#reader also has problems

Being dragged through a crowd of people through an unfamiliar building to watch a volleyball game wasn’t your idea of a good way to spend your Saturday, but here you were. Coerced by your friends promises that it would be fun, or at the very least interesting. Mei was friends with one of Oikawa's fangirls, Chiyo. After witnessing her obsession over Oikawa and dedicating herself to attending every match Seijoh played both home games and away games no matter what. Mei had developed a curiosity as to what could cause so many girls to spend this much of their free time on a sport they don’t even play.

However, not wanting to watch the match with a bunch of girls squealing about something she isn’t quite as passionate about, she opted to not join Chiyo at the match against Shiratorizawa Academy. Instead opting to drag you and your other friend Emi Out to the match with her. Emi, equally as curious about the games as her, more than willing to spend her Saturday at the match.

You yourself were not as easily convinced but ultimately coerced with Mei’s pleas and promises that you wouldn’t regret going. “Come on (Y/N) It will be fun! The fan club has got to be on to something for all of them to be this obsessed and dedicated.”

You rolled your eyes at her “The something they are on is their fantasies about the team”

Emi chimed in with a comment you had no interest in being privy to. “I mean, it’s not exactly unreasonable. Our school's volleyball team is hot. Surely even you can see it.”

You shot her a glare as she giggled at your expense. “I’m not judging them for liking the team, but I have no interest in fawning over any of the players myself.”

“I think the match will be interesting to watch. I just would much rather spend my Saturday at home, or hanging out at a cafe or something like we usually do.”

But to your dismay Mei was persistent, and had gotten Emi on her side resulting in you being where you were now. Standing outside a huge building with a crowd of people around you walking through the doors,and chattering loudly in their groups. ‘So many people are here, I guess it makes since it is the finals’

Mei pulled you out of your thoughts and the spot you were previously standing. “Come on, we should hurry inside so we can get good seats!”

Emi agreed with her quickly walking in step with Mei as she dragged you through the front door “Yeah, we should definitely go in now, didn’t you say Chiyo told you that all of Seijoh’s matches were packed?”

You couldn’t help the sarcasm that dripped from your tongue. “Ah yes, we needed Chiyo's words to tell us that the place we are currently at that’s filled to the brim with people is in fact packed.”

Emi was quick to poke you in the side but had otherwise ignored what you said, while Mei just laughed still dragging you along, and now straight through the front doors of the massive building.

Immediately you were overwhelmed with the heat that only comes from too many people being confined in one area, and unintelligible, loud, gibberish from too many conversations happening at once. ‘How are there more people inside than outside?’

Emi, and Mei were clearly nowhere near as bothered as you were by the new environment you had entered into. Talking amongst themselves about which way to go to get to the court. You weren’t paying much attention to the conversation though, content to let Mei continue to drag you around until the match was over and you could go home.

It only took a few minutes for Mei and Emi to decide where to go, once again dragging you along. As they led you down multiple different long hallways, taking many different turns you looked around at all the people in the overcrowded building, and you couldn’t help but find yourself wishing you were anywhere but here. The unnerving presence of everything around you is taking its toll on you. Being around other people in general wasn’t really your thing, but crowds were even worse bringing out an overwhelming sense of danger and panic.

Although as much as you still hate crowds you have made progress in leaps and bounds with your tolerance to them. ‘I’m never going to like being surrounded by strangers. How is this enjoyable to everyone? I doubt everyone else is fighting against their disdain to participate in activities.’

‘I mean surely if they were then there wouldn’t be a crowd at all. Everyone would just stay home.’

‘I wish I had just stayed home.’

Once again you were pulled out of your thoughts by a now very exited Mei now standing in the doorway leading into the court “Yes! There’s still some good seats!”

Emi seemed to brim with just as much excitement as Mei did “People must be hanging out in and around the building until it gets closer to the time the match will start. This is perfect, we'll be able to see the game clearly in front row seats!”

‘Front row seats? This is the finals, and there's already so many people here. How are there front row seats available right now?’

