The King Loses

The sound of volleyballs slamming on the ground echoed throughout the gym, loud cries of frustration and celebration coming from both teams as the little first year, Bokuto Koutarou, watched Aoba Johsai going against Shiratorizawa. Aoba Johsai was down by five, and Shiratorizawa already had 20 points. The team was starting to lose confidence, and Oikawa, who was playing on the court, seemed really frustrated, as if the next screw up would make him scream at the top of his lungs while yelling profanities and punching a hole through the wall.

Oikawa was up to serve, bouncing the ball hard before grabbing it and taking a deep breath to focus. Right before he started his serve, a loud, very standout voice called out, "You can do it, Oikawa-san! Go, go, go, Oikawa-san! Fight, fight, fight, Oikawa-san!" The whole team looked at the loud, noisy kid, all of them locking eyes on Bokuto who had this look of determination in his eyes. It fired the whole team up almost immediately, all of them turning and smirking a little at Oikawa as he smirked back, the cheering boosting his ego.

Oikawa took a deep breath as the smug smile remained plastered on his face, finally throwing the ball high into the air and then chasing after it. He speed up, jumping once he reached the line and slamming the ball down into the other court, the ref blowing the whistle and raising his hand to Aoba Johsai as the score keepers flipped the five to a six.

Although the the whole team was screaming out for themselves in happiness that they finally scored another point, the loudest could be heard from one voice in the stands, Bokuto Koutarou. "Go Oikawa-san! Hey, hey, hey!" He laughed, Oikawa looking back at the smiling, hyped up boy. He threw his fist up in the heat of the moment and hollered loudly, almost ignoring everyone else in the gym as his eyes stayed locked with Bokuto's. Thump. What was this feeling? Thump. Staring at someone and letting the whole world fall away… Thump. Oikawa lowered his hand. Thump. He hated this feeling.

At the end of the day, Aoba Johsai was walking back out to their bus in defeat, Oikawa staring down and clutching his bag tightly as he gritted his teeth. He got distracted and screwed up a serve, getting it out and giving Shiratorizawa their winning point. He was so frustrated with himself, and the other members of the team weren't very supportive of him, blaming it all on him and even calling him out on it.

"Oikawa-san!" Bokuto called out, running over with his bag at his side. Fukurodani lost in their second round, but they weren't letting it get them down. Or at least, Bokuto wasn't.

He had a big smile on his face as he ran to the other team's bus across the parking lot, Oikawa feeling the thumping in his chest again once he heard his voice. "Hey, sorry you lost so far in… But hey! There's always next year!" Bokuto smiled, giving him a thumbs up as Oikawa looked back at his team for a moment who all looked furious with him.

"Listen, I gotta go…" Oikawa said quietly, looking down as the captain glared at the two of them. Bokuto frowned a little at Oikawa, looking away and pouting slightly.

"Alright, I guess I do too… I'll be sure to text you, though!" Bokuto smiled, pulling out his cell phone with Fukurodani's colors lining it, making Oikawa smile a little at how devoted to his team he was.

"I'll text you back…" He sighed, Bokuto looking concerned before patting his head softly, blushing a little as he realized how soft each strand was in his hand.

"You've got really soft hair! What do you use to condition? And where do you get it cut?" Bokuto pestered, forgetting the whole inspirational speech he was about to go on as Oikawa laughed a little.

"I'll text you about it," he said softly, ruffling Bokuto's hair in return. It really wasn't all that soft, it felt like it had a lot of product in it, but it was cute. "Bye bye, Kou-chan," he smiled as he started walking toward the bus, Bokuto blushing at the nickname.

"Bye bye, Tooru-san!" He laughed, Oikawa blushing a deep red as he was about to turn and correct him. But Bokuto already disappeared back to his bus, Oikawa amazed by how fast he could run.

"Hurry up, Shittykawa! We're leaving!" The captain yelled, Oikawa looking down as he got on the bus and wandered down the aisle, sitting next to Iwazumi.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, Oikawa just smiling a little at him and nodding.

"Of course. Just a little… Bummed out I guess…" Oikawa sighed, leaning his head on Iwazumi's shoulder as he yawned a little.

"Hey, I saw you talking to that Bokuto kid again… You had a really funny look on your face," Iwazumi stated, Oikawa blushing a little as he thought about it before suddenly feeling his phone buzz. "Speak of the devil?"

"Yep," Oikawa replied, opening the text and giggling a little. "Look, he texts as loud as he talks," he laughed, showing Iwazumi the all caps texts with several exclamation points at the end. It made Oikawa smile a lot, Iwazumi noticing this and smiling as well.

"He really seems to make you happy, Oikawa-san," Iwazumi smiled, Oikawa blushing a little as he realized how smiley he was, especially at a time like this, as he texting Bokuto back.

"Yeah, I guess…" He mumbled, sighing happily as he thought about it. He then frowned, shutting his eyes as he remembered how much he hated this feeling. "He'd probably dump me in a month, though… Or the other way around…" He mumbled, Iwazumi looking at him with concern.

"Why do you say that?" Iwazumi asked as Oikawa let out a heavy sigh, leaning against his friend and staring out the window.

"You know me… I get bored too easily…" He mumbled, shutting his eyes a little as he positioned himself comfortably on Iwazumi's shoulder. "I'm gonna take a nap… Wake me up when we come home…"

"Yeah yeah…"

The whole ride, though, Oikawa was woken up by Bokuto repeatedly texting him about pointless things, the boy always screaming through the texts about how cute a passing crow was, or maybe about some thoughts from the matches. And it all cheered him up a lot. The excitement of the boy made him so happy, Iwazumi smiling down at him as he noticed just how happy he was.

"Are you still planning to toy with him?" Iwazumi asked, staring out the window as Oikawa picked his head up, realizing how big his smile was from how bad his cheeks hurt. His neutral expression returned to his face as he locked his phone, looking away before sighing softly.

"Yeah… Probably," Oikawa mumbled, thinking about it a little bit before sighing again, slouching a little before getting four texts from Bokuto at the same time, all of them selfies of him and his captain laughing and making weird faces. Oikawa smiled and giggled quietly, interrupting the silence of the bus as everyone glared at him. He took a deep breath and looked around before back down at his phone, staring at Bokuto's pictures and feeling the thumping again. He hated that feeling so much.