Luck of the Draw

by mew-tsubaki

He'd talked of it so much, it'd come true. Or, Terushima thinks he's about to end his and Misaki's fairytale. *An AU oneshot set in my Birds of a Feather AU, but may be read on its own; set during "Opportunity" in the BoaF collection. [TerushimaMisaki]

Luck of the Draw

A Haikyuu! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. Some time with Terumisa in the Birds of a Feather AU. BUT! This fic stands on its own so you don't have to read the fics in the BoaF collection to enjoy this. I wanted to give Terushima the spotlight after the events of "Opportunity." ;w; Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: Though you don't have to read the BoaF fics to enjoy this, things will be clearer if you do; this is set during the 6th story, "Opportunity" (links at bottom of my FFN profile).

- ^-^3

He'd been expecting as much when Sugawara called him into his office. Barely a week after that company-wide meeting… Not long before the end of work today… At least Sugawara was the type to handle such a situation well.

Either way, though, Terushima was out of a job. Sugawara had done a nice job of breaking the news to him, all "You're a really hard worker when you get into it" and "In the department, you make the fewest mistakes, actually"…all of which preceded "…but your carelessness in changing your email settings and your haste in opening an obviously bad message has made the company take a hit" and "We felt that it would be wrong to fire you, in light of your strong record, but you will be the first to go." Then the sandy-haired man had stood and shaken his hand, looking so pained as he told Terushima it'd been a pleasure to work with him.

His eyes felt raw, as if he hadn't stopped crying in the men's room to go give Ennoshita the news. But he had, and Ennoshita had been even kinder, sitting with him on the floor of Ennoshita's office, listening to Terushima fill him in. And Ennoshita… Ennoshita had called him a good man, a lucky man, and the brunet's first friend here at Ukai Corp., even though Terushima had started a year after him and had been mentored by Ennoshita. He'd miss Ennoshita a lot, and he felt bad that he and Misaki probably never would take Ennoshita and his significant other out for that double date.

After talking to Ennoshita, it had been a quick thing to do, packing up his desk. He had a couple of notebooks in his desk drawer, the miscellaneous pens and assorted small office supplies in a mini caddy on top of his desk, a twelve-month volleyball-themed calendar made and sold by the Johzenji Alumni Association as a fundraiser for the school's volleyball clubs, and various pictures in free-standing frames on either side of…what now used to be his monitor.

Everything fit in his satchel, for the most part. The pictures—mostly of him and Misaki, one of them with his parents at Christmas, another of them with Bobata and Kuribayashi at the beach the last time the other couple was "on"—he tucked flat into a notebook for protection. The caddy was bulky, so he dumped everything in his bag and carried the empty hunk of plastic under his arm as he took the elevator down to the lobby for the last time.

He would miss this place. From the soon-to-break coffee machine in the fourth-floor break room in Marketing to these concrete walls in the lobby, Terushima would miss it all, because he'd been here for almost four years. Sure, no job lasted forever unless you were really lucky, but…it'd been fun to work at the sporting goods company. Most everyone here came from a sports background, and Terushima had even faced Sugawara and Production's Sawamura on a volleyball court back in high school, led, even, by the now-former company president, Coach Ukai Ikkei. Karasuno High School, a nest of crows…

…that rose from the concrete, Terushima thought in passing as his eyes left the concrete walls and he headed for the exit that led to the parking garage.

"Terushima-san!"

The blond stopped with his hand on the door, and he turned to find Ryugazaki from I.T. standing behind him, a little out of breath. Terushima mustered a grin. "Heya, Ryugazaki. You run all the way up from the basement just for me?"

The run put some healthy color in the glasses guy's cheeks, but he didn't return Terushima's smile. Instead, he frowned. "I just heard from Kobori-san…"

Terushima's eyes widened. Jeez. Word traveled fast in a smallish company. "Yeah… I'm the first one laid off," he said lightheartedly. He recalled the euphemism Former President Ukai had made last week—"involuntary transition"—but he lacked the energy to put a humorous twist on that right now.

"I'm sorry," Ryugazaki said.

"Nah, don't be. It's not your fault."

Ryugazaki tried to take comfort from that. "I just feel that maybe there was something more we in I.T. could've done to prevent this from happening."

Terushima shook his head. "You guys are great, trust me. You recovered my files that I thought had been deleted forever, so you saved me."

"Yes, but you still—"

Terushima clenched his jaw but kept his tone cheery. "Ryugazaki, man, listen. The best thing to do now is keeping anyone from being as stupid as me," he said with a laugh. He heaved a tired sigh. "And…find the ass who bothered to hack us. Just do that."

Ryugazaki studied his face for a moment. Then he relented and pushed his red frames up the bridge of his nose. He bowed to the blond. "I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!" He stood up straight and gave him a sad smile. "Goodbye, Terushima-san."

"Thanks, Ryugazaki." Terushima watched him go, and then he entered the garage where he was alone once more.

