boys will be boys pt. 3

Oikawa snickered as he watched the four swans retreat down the hill from the safety of the corner. Iwaizumi and Matsukawa were crowded behind him to witness the spectacle as well, and they couldn't deny the slight swell of manly pride that surged within their broad chests.

"That's what you get~" Oikawa sang quietly, before retreating behind the corner. He turned to his teammates and raised his hands, only to jump in alarm as a sudden bang sounded.

Before they knew it, the four of them were looking up to the window right above them as Yukie slammed it shut, thus locking them out and ruining their plans to return the clothes. While Yahaba cried at the sight of the now-locked window, the third-years blinked at each other with wide eyes.

How do we return the clothes?!

Another abrupt bang sounded from the other side of the shower-house, and soon enough, they heard Yukie once more screeching into the night.

"Whichever one of you has our clothes, you better prepare for hell tomorrow!"

Ah. The four Seijoh athletes shivered in fright at the threat (which was indirectly aimed at them) as that window shut explosively once more. The males then cowered together as they heard the managers yelling and raging about inside the building. Oikawa looked to his teammates.

"W-what do we do?!"

…ah. Iwaizumi gawked at him, before slapping him upside the head with the bag of clothes. "You're the leader! Figure it out!"

"She's scary! She's really scary!"

And then Yahaba was sobbing against the wall while the two best friends panicked. Matsukawa sat back and pressed his palms together in thought, his eyes wide as he imagined whatever doom was to befall them tomorrow.

"They're gonna find out!" Oikawa hissed, pulling at his hair. "I don't wanna buy Tendou and Ushiwaka ice-pops! I can't! I already owe the entire team ice-pops!"

"Then figure something out!" Iwaizumi tutted and sat back, crossing his arms tightly. "What if- what if we just leave the bag at the door?"

"Does that count as returning it?! Tendou said before they get out!"

"He didn't specify though!" Iwaizumi raised a serious finger. "How about, before they get out of the building?"

Oikawa, Matsukawa, and Yahaba stared at the ace silently. The lot of them burst into tears then as they thanked the gods for their clever ace and vice-captain.

"I-Iwa-chan- My Iwa-chan is so smart!"

"Shut up! Go put the bag at the door!"

"O-okay-"

A creak sounded. The four of them froze as they peered around the corner, only to nearly scream at the top of their lungs as they found a certain white-haired girl exiting the building. With her skin and her hair too damp for PG-rated thoughts, she was clad only in a towel and flimsy slippers as she made her way down to the main school building. The third-years immediately moved to cover Yahaba's eyes.

"T-Tsu-chan?!" Yukie was suddenly found standing at the doorway, also wrapped tightly in her own towel. She clutched the doorframe anxiously, her eyes much too wide as she watched the girl get smaller and smaller. "W-what're you doing?! Come back here! Come back!"

Ah. And Tsubasa, with the distance she had created, looked over her shoulder with an innocent smile and a clueless wave. "Yeah, leave it to me! Satori-san will definitely return our clothes if I ask!"

"That's not what I said at all!"

But the cry was all for naught, as Tsubasa soon ducked underneath the shade of the main school building and worked her way down and around the walkways. The third-years watched as Kaori pulled a stuttering Yukie back into the shower-house, closing the door and making sure to lock it. The males gulped.

"She- she went out naked," Oikawa muttered. He turned to his teammates quickly. "W-what do we do? What do we do?! Bokkun is gonna kill us! Akaashi-kun is gonna kill us! And then we're gonna lose the bet!"

"Shut- shut up! J- Just calm down, okay?!"

"You're yelling and stuttering too!"

"I-I know! Just-"

Matsukawa interrupted them by suddenly grabbing the bag of clothes. He looked to the two of them. "W-wait. If Tendou and his team got caught, then that means they lost. So then, doesn't that mean…"

Iwaizumi's eyes widened. "We win…"

"By default," Oikawa finished.

The third-years looked amongst each other.

Robotically, it seemed, Matsukawa stood with the beg in hand and stuttered over to the door. He dropped the bag, turned on his heel, and quickly began marching down the small hill. Yahaba was the first to go crawling after him, followed by a stone-faced Oikawa and Iwaizumi.

This isn't our problem anymore!

Akaashi pursed his lips as he paced about. His teammates and him had already finished their showers, and as such, they were playing around and relaxing in their classroom – except for him, of course. He was outside, striding up and down the walkways quickly with his arms tautly crossed. Clad only in shorts and a T-shirt beneath his jersey, he shivered slightly from the night chill.

I feel anxious.

Ah. The male paused to release his arms and sigh heavily. He'd been feeling… strange since dinner, as if his body was telling him to brace himself. It was like he was fighting some unfair fight where he knew his enemy would be coming at him with some sort of surprise attack – he just didn't know when it was going to hit. Again, he sighed. His shoulders drooped and he spun on his heel, opening his eyes and preparing to walk back that way.

