened to having my back? What happened to you being there for me?"

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Are you sure? Because that's what it sounded like. Whatever. I'm going to bed." I trudged upstairs to my room, not wanting to deal with this. I saw I had a text or two from Lev but I didn't have the heart to answer. A pang of guilt hit my body when I ignored two of his calls. Next Kuroo texted me.

From Roosterhead: Hey are you okay?

To Roosterhead: I'm fine, just Mori being weird and protective

——————

I set my things down on the park bench and waited for Lev, today was quiet out. My oldest brother not even talking to me, the other two sympathizing, my parents weren't even home. I stared off at the pond a ways in front of me and watched the ducks swim around. I didn't even realize when Lev came down and sat next to me, the serenity of the scene calming down my pent up stress.

"I'm sorry for ignoring your calls and texts last night." I spoke as we stared out at the pond. His left hand came over and rested atop my right one, a comforting gesture from the spiker.

"It's okay, I'm just worried about you. Are you okay?" He was careful with his words, hesitant to risk pushing any buttons. I simply nodded because I knew that I would be and that I shouldn't hold any ill feelings towards my family. "Do you want to talk about it?" I was silent for a second, nobody ever wanted to talk about it. My siblings could tell from a single look and my familial interactions. And the guys, well they would usual be there for it. Once or twice Bokuto would ask or maybe Kenma would but it wasn't all that often.

"I didn't.. quit volleyball because I lost my love and drive for it. I- I gave up. With Morisuke being two years older, I had standards to meet. And even when I did meet them, they didn't care. They never cared because I'm not the oldest, any achievement I got didn't matter. Mori already had it. So I gave up, I got tired of putting in my all and not receiving any recognition from my family. Sure my brothers would congratulate me but then it would turn into our parents just going 'Oh well don't you remember when Morisuke got that?' or 'Oh don't you remember when Mori did that?' It didn't matter to them so I quit. My brother didn't want me feeling the same way again when I became manager yesterday so when we got home he tried talking me out of doing it. And during practice, it just, it got under my skin. He's gonna sit there and get defensive about so many things when I'm my own person. I can make decisions for myself." He says there in silence, taking in everything I said and figuring out how to respond.

"What was he getting defensive about?" I looked away from him as I blushed, thinking back to the other part of our conversation when we got home.

"He doesn't want me hanging out with you." From what I could feel in his body language shift, he was offended.

"Why doesn't he want that?"

"Because I- I like you. And that's how brothers are." It was awkward and silent for a moment.

"I like you too." My head shot over to look at him. "Uh, will you, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked with a soft smile trying to feign confidence. I rapidly nodded my head and smiled, feeling much better and much more elated than I did yesterday. I practically launched myself as I wrapped my arms around him. He immediately reciprocated the action, wrapping his arms around my lower back. Scooting closer to him, he kept one arm placed around my lower back and my head rested on his shoulder. It was comforting. It felt natural. He placed a kiss on my head and allowed us to sit in a comfortable silence for a minute.

"I like you a lot, beanstalk."

"Beanstalk?!?" I giggled at his reaction and simply nodded in return. "Fine then you're my shortstack." I rolled my eyes and blushed.

"Rude."