Today was not a great day to have parked a level up and at the opposite end of the doors, but Terushima tried to view it as a walk meant to clear his head. He had to stop Sugawara's and Ennoshita's words from spinning around and mixing in his head, and he tried to replace this last scene with Ryugazaki with memories from months ago, when the hack happened and Ryugazaki came upstairs to Marketing to stop it, and the days that followed and Ryugazaki reviewed everything that had happened with Terushima, assuring the blond even back than that these things happened and were not the end of the world. Normally Ryugazaki didn't appear very friendly since he was slow to share his smile, but he had shared it with Terushima. He was a nice guy. Terushima would've liked to become friends with him.

At his car, he unlocked the doors and tossed both caddy and satchel in the backseat. Then he sat down, buckled up, and banged his head against the wheel, making the horn chirp halfheartedly in the mostly vacant lot. The stupid sound echoed, argh.

He pulled his phone out and checked the time. Then he texted his girlfriend, figuring he stood a fair chance of hearing from her:

-hana-chan~ still at work?

Her response came a minute later:

-In the middle of practice, Yuuji. Think about what you want for dinner.

Of course, food was the last thing on his mind, as he lacked an appetite. But Misaki had told him all he needed to know, so he pulled out of his space and drove down and out of the garage, hanging a left once there was a break in the dregs of rush hour traffic.

Fifteen minutes and several long traffic lights later, Terushima steered into the vacant visitor lot at Shutoku High and headed for the volleyball gym, where he parked near the doors. He left his suit jacket in the backseat, too, and he undid the top button of his shirt. He loosened his tie, as well, to relax, consciously ignoring that he no longer had an Ukai Corp. badge around his neck to tuck away safely in his satchel.

It had begun to drizzle between his leaving Ukai Corp. and reaching Shutoku, so the gym doors were closed. But he jogged to them and slipped inside, spying Misaki off to the side before she noticed him. "Heya," he said simply as he took one large step up to her side.

Misaki did a double-take, her light brown bob swinging around her jaw. She stopped noting something on her clipboard. "Yuuji! What are you doing here?"

He grinned, loving how her eyes sparkled and her thick eyebrows rose in her surprise. "Thought I'd come see my lady in action. Think Shutoku's girls' team might become a top-three contender?" he asked as he put his hands in his pockets.

Misaki's eyes darted to the head coach, her boss, and she ushered her boyfriend a few steps away from the older woman. Then Misaki looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "That's not what I mean. You've never dropped by before."

He shrugged. "I pick you up from work all the time," he reminded her.

One dark eyebrow inched higher than the other, skeptical. "Uh-huh." But her half frown wavered, as if caught between chiding him and asking what had transpired.

"We can talk after," Terushima assured her, catching a stray volleyball with one hand before it hit Misaki. The students clapped at his reflexes, and he gently spiked it back to the libero who was closest. "I just wanted to see you," he mumbled, his eyes on the ball as the girls kept a volley going, but he was loud enough for Misaki to hear.

"…yeah," she caved, the apples of her cheeks rosy, but she didn't hide behind her clipboard. "We've got about half an hour left, so please wait patiently."

"'Patience' is my first name," he quipped.

"No, it's not," she retorted with a light biff to his head with her clipboard, and she returned to the head coach's side after.

Terushima had the funny feeling the head coach had yet to rule out his being a pervert, showing up to the girls' practice like this, but he was on his best behavior. He watched them go through all the same exercises he had at Johzenji at their age. He could tell they had a few good players and one excellent one, namely that libero to whom he'd returned the ball, but he'd definitely seen more talented girls' teams.

That was on Misaki's mind, too, as she grabbed her bag from the coaches' office and shouldered the duffel. "Another day over," she stated as Terushima walked her out. She smiled when he held her door open for her. "But your being here is making it better," she said as she kissed his cheek and got in the passenger seat.

"Until it doesn't," he muttered to himself after he closed her car door and circled around to the driver's side.

"To answer your question," Misaki stated as he rolled out of the lot, "no, I don't think they'll be in the top three. We have some really great athletes, but this team isn't coming together like the one from two years ago. Besides, Shutoku is known for its basketball, not its volleyball." She shook her head and unzipped the collar of her orange track jacket. "One of our freshman wing spikers, Takao, has an older brother who played for Shutoku's boys' basketball team back during the time of the Generation of Miracles—ah, he played with Miyaji-san, you know, the boys' basketball assistant coach who's walked me out to the car a few times?—anyway, she doesn't have any game sense for volleyball. I keep asking Miyaji-san to talk to the girls' basketball coach, because it'd be a waste not to use Takao's skills." She shook her head again, a tad more vehemently this time. "Just not on a volleyball court."

"Mm."

Misaki watched his profile in the city lights. "Yuuji. I'm not usually the chatterbox."

"Mm."

He felt rather than saw her unimpressed expression aimed at him. "Yuuji. Tell me why you showed up tonight, why you're so quiet now."

He flashed his golden brown eyes to her and mustered a smile. He kind of wished he hadn't stopped wearing his piercings all the time; he liked his earrings, but there was something calming about clicking his tongue stud against his teeth while he organized his thoughts. Some people had a metronome; he had a tongue piercing. But about the only thing he could get away with in the corporate world was his bleached hair since he kept it trimmed and smartly styled.

