Love is Not Extinct

Chapter 03: The Volleyball Club

"Okay but just hear me out!" Tanaka said jumping up from where he had been sitting to stretch before they played. "We were discussing wedding plans and I suggested that we have a volleyball net at the reception. Isn't that the coolest idea ever?"

His question was met with silence and blank stares.

"Aww, come on." Tanaka complained, looking down at his wild, orange-haired teammate who was sitting on the gym floor next to him, stretching. "Not even you, Hinata? I thought for sure you would be on my side. It's a great idea."

Hinata smiled and laughed shyly as he reached up, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry Tanaka-san," he sympathized. "I do think that sounds really cool but I get hired for a lot of weddings so I'm pretty familiar with what people usually want at them, and volleyball…well volleyball is not really a wedding appropriate activity."

"I know that," Tanaka countered, trying to sound as if he hadn't been worried in the first place.

"Plus," Nishinoya Yu jumped to his feet, stretching his arms above his head. "I don't think that Kiyoko would agree to that. What did she say when you told her your idea?"

"Well…" Tanaka looked up trying to not look suspicious. His teammates looked back and forth at each other. They all knew exactly what that meant.

"I said no."

Tanaka jumped, spinning around to see a beautiful dark-haired woman with calculating eyes, carrying a box of sports equipment. It was Shizimu Kiyoko, the Kurasano Community Sports Center's event manager and Tanaka's fiancée.

"Kiyoko!" Tanaka squeaked as he smiled and ran over to her. "Here let me carry this for you," he offered though he didn't really give her much of a choice as he took the box from her.

"Good morning Shizimu-san." Sawamura Daichi, a police officer for the city and the team's unofficial team captain, smiled at the sports center's employee. Kiyoko replied with a simple nod of acknowledgement.

"I take it the wedding planning is going well?" Sugawara Koshi asked.

"Yes." Kiyoko nodded with a small smile. "Everything is going very smoothly."

Tanaka beamed with pride as he stood up straighter next to his bride-to-be. "Kiyoko has everything all organized in this wedding planning binder. It even has schedules and a to-do list." The team chuckled and Kiyoko smiled shyly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her cheeks flushed slightly pink from embarrassment.

"No surprise," the newest member of their team chipped in. Ennoshita Chikara was invited to join the club by Sawamura after the officer had seen Ennoshita for physical therapy due to a work injury about a year prior. Ennoshita also happened to have gone to high school with Kiyoko. "She was always prepared and organized as the manager of our high school's volleyball team."

"I've seen her wedding planning binder. It's really organized." Hinata grinned. "She brought it with her to the flower shop when her and Tanaka were deciding on their floral arrangements for the wedding. She had pictures of arrangements and flowers she liked as a reference and everything. It made my job really easy."

Kiyoko's cheeks flushed and she mumbled a thank you before turning back to Tanaka. "I need to get these items to the storage room." She said reaching to take the box back, but Tanaka kept it from her.

"No. No." He grinned at her. "I'll take it for you." He then proceeded to walk forward, Kiyoko in tow. On their way out they passed Yamaguchi who was rushing in with Haruhisa, followed by Tsukishima strolling in at a leisurely pace.

"Sorry we're late!" Yamaguchi exclaimed, running over to the rest of the team.

"Good morning Yamaguchi." Sugawara said with a smile as Tsukishima finally made his way over, joining the group. "Good morning Tsukishima and Haru." His smile was especially bright when he looked at his young, first grade student. Maybe it was the fact that he was Tsukishima's son, but among all his students, Haruhisa had always held a special place in Sugawara's heart.

"Good morning Suga-sensei." Haruhisa replied with a bow as Nishinoya went over, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hey, little man!" Nishinoya grinned. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm good." Haruhisa smiled.

Kneeling next to him, Nishinoya put his hand on the child's shoulder. "How would you feel about helping me coach today, humm?" Haruhisa's eyes brightened as he nodded enthusiastically. "Great! Okay I'll be team captain of team…what should we call our team?" He put his hand on his chin, looking down at the boy thoughtfully.

"Uh…" Haruhisa pondered this for a moment. "The crows!" Sugawara smiled at the response. They had been learning about birds in school recently and the book he had given Haruhisa yesterday had a crow on the front cover.

"Perfect!" Nishinoya exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. "I am team captain of the crows with coach Haru-kun and we will be playing against…" He knelt next to Haruhisa once again looking out at all his teammates.

Suwamura shook his head holding back his chuckle. "Notice how quick he was to nominate himself as team captain?" he said to Ennoshita. Ennoshita nodded with a grin.