This time when Mei moved to drag you she was met with resistance as you planted your feet into the ground fixing her with an angry look from the depths of your soul. “Mei… why are there so many seats available right now?”

Emi bent over laughing as Mei was left with a cheeky albeit slightly nervous look on her face. “Well, ya know… good seats are important to properly experiencing a game for the first time.”

“We want to watch the match, not the back of people's heads.”

Emi managed to stop laughing long enough to save her from being the one to tell you the information they had been withholding from you. “The match doesn’t start for another hour.”

“You told me to be ready to leave by two P.M sharp! So we would be here by three for the match!” you seethed

Emi was quick to retort. “Well, you could have taken the time to look into what your dearest friends are interested in. Then you would have known the match started at four and not three!”

The irritation was bubbling up in your veins, and you were about to lay into them both for deceiving you, but before you could,

“Mei?”

The three of you spun around to see who was calling the lying brats your friends name.

Mei’s face lit up and she walked over to embrace the girl. “Chiyo!”

Chiyo and the other fangirls that accompanied her to the game greeted Mei, and probably said something to you and Emi as well, but you were not paying any attention to that. Instead Glaring into the back of Mei’s skull with a look that could kill.

Even when Chiyo and her friends left you three in favor of going to go find seats your eyes didn’t move from the back of Mei’s head.

And as Mei slowly turned around you deadpanned “You made us get here before even the fangirls got here.”

Emi once again burst into laughter. “I don’t know what you are laughing about! You’re just as bad! You two might as well have let me stay home and gone with Chiyo and her friends, you would fit right in.” you stated in exasperation while rolling your eyes.

“What was the plan here? Sit around and do nothing for an entire hour?” you continued.

Mei shrugged at your irritation. “Relax, it’s only an hour, and it will be worth it for the good seats!”

“Oh really? And you of course would know this seeing as you're the expert at watching volleyball games despite never being to one either.” you spat

Despite upholding your sarcasm you had already resigned yourself to the hour of boredom, and the volleyball match that stood in your way of going home. You cared about your friends and they cared about you. You wouldn’t dream of interacting with other people the way you interacted with them. You were grateful that they had patience with you around this kind of stuff, even if you weren’t thrilled to be hanging out in a crowd at a volleyball game, you were willing to sit through it for your friends.

So you let Mei and Emi lead you to front row seats and decided to try and not be as hostile. You really didn’t mean to be, it was just the overstimulation getting to you. Even now when the bleachers were empty enough for front row seats to still be available it was loud.

Emi and Mei chattered on about all the assignments that their math teacher had assigned for homework over the weekend to pass the time.

“Ugh, (Y/N) you have no idea how lucky you are to have a different math class!” Emi whined.

“No kidding.” Mei added in solemn agreement.

“At least if I was in your math class we would all be together instead of me being alone.”

Mei was quick to shut your thought process down. “Or we could have all been blessed to be in your math class.”

“The people next to me in my math class talk the entire lecture, you’d never get anything done.”

“But no, instead me and Mei get four whole pages of homework!” Emi pouted, ignoring your comment entirely.

“Over the weekend!” Mei continued pouting as well.

You rolled your eyes with a small smile at their complaints. Your math class might not assign as much homework as theirs did but the exams were brutal, and you know once one of them creeped closer your complaints would match theirs.

The more time that passed the more people would slowly trickle into the room, filling up the available seats. As apprehensive as you were to be an hour early, time wasn’t going as slowly as you had thought it would. Just when there was only fifteen minutes before the match was scheduled to start, a sea of people flooded through the doors, all of them rushing to find any available seats they could.

A chill ran down your spine at the idea of a bigger crowd than you had been expecting. You had thought that the already crowded bleachers would be it, maybe a few stragglers, but definitely not another huge crowd of people.

Your mind was growing foggy, not being able to take in all of the things going on, lungs not refusing to take in enough air, short quick breaths taking place instead of the stable slower ones you logically knew you needed, but logic played no part in panic.

‘No, no, no, not again, I need to calm down.’

‘Nothing’s wrong! Everything is fine!’