…ah, him in the corporate world. What a joke.

"Yuuji!"

Terushima snapped out of it when he realized the red light had turned green, and he toed the gas. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't say that. Just talk to me."

He waited to continue until their apartment complex was in view. Then he picked a parking spot right beside the building since the drizzle had worked into rain. He turned the key, removed it from the ignition, and glanced at Misaki again. "They let me go."

"Oh." She stared for a minute and eventually moved her eyes to the dashboard.

"Yeah."

"Well…"

He eyed her profile.

"…you've been scared this would happen since February, when the email issue occurred. So…it's a surprise, but it's not a shock."

Terushima whined. "What's the difference?"

She gave him a small smile and patted his cheek. "It means we'll be okay. I've been saving more since February, so it's not much, but it's something." Misaki got out of the car then and waited for him to grab his bag. "We'll be okay," she reminded him over the car's roof. And she grinned as extra assurance.

But he didn't feel so sure. He hadn't been saving—well, not since February. Terushima had squirrelled small amounts away here and there for the past year, and he'd had Kuribayashi's input in picking out something Misaki would like even if it wasn't as good as she deserved, and that little box had been living in his right pants pocket since January, so he'd been replenishing some of the savings he'd spent. And he'd originally planned on surprising Misaki next week on her birthday—

—but there was no way that could happen now.

They hurried to the building as the rain threatened to downpour, and they ran up the stairs to the second floor, Misaki laughing the whole way for some reason mysterious to Terushima. "Uh, Hana-chan…you can't have that much faith in me," he said as they entered their apartment.

She dropped her bag by their shoes and used her partially damp jacket to squeeze some of the moisture from her hair. "Why not?"

"Because I'm freaking out here!"

Misaki took one of the sleeves and patted his head dry with it, smiling contently. "Then freak out. It means you understand the severity of what happened and won't let it happen again."

"Huh?" He gaped at her, feeling like a princess being comforted by a prince—an apt description, because Misaki was so cool in his eyes, and her features were handsome, things that helped make her interesting to him.

She undid his tie and hung it up with her jacket behind the front door. "You're a complete goof, Yuuji. Laziness is an art to you, but I know you don't do things halfheartedly. And you learn from your mistakes. Like in high school, being volleyball captain. In university, sitting down and studying with me instead of asking me out all the time. And now. I'm sure you'll be more careful next time. You're a fast learner, so this won't happen again," she finished firmly.

Terushima still gaped at her, so she stood on tiptoes to kiss him. Then she went to their mail basket beside the TV and dug something out from the bottom.

"And if you're not sure this setting is one you like, then…perhaps a change of venue," Misaki said, passing him the letter.

He skimmed it, the words floating on the page. "From Anabara-sensei?"

She nodded and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "His assistant coach quit, and he wanted to know if I was interested." She beamed at him, a bright smile he'd fallen head over heels for years ago and fell for all over again right now. "I'm used to the boys' teams anyway, and now that you're looking for work—whoa, Yuuji!"

Terushima picked her up in a giant hug, knowing he'd been right to tell Ennoshita once that Misaki kept him grounded and was his rock…knowing maybe he might still someday surprise her and give her the rock in his pocket, because their story was far from over.

- ^-^3

:3 They are very cute. Ever since Johzenji appeared, I've wanted to write Terumisa, and Terushima's fun to write in general, but this was just…very sweet. Obviously, the background of the story makes the most sense for those of you who've read Birds of a Feather, in particular "Opportunity," but I like the setup here, esp with Misaki at Shutoku. And yes! She was talking about Takao's little sis and Miyaji Kiyoshi (surprisingly the 2nd "Miyaji" named in BoaF, in case anyone's missed "Moving Mountains"). Speaking of "Moving Mountains," Anabara is down in the dumps on his own there, as I was planning on him inviting Misaki back—I love foreshadowing, I really do. XD And, yes, Ryugazaki is Rei from Free! I think, someday, I'll write a little fic about those late nights he and Terushima spent, trying to sort out the mess, Rei trying to work while Terushima half works, half tries to befriend him. Cuties. Still, I'm sad to see Terushima go…but ofc that doesn't mean he's been booted from BoaF. ;P Esp with a mention of Bobaruna (another guilty pleasure OTP from Johzenji) and him wishing for a double date with Ennoshita, *lol*. This kid. I love Terushima. Bye. XDDDD Lastly, song for this fic: "I Need a Girl" (either version—Korean by Taeyang featuring G-Dragon, or English by JD Relic); it makes a lot of sense for Terumisa in general.

Thank you very much for reading, and please review/comment/leave an ask! The next fic in the BoaF collection, "Personal Day," will take a while since it has its own fair share of side stories, but I hope you can enjoy the other side stories while you wait, and please visit the BoaF tumblr page (on my tumblr, le-amewzing) for lotsa stuff~! Show your support for this AU, and share your excitement for it, too!

-mew-tsubaki -w-