"Which is more painful? Getting kicked by me or being thrown into acid?" asked Yaku, barely restrained anger in his voice, demeanor promising pain if anyone came near him that wasn't his family or his volleyball team.
"Getting kicked by you. Nothing hurts more than getting beat up by someone short." answered Kuroo, but it lacked the usual bite it had when teasing Yaku.
This was mostly because he was barely restraining himself from beating the ever loving crap out of some people for being completely racist towards the team's future ace.
"But it also depends on the acid. I'm pretty sure my science teacher will let me use the lab. I'll see what I can whip up." and he was almost salivating at the thought of punishing the fuckers who are still talking about Lev.
Looking around the rest of the team, they weren't being much better.
"So how do you think that halfsie managed to get into the team? Did he suck dick or…? Cause we already know his game play is awful. Maybe his head play isn't so bad."
Kenma stood up only to be gently pulled down by Shibayama. However, one look at the first year libero and everyone knew that he was doing it out of duty and not due to the fact that he wanted to.
"Hell even his own team think he's god awful. Do you see how annoyed they look around him." the boys continued, not realising that Nekoma were nearby.
Everyone winced at the statement. Sure it was true that it could be annoying to have to constantly explain things to someone, but was it so bad that other people had picked up on it and immediately assumed the worst?
"Right? Like do you not see how their libero beats him up all the time? And like the others don't do much. Hell, the guy with the mohawke seems to blame the dumb halfsie for getting himself in those situations."
Yaku and Yamamoto winced the worst out of everyone. Maybe Yaku's violent tendencies were getting just a little out of hand and Yamamoto could have explained in detail why it wasn't such a good idea to tease Yaku about his height.
"Hell even their setter gets pissy at him. Do you not see how he looks at him?"
Kenma looked down. Sure, he struggled with syncing in with the younger, overexcitable boy, but he hadn't thought much of it. Apparently, not everywhere was like Nekoma.
"I know, dude. I swear his head game better be that good if they're agreeing to keep him."
"How about we test it out, bro?" and there was something sinister about the way he said it that put the rest of Nekoma on edge.
"Huh? How?"
"We corner him and see if the little halfsie priss is actually that good at head. If he isn't the only reason why he's probably even on the team is because of pity."
Okay that was enough. Kuroo banged his hand on the table they were sitting at hard, making the two boys look up and gulp in fear when they were looked at by angry, feline gazes.
"Touch our player, and we'll make sure that you never play another game of volleyball in your life." hissed out Kuroo and the two boys nodded quickly before scampering off like cowards.
Kuroo flopped back down and sighed in relief when he felt Kenma rub his back soothingly.
"Thanks Kitten."
"Anytime."
The rest of Nekoma gave a half smile at the duos dynamic before going back to stew at what had happened moments prior.
"Hey guys!" Everyone jumped when they heard the excited, familiar voice. When they all turned around and saw Lev, with his normally huge smile that had annoyed them in the past they all jumped on top of him, Shibayama and Inuoka first.
"LEV!"
"Oof." he said back, trying to get used to the sudden weight on top of him.
"You're the best!" "We love you" "Don't listen to what anyone else has to say!"
Whilst Lev certainly didn't mind the complements, he was confused as to why he was getting them.
"Uh, hi?" he asked and was slightly scared to see the tears in everyone's eyes.
"You know you got into the team because you're a good player and you deserve to be on it, right?" pleaded Kuroo, reassuring himself more than Lev.
The poor Russian was still incredibly confused so he just nodded his head confusedly at them.
Everyone breathed out a huge sigh of relief, slowly getting off their giant.
"So?" Lev questioned, raising an eyebrow at them. "What was all that about?" he asked, shooting them all a confused look.
Everyone shared a look before Yaku took a step forward and wrapped his short arms around Lev's waist.
"We might be hard on you a lot but we do care about you and we know that you will be Nekoma's best, nevermind what the haters say." murmured Yaku and Lev flushed a dark red, hi complexion not allowing him to hide it.
"Y-yaku-san!" he blurted out in embarrassment and everyone shared a laugh.
This was their lion. And they will protect him.