‘I’ve gotten better.’

‘So why can’t I breathe?’

The familiar stinging sensation as your eyes started to fill with tears was not helping you ground yourself. Just as the breath catching in your lungs was about to push you over the edge, the world graced you with the distraction you needed to ground yourself back into reality. ~THWACK~

A stray volleyball flew through the air at impossible speeds hitting the wall directly underneath your seat. The players had entered the court and started warming up without you even realising it, too caught up in your head.

~Oikawa’s POV~

“Oi, If you’re going to miss terribly, send the ball into your team's cheer section, not mine.” Oikawa goaded at the spiker who had sent the stray ball flying.

Iwaizumi was dragging him away from the spiker within seconds.“Stop wasting our warm up time trashykawa!”

“Awww, Iwa-chan come on.”

“No! Go warm up!”

Oikawa went to grab a volleyball and start warming up, but turned towards the spiker sticking out his tongue, and pulling his left eye down to continue taunting him. “Watch carefully so I can introduce you to this thing we call aim.”

~Readers POV~

Even from the stands it was obvious Oikawa had been childishly teasing the other team's spiker, with your now clear head you had enough sense to roll your eyes at the childish antics your school's team captain was displaying.

You watched as Oikawa walked over to the serving line and rhythmically bounced the ball twice against the floor of the court before tossing it high into the air, jumping up after it, slamming his palm against it with immense strength, sending it barreling over the net straight into the ground on the other side of the court.

You didn’t even notice the noise of the crowd that had sent you spiraling just a few minutes prior. Just sitting there staring at the ball that had now rolled to a stop after its journey through the air.

As it turned out, knowing that your school's volleyball team was powerful and seeing it first hand were two different things.

“Wow, Chiyo and her friends are definitely on to something obsessing over him.” Mei laughed

“He was hot before that, but damn.” Emi tacked on

You couldn’t control the eye roll you gave them if you tried. “Really, that's where your mind goes from that?”

“That's not where your mind goes after witnessing that?” Emi asked, wiggling her eyebrows in a highly disturbing manner. Laughing at you with Mei.

“I’m sorry for being the normal one.” you deadpanned.

Mei pointed towards Chiyo and her friends who were still cheering Oikawa's name, praising him for his serve. “We’re the majority, you’re the weird one!”

“It's healthy to have your attention caught every once in a while. How else are you supposed to get motivation to get out of bed if not from hot boys?” Emi teased.

“Eventually we’re going to find someone that catches your eye, and we’re gonna get you a boyfriend!” Mei joined in with Emi’s teasing.

You turned red with both embarrassment and irritation. “I don’t want a boyfriend, go back to leering creepily at the volleyball team and leave me alone.”

“Awww, you’re all red (Y/N) look at her Mei, maybe she’s thinking of someone that already caught her eye, maybe you made her think of going on a date with him!”

Forget irritation now you felt anger course through your veins, you were ready to tear into them both when Mei spoke first. “Pfft, nah, if she thought of someone like that for even a fraction of a second she’d spontaneously combust on the spot! She’s the most emotionally constipated person I’ve ever met, no way could she hide her feelings!”

“Trueeee” Emi agreed with Mei howling in laughter together as your face burned in shame and fury.

“Shut up.”

Fortunately the match had started so your bullies friends opted to settle down and watch the match instead of continuing making fun of you for your disinterest in dating.

~Oikawa’s POV~

Shiratorizawa won the coin toss, meaning they were serving first. The pressure was on, the simmering rivalry was being brought to an all out boil in his veins. The desire to win against Ushijima for once instead of taking home the bitter bile of yet another loss burning him to his core.

‘We’re going to beat them this time. We have to.’

Tsutomu Goshiki sent a powerful serve over the net not with as much power as Ushijima or himself would be able to, but with an amount of power that showed exactly why he was a part of the coveted Shiratorizawa team.

Watari was able to receive the ball, sending it straight up and directly to him allowing him to set to Iwaizumi.

‘Come on Iwa, we could use an early point.’

