Author's Note: Surprise! I've been working on this story for a pretty long time, and I'm very excited to share it with all of you! The wonderful Bekki very graciously beta'd this, and I'd like to give her a huge thanks for doing so! Warning: There is at least some measure of adult themes in each part, in particular the middle and end. I will put warnings as to how NSFW each part is at the start of them, but be warned that large amounts of this story may contain adult material! As well, it is a continuation of Collaring the Mad Dog, so I'd recommend reading that story first! Alright, I hope you enjoy the first part!

—

"You said you needed practice, right?" Kyoutani says, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the large stack of books behind him. His voice is rough, harsh as always, but you can tell he's talking more gently than normal.

"Well…I mean yes, I did, but—"

"So what better way to practice?" He interrupts you, standing up and taking a step closer to you. His impatience always gets worse when he's really fired up to do something. "You're not going to find anyone more intimidating than me."

You cross your arms over your chest. He looks down at you, and you see his expression slightly soften (slightly being the key word. He tries, but his eyes are still fiercely determined). You press your lips together tightly, looking at the ground as you think. You don't quite agree…you'd never been afraid of Kyoutani. You recognize that he seems to intimidate almost everyone else in the school, whether he means to or not, but you know he's harmless.

Mostly harmless.

Well, harmless to you, at the very least.

So…could something like this really work?

—

Earlier…

"Oh, are you heading out already?" Sakura looks up from her lunch, as you start quickly stuffing your lunch container back into your bag

"Yep! I'm going to go meet Kyoutani." You reply cheerfully. "Sorry I have to leave so soon, but I have to go home early today so I can't see him after volleyball practice. This is the only time we'll have together today." You sigh, but even knowing you had only a little time to spend with him couldn't damper your excitement, and you quickly perk up again.

"Why can't he just eat lunch with us?" One of your friends asks, looking at you inquisitively.

You look over at your friends, a large group of girls who were very close to one another and talked about anything and everything, from how amazing Oikawa was to how painful cramps were. You had once asked Kyoutani if he wanted to eat lunch with you and your friends, and you had seen the blood immediately drain from his face.

It was actually a little funny. Most of your friends were a bit intimidated by Kyoutani, but it was nothing compared to how intimidated he was by them.

You didn't think Kyoutani would appreciate you telling them that though, so you struggled to think of another excuse.

"Kyoutani rejoined the volleyball team recently, right? After being away for a while. Oikawa-kun probably insisted that he eat lunch with the team so they'll get used to each other faster." Sakura says smoothly, smiling up at you.

You return her smile gratefully, nodding in agreement. The other girls sigh and nod, saying it's really too bad, before going back to their conversations. They already know that the Aobajousai volleyball team has a 'members only' policy when it came to their lunches (or else they'd need an extra table just for your friends, Oikawa's fans) so that meant you couldn't eat lunch with him and the team either.

"I'll see you guys later!" You wave goodbye as you run off, stopping briefly to put your bag in your locker before heading off to find Kyoutani.

—

One thing you have to appreciate about Aobajousai is how big it is. The large, sprawling building gives you plenty of places to meet, and during lunch many of the hallways are nearly empty or occasionally completely deserted. Kyoutani, being a lone wolf, knew all of them, and had shared with you the best places to meet up for a private get-together for the two of you.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late!" You exclaim pleasantly as you round the corner. Kyoutani, who's leaning against the wall staring at his phone forcefully, straightens up immediately as he looks up and sees you.

"S'okay." He says coolly, looking wholly unfazed by your tardiness. Yet when you approach him, he suddenly puts his arms around you, hugging you tightly.

You're surprised, but you almost melt in his strong, warm embrace. Then, all too quickly, he pulls away. You make a small noise of disappoint while Kyoutani rubs the back of his head awkwardly.

"…I…missed you." He mutters under his breath, his face turning a little red.

"O—Oh!" You stammer, feeling your own cheeks heat up. "I—I missed you too."

Between schoolwork and chores, you hadn't been able to come early or stay late to see Kyoutani or watch his volleyball practice before or after school yesterday, and he'd had a volleyball meeting at lunch, so the two of you hadn't spent any time together in two days.

Kyoutani is getting embarrassed, you can tell, so he sits down, leaning against the wall. You quickly follow suit, sitting beside him…which evidently isn't near enough for Kyoutani, who puts his arm around you and pulls you closer to him, your skirt rumpling as your backside slides across the smooth floor until you're touching him. Now that you're finally close enough, his arm slightly relaxes around you.

It still feels…awkward to be so close to him though. Your heart is beating like crazy, and Kyoutani shifts stiffly, like he's uncomfortable.

"How's your day going?" Kyoutani asks, looking down at you.

"G—Good." You answer him, your voice an octave higher than normal. A few seconds of awkward silence pass.

Being this close to Kyoutani would feel normal one day, right?

"…Pfft!" Kyoutani turns his face away from you, and you hear him muffle a loud snort of laughter.

"Hmm? What is it?" You ask, tilting your head curiously as you lean closer to him, trying to see his face.

"Nothin'." He replies quickly, but when he turns back you can see he's smirking. "It's just…"

You stare at him sharply, and he covers his mouth with his fist to stifle more laughter.

"You're all tough when you're mad but…" He looks you straight in the eye, a cocky smirk on his face. "You get all shy around me. Even though we've been dating a month already, you get all bashful when I get too close."