His heart stopped.

"Tsu-"

Abruptly, he was stomping down the walkway, approaching some ditzy girl at the end as he unzipped his jacket.

"-ba-"

The girl looked up, allowing him to blink widely at her silvery irises – which he saw clearly due to a lack of glasses.

"-sa-"

And then she smiled, beaming at the sight of him. With one arm holding her towel secure, she waved widely with the other one.

"Kei- uwah!"

"-san!"

…ah. Not at all acknowledging the girl's sentence, Akaashi smothered her… bare appearance with his jersey. Disregarding how she struggled, he zipped it up around her despite it being backwards, and moved his hands to her face. He squished her cheeks together while his eye twitched at her dripping white hair and dainty eyelashes.

"What," he began, his tone reprimanding despite his furious blush, "do you even think you're doing walking around like this?"

Tsubasa frowned slightly. "Sa'o'i-'an 'ook o'r clo's."

Akaashi blinked down at her. "What?"

Releasing her face, Tsubasa pouted as she looked up to him. "Satori-san took our clothes. I was gonna ask him if we can have them back."

"…"

"W-what?"

"That-" Ah. He released a long breath through his nose. I should have seen this coming. He pressed a palm against his eyes and turned away from the girl, the other hand going to rest against his hip. "-seems to be a very bad idea when you're… dressed like this."

And her pout intensified at his back. "It- it can't be helped! All of our phones are in our sweatpants' pockets, so we couldn't call for help! T-this is embarrassing for me too, you know."

…ah. Akaashi shifted to cross his arms, still keeping his back to the girl. "Is that so? You seem like the person to innocently volunteer for something like this."

"I-I'm not that innocent! I just wasn't thinking straight. The steam was making me dizzy, so I… acted before I thought properly. Before I really knew it, I was here."

"I see. Well then-" Akaashi turned at the moment to face the girl, only to grab her shoulders and gently spin her around. He gave her the slightest push forward and ignored the image of her basically naked beneath his- beneath his jersey. "-please return to the shower-houses. I'll approach Tendou-san and bring the clothes back."

"But-"

"No. Go back. It's not safe to walk around like that. You must still be tired as well, yes? Go back and rest. I'll retrieve the clothes."

"…fine."

And then she was off. Akaashi sighed once more as he too turned away, only to pause as the girl's voice reached out to him. He looked over his shoulder.

And he immediately felt his heart kick-start back into action.

There, with beams of moonlight at her side, she stood with her arms properly fitted into the sleeves of his jersey. The sleeves flopped about flimsily as she gave them a gleeful wave, as they were much too long for her size. The jersey in general fell just above her knees, and such a sight was both intoxicating and endearing to the male. He gulped.

"Keiji, this is really big!" Tsubasa exclaimed with a radiant beam, before she turned to continue her way back to the shower-houses. Akaashi, hearing the girl continue to flap his jersey around and exclaim 'owl~!', released a dreamy sigh.

Something as simple as a big jersey can make her that happy? I see.

I can arrange that.

And so, he continued on his own way, not sure if he should reprimand or thank Tendou for causing so much trouble.

The next day, after Tsubasa and Oikawa clashed.

"I can't believe you're making such a fuss with Tsubasa-san," Iwaizumi started as he peeled his shirt off and stuffed it in his cubby. He and the other third-years were finally in the showers after a long day of practice matches, with them being the last group to go in. As such, the windows of the dressing room were already opened to let out the oncoming steam. "Especially after what we did yesterday."

Before Oikawa could speak up, Hanamaki poked his head into the conversation quickly. "Just a reminder, I wasn't part of that."

"We know."

"Well!" Oikawa said, also tearing his shirt off with a flair of annoyance. "She was the one who started it! I'm just glad Tendou isn't here anymore; they'd probably gang up on us if he was!"

"What do you mean by us?!"

Matsukawa nodded as he neatly folded his clothes away. "Yeah. That shit between you and Tsubasa-san is strictly between you two. I don't wanna get caught up in that."

"Geh!" With a towel wrapped around his bare torso, Oikawa led the way into the showers. "First Makki abandons me, and now Iwa-chan and Mattsun?! What a cold world!"

Hanamakki rolled his eyes as he closed the curtain behind them, being the last one to enter the tiled area of the shower-room. "I'm just surprised you guys didn't get caught. How'd you get away?"

"We just left the bag at the door," Iwaizumi answered, just as they all dispersed into their separate stalls.

"And that worked?"

"Apparently." Matsukawa hummed thoughtfully as he turned his water on. "I'm kinda surprised myself. Since Tsubasa-san went out to ask Tendou about the clothes, shouldn't she have found out about the entire bet?"

Iwaizumi perked up at the comment. "Heh... That's right. She didn't say anything to us though, did she?"

"No? I don't think so, at least. Although, Tendou seemed a little too