Iwaizumi jumped after the ball, hitting it with all his might clearly on the same page of ending the first rally early and in their favor, but Shiratorizawa was able to receive the ball with relative ease.

The tension on the team was palpable. The guess monster creep didn’t even block Iwaizumi’s spike and they were still unable to score the point.

The team couldn’t afford to be distraught over this, the ball was already hurling back over the net from the force of ushijima’s powerful spike.

Despite the minor sense of dejection that the team faced from the failed attempt, Hanamaki stepped up and managed to receive the impressive spike with the help of Matsukawa’s one touch.

The ball was off course but that didn’t matter as long as the ball didn’t touch their side of the court. Iwaizumi dived after the ball, bumping it back into the air and to their teams control tower once again.

Shaking off the failed spike himself, he went to set the ball to Kindaichi. Watching as Kindaichi jumped into the air getting ready to strike, he instead dumped the ball over the net. Watching Ushijima’s face as Hayato Yamagata, Satori Tendō, dived after the ball but failed to receive it. Enjoying the look of frustration that passed over his features. “Oh Ushijima, you gotta be smart, don’t tell me you’re all brawn no brains. A top three ace but couldn’t stop a setter dump?”

Ushijima glared at him through the net. “That trick will only work once. You’ve never won against us before, you won’t win against us now, our teams simply better than yours.

Rage simmered underneath his skin. Iwaizumi pulled him out of his blind fury. “Oikawa! Stop arguing, and let's win this, he’ll have to eat his words when we crush them before we even get to a third set.”

“Yeah… lets win this time.”

He was focused now, it was about damn time they won against the powerhouse that always seemed to be the thing standing in his way. Ushijima’s words didn’t matter, they had scored the first point after all, and they definitely wouldn’t matter when they won.

‘Well those words will matter when I get to rub them in his ugly face.’

“Oikawa, fix your face, and get ready! It’s our turn to serve!”

“Fine fine, calm down Iwa-chan I’m ready.”

The game went on, each team fighting for points to be able to take the first set for themselves. Ultimately it was Seijoh who walked away with the first set managing to edge out Shiratorizawa by two points.

The team erupted into cheers thrilled to be able to have taken the first set by two points nonetheless. Much better than previous games they played against Shiratorizawa, things were looking really promising.

Hope, and adrenaline were bubbling up inside him, he was excited to stand against Ushijima and take the lead. This was it, he was finally going to beat Ushijima, and then he was going to go on to nationals.

‘Everythings finally going my way, all the hard work is actually going to pay off, all the late practices, and even later solo training afterwards is all going to be worth it.’

‘Ushijima, I’m going to show you that I’m worthy to play against those of you with raw talent.’

‘That I’m just as good as you, even if I have to work for it.’

Point, after point, after point. It was slipping through his fingers and it seemed that no matter how hard he tried he was useless to stop it. Shiratorizawa took the second set by six points. Six points. More than double what Seijoh had taken the first by.

“Tch, six whole points!”

‘And to think, were were so fucking happy to have won the first one by a measly two points.’

“Calm down Oikawa. We’ll take the next set.” Iwaizumi tried to soothe the sting of the blatant loss of the set, but even he himself didn’t seem all that convinced.

The whole team was falling into their dejection, he as the captain, and control tower of the game, needed to get everyone in gear. Raise moral, but he couldn’t drag himself out of the pit his mind had dug him into.

The third and final set began with Seijoh still feeling the sting of the second set, but they had no more time between sets. It was game time weather they were ready or not.

Once again Ushijima Shiratorizawa scored far too many points in succession. Oikawa himself and all of his teammates were all exhausted. Spending all of their energy futilely trying to defend against the brutal attacks sent their way, and left with not nearly enough energy to counterattack. Not in the way they needed to in order to win at least.

It was Ushijimas set point, Hayato Yamagata had received Kunimi’s last attack, and Eita Semi was setting the ball to Ushijima to carry out the final blow to his dreams.

The ball flew through the air on course to slam directly onto their side of the court at a horrifying speed.

“NO NO NO!”