Haruhisa scanned the players in front of him, taking great consideration in who he would choose to be the opposing team's captain. After a short deliberation he looked over and pointed at Yamaguchi with determination. "Yamaguchi-sensei!"

Yamaguchi looked around a little flustered. "Me? You want me to be the second team captain?" Despite being the high school volleyball coach, the idea of being the leader among these men, who he felt were a lot more talented than him, was intimidating.

"That was a good choice." Sawamura smiled encouragingly at Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi stepped to the front as Tanaka came back in.

"Alright Yamaguchi, you pick first since we already have our first two players." Nishinoya said, winking at Haruhisa.

Normally in this type of situation Yamaguchi's first choice would be to pick Tsukishima. They had been best friends since childhood and he knew Tsukishima would have his back. But with Haruhisa on the other team he didn't think it was fair to take his father when Haruhisa would likely want to have him on his team. So, he went with the safest next choice.

"Uh, I'll pick Daichi."

Sawamura smiled and walked over, joining Yamaguchi on his side of the net, patting his back for encouragement.

As Yamaguchi had predicted, Haruhisa's next choice was his father. Tsukishima walked over, joining his son and Nishinoya. Tsukishima watched as the older man knelt next to his son and the two strategized the best members to have on their team. The sports youth program teacher was always good at making sure that Haruhisa felt included even though he was surrounded by adults.

In fact, all of the members of this adult volleyball club had been a huge support system for him since he started taking care of his son. Tsukishima wasn't really good at expressing gratitude. He was mostly full of sarcasm and witty come backs, but he hoped the men on this team knew the difference their friendship had made in both his and his son's lives.

Once all the team members were chosen, they each moved into their positions. On team "crow", Nishinoya, Haruhisa, Tsukishima, Sugawara, Tanaka and Azumane. And on team "panther", which had been insistently named by Hinata, was Yamaguchi, Sawamura, Hinata, Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita.

The teams were fairly well matched. Team crow had more of the stronger players but also had to compensate for the minor on their team. In the end they played five sets total. The crows won three and the panthers two. Harushia was excited about winning and was proud that he had even received a few balls during the game.

"Hey, Tanaka and I were talking, and we want to get everyone together tonight and go out to a club. You two in?" Nishinoya asked. Yamaguchi looked up at Tsukishima as if expecting him to answer for the both of them.

"I can't," Tsukishima replied. "It's a Saturday night. It would take a miracle to find someone to watch Haru last minute just so I can go out and get drunk."

"Not just get drunk," Nishinoya whined. "Dancing, good drinks, and even better company. And hey, maybe even a hook-up!" He playfully nudged Tsukishima with his elbows, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

Tsukishima stared down at him with a blank expression. "If you're so eager to hook-up go do it, but you don't have to drag me along. Plus, I already said I can't because of Haru."

"We would be happy to watch him." Tsukishima turned around, surprised and a bit disappointed to see Sawamura standing there with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. "I can't go because I promised Yui that I would help out with the baby tonight. So, he can come to our place while you're out."

Yamaguchi smiled. "How are Yui and little Tenshi doing?"

Sawamura grinned at just the mention of his four-month-old little girl. He had loved becoming a father, and that fact was clearly evident. "Great. Yui loves being a mother and is such a natural at it, and Tenshi is such a good baby. Maybe I am just biased, but I've never seen a cuter baby." Sawamura grinned.

"Every parent is biased," Sugawara interjected with a soft smile. "But I have to agree, Tenshi is so adorable and well behaved. She isn't a big fusser. It makes watching her a breeze."

"Well that's settled then!" Nishinoya said cutting off the conversation, determined not to let the subject drop and to make sure Tsukishima joined them. "Daichi will watch Haru-kun and you will meet us at twenty o-clock tonight at the Niji Hikari club." Nishinoya walked away as if the subject was closed.

Tsukishima sighed, looking over. His son was helping Hinata and Tanaka clean up the court. He didn't mind spending time with his friends, but the idea of going to a club didn't seem like an ideal way to spend the evening. He watched as Yamaguchi walked over to help the trio finish cleaning up the court.

Yamaguchi would never say it, because he wouldn't want Tsukishima feeling like he was pressuring him, but Tsukishima could tell Yamaguchi was excited to go out. He knew that it meant a lot to Yamaguchi that the blonde would be going with them.

"I guess it won't hurt," he mumbled to himself as he walked over to Haruhisa to tell him it was time to go home.