You pout, relaxing back against his arm and crossing your arms over your chest. Kyoutani shifts again, suddenly watching you attentively. His smirk is gone, and he suddenly looks a bit apprehensive.

"First off, it hasn't been a month yet. We still have a few more days to go! Secondly, I am a little less shy! But…well, we've only been dating…" You pause, feeling your cheeks heat up just at the mere word, kind of contradicting your point. "A—a short time! I'm not going to change that much in so little time…"

Kyoutani seems to relax, now that he knows you're not really mad, and he snorts louder. "I changed a lot." He mutters under his breath. When you look up at him curiously, he suddenly clams up, looking away.

"I—I mean…I have to run to the bathroom more often now." He says, far too quickly. You're quite sure that wasn't what he really meant to say…especially since it's completely nonsensical.

"Huh?" You tilt your head in confusion. "How is that because of me?! Blame your diet."

Kyoutani puts his hand over his mouth and leans away from you as he has to muffle his laughter once again. Suddenly, he doesn't look so embarrassed.

You would probably be annoyed at being laughed at so much if you had any idea just what he was even laughing at.

Finally, he calms down, and leans back against the wall. "Well, I don't just use bathrooms. I take what I can get." He chuckles.

"What?!" You exclaim, even more confused than before. Kyoutani looks down at you, his gaze weirdly affectionate. And then he smiles at you, a big happy one that shows off his teeth. You haven't seen Kyoutani smile like that a lot, and it never failed to take your breath away.

Then, the hand of the arm around you reaches up and he rubs the top of your head fondly.

"Don't worry 'bout it." He says amiably.

As he pulls his hand back, letting it stroke your hair as it returns to its position near your shoulder, you feel your heart beat even faster. You know that Kyoutani is much more accustomed to hanging out with guys, and that guys have…unique ways of showing affection between each other, especially in a team. And even then, Kyoutani wasn't particularly fond of them.

So having Kyoutani do something like that to you made you really happy—like, he truly did consider you someone close to him. It was a genuine expression of affection, and it didn't feel forced or made you feel awkward. It felt really nice, and you're so pleased to feel your face flush.

"W—Well, there've been some other changes in my life too, you know." You say, trying to calm yourself as you notice him looking at you curiously. "I mean…no one harasses me anymore…"

Well, Oikawa seemed to enjoy teasing you a lot, but he never got close to the line seperating teasing and harassment, plus he…seemed to mean well? Well, it seemed to be how he treated many of his friends, anyway.

"…Mmm, although…" You pause, thinking for a moment. "I'm not complaining about that or anything but…it would be nice to get some more practice in standing up for myself. Especially with guys who won't take no for an answer…"

You immediately recall the scene of the male student cornering you in the library from a few weeks ago. The one Kyoutani had rescued you from. You can tell Kyoutani remembers him as well, as his expression turns sour and he makes a sound in his throat akin to a growl.

"Tch. Don't worry about it. Any asshole harasses you and I'll make sure they never do it again." Kyoutani declares. His intense gaze shows he's quite serious about this, and he even puffs out his chest. His arm around you pulls you closer to him, and you lean against his strong body.

You were flattered, really, but you didn't want to have to depend on Kyoutani to stand up for you.

"Thank you, but… I want to stand up for myself. Be strong on my own." You say gently. He grumbles, deflating a little, obviously a little disappointed he couldn't be your protector again. You snuggle up to him, marvelling at how cute he can be.

"Besides." You continue, trying to spare his ego a little. "You can't always be there to protect me anyways. What happens if I get in trouble and I only have myself to rely on? How am I going to defend myself then?"

Kyoutani's eyes suddenly go wide, before they narrow suddenly. His brow furrows, and you can see an expression of deep thought. You don't think this was something he'd ever really considered and which concerned him greatly.

It was touching, really, how worried he was about you, but it wasn't necessary. It wasn't like your life was brimming with dangerous people or anything like that.

Actually, the most dangerous people in your life were probably Kyoutani himself, who seemed to react to every threat with absolute full force, and the ever popular Oikawa, who was impossible to read and always seemed to be two steps ahead of everyone else.

Then, without saying a word, he abruptly stands up. He offers you his hand, and when you take it, utterly baffled, he hauls you to your feet effortlessly.

Then, he proceeds to nearly drag you down the hall. He's eerily quiet too, just staring straight ahead with the fiercely burning eyes he gets whenever he's completely and utterly focused on something.

When he gets to the door of the library, he comes to a sudden stop. The door is unlocked and open as always, and you can see the librarian inside distracted by her lunch and a book. Watching carefully, Kyoutani sneaks past her and, since at this point you figure you might as well just go along with this, you follow. He looks around, thinking, and then tugs your hand gently. You continue to follow as he takes you to a corner in the back of the library that's completely deserted (especially since it's lunch time).

Finally, he lets go of your hand, and turns to you. You can see he's really fired up about whatever brought the two of you here.

"Use me." He says suddenly, staring at you closely. You blink in surprise, tilting your head in confusion.

"…For…?" You motion with your hand for him to continue.

"For practice." He replies insistently. You stare back at him for a few moments, before you suddenly jolt with realization.

"Wait…you mean…" You say slowly.

"Yeah! I'll pretend to be the threatening guy, like the dipshit I saved you from before." Kyoutani says animatedly. "You stand up to me, no matter what happens!"

…

"What?!"