His legs were heavy with impending exhaustion, and yet he dove for the ball anyways in desperation.

But it didn’t matter, his effort wasn’t nearly enough. The ball slammed into the ground an entire foot away from him. The whistle blew for the last time and it was over.

He had lost.

Again.

~Readers POV~

Half the gym erupted into cheers, while the other half muttered to each other in disappointment of their team losing, your friends a part of the latter.

“Awww damn, I really thought they had it after they won the first set!” Mei whined

“I know! I thought for sure they had it in the bag!” Emi joined in.

“…Yeah.” You were still staring at the court, one half celebrating, and the other half, your half standing on the court with an air of despair around them.

It was unsettling to say the least, it was reaching you all the way in the stands and making your guts twist in an unfamiliar way. It was different than anything else you've experienced before, nothing like the feeling your anxiety gives you. You knew that the feelings you were getting from being in their proximity could have only been a fraction of what the team still on the court were feeling.

‘Both teams were so good at the game, they both deserved to win, and yet one of them is walking away with nothing.’

“Well, I think it was well worth coming even if Seijoh didn’t win, that was so intense, it was exhilarating!” Emi squealed.

“Do you even know what that word means?” You teased.

“HEY! I used it in a sentence correctly didn’t I? Have some faith in me jeez!” Emi retorted

Mei joined you in laughter as people around you started to gather their things and head to the exit. “We should wait until it clears out a bit before leaving, that way we don’t have to deal with the insane crowd of people while trying to leave.” Mei proposed.

“Definitely, since we got here early the crowd on the way out will be much worse than it was when we first got here.” Emi agreed

‘Worse than when we got here?’

You shuddered at the thought of that. “Yeah. let's do that then.”

Eventually the majority of people had made their way out and only your little group and a few other groups of stragglers remained, Chiyo's group being one of them.

“Hey mei! Did you guys enjoy the match?” Chiyo asked excitedly

“Yeah, it was really cool, but… uh shouldn’t you be a little disappointed? I mean Oikawa lost, don’t you like him?” Mei asked

“Well yeah, but he looked so cool the entire time! I mean did you see those amazing serves he got in? And oh my god when he…” Chiyo's entire group seemed to light up at the opportunity to rave about Oikawa.

You found yourself tuning it out drifting off into your own mind. ‘I guess that's really what it is then. Superficial, even when it’s so obvious the loss took a great toll on him and the team, the only thing they notice is how cool they think he is.’

‘I mean there's nothing really wrong with it there, not actually friends with him they just admire him and he plays into it happily enjoying the attention.’

‘Both sides are happy with it, a win win I guess.’

“And when he dumped the ball right in front of Ushijima!” Chiyo gushed.

Your mouth moved before your brain could catch up. “That was really interesting…”

Mei and Emi shot you a look, but otherwise took mercy on you considering you were in front of Chiyo and her friends.

Chiyo squealed in excitement at your agreement, and you immediately decided you needed an escape plan.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom before we leave.”

“Okay, we’ll wait here for you, and then we can head home when you get back.” Emi said, chuckling at your eagerness to leave before Chiyo could gush directly to you about Oikawa.

“Oh, and maybe we can stop at a cafe on the way home!” Mei added clearly her way of trying to appease you for dragging you to the match.

That perked you up, the thought of a sweet treat making your mouth water. You decided you’d accept her appeasement. “Yeah, that sounds nice!”

With that you started walking to the bathroom, or at least in the direction you hoped the bathroom was, but ten minutes later and still no bathroom in sight you were starting to get frustrated

‘I should have paid more attention when they were dragging me through the halls. Where even am I right now?’

‘Why is this place so big, what is this, the imperial palace?’

As you continued walking down the big halls you came to a smaller more secluded hallway. Sitting against the wall holding a volleyball in his hands was none other than Oikawa, sitting with the devastating anguish of the loss. The proximal feelings you had gotten all the way in the stands were amplified by being this close to him, and being able to see the expression on his face made empathy bubble up inside you.

“Oh…”

You didn’t mean to say anything out loud but it was too late now his head snapped towards you. The look in his eyes was intense, it made you uneasy, you were half tempted to turn on your heels and walk away.

Instead your face twisted into a weak smile, trying to be sympathetic to the boy sitting in front of you. You were quiet when you spoke again, surprising yourself that any words came out at all.

“You… you played well, I’m sorry you lost…”

And just like that the intense expression on his face evaporated right along with the thick tension in the air. Instead an overly friendly smile graced his features.

“Oh thank you! I’m glad you came out to watch me, and are still happy to have come out even though we lost.”

“I’m grateful to have such sweet fans like you!” He said now spinning the volleyball on one of his fingers, putting on a show.

You felt like you had just been given whiplash with how quickly the atmosphere changed. The cocky bastard thought you were one of his fangirls, and that was all it took to perk him up. Conceited brat was all for someone stroking his ego. To the point that even the lame condolence you gave was enough for him to create a false narrative of worship in his head.

The irritation at his assumptions was getting to you.

“I’m not your fan.” You involuntarily rolled your eyes as you said it.

“No need to be embarrassed! I really am happy to have fans like you, and I mean why else would you come looking for me after my match? No need to be shy or anything, would you like a photo? Maybe an autograph?”

‘This little! Son of a! I can’t even with him! Is he serious?’

Your face twisted up into frustration, and the heat was scorching your face from your irritation. Heat and frustration he was clearly misinterpreting as something else only further serving to tick you off.

“Awww, here don’t worry you don’t have to ask.” he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from his bag jotting down his name before getting up and walking over to you, volleyball forgotten on the ground where he was sitting. He held the paper out in front of him as you stared at him incredulously.

“Here take it, It’s made just for you!”

“I told you I’m not one of your fans!” you blurted out, and you were helpless to stop the exasperated word vomit that followed.

“I didn’t come looking for you, I just wanted to find the stupid bathroom so I can go home! I didn’t even want to come watch the dumb game in the first place!”

“…Oh… well… sorry.” he said half haphazardly in reaction to your minor mental break.

“I didn’t mean to assume you know who I am, I just figured since you came to the game and came to talk to me in the hallway that you at least liked me a little bit.” he teased.

“I already told you I didn’t come to talk to you on purpose.” You seethed.

He just giggled at you, shooting you another charming smile. “I’m Oikawa, what’s your name?”

‘You have got to be kidding me.’

‘No, he’s completely serious right now.’

You rolled your eyes at him again before walking away. “I know who you are.”

It was then that you noticed Iwaizumi standing in the secluded hallway as well. You wondered how long he had been standing there, how much of your conversation he had overheard. He was scowling at Oikawa though, and then he turned to face you as you were about to pass him, continuing on your way.

“I’m sorry about him (Y/N), the bathroom is just two lefts away.”

“Ah, thank you!”

With that you walked away, grateful for the directions Iwaizumi had given you. You didn’t know him well but he was always nice to you from the limited interactions you’ve had.

‘I can’t wait to get home, this was SO not worth it, I renounce my acceptance of Mei’s appeasement cafe offer! Not even a sweet treat is worth the hassle of that conceited prick.’

~Oikawa’s POV~

The girl who was apparently definitely not a fan of his was now out of sight and presumably earshot because Iwaizumi had taken the opportunity to spike the volleyball he had abandoned directly into his stomach, and start scolding him.

“Damnit shittykawa! What is wrong with you, you're so damn rude!”

“Owwww! Iwa-Chan what gives, I was being nice, trying to give her an autograph!”

“What gives is you acted like a conceited asshole! You should have known she wasn’t one of your fans!”

“How would I know that!? She walked up to me after a game, why would she go this way to get to the bathroom?”

“She was clearly trying to play it off out of embarrassment!”

“She probably just isn’t familiar with this building! And you should have known she wasn’t your fangirl regardless!”

“How do you know her name anyways Iwa?”

“The same way you should have known she wasn’t a fan of yours!”

“Would you like to tell me what that is? Or would you like to continue yelling at me about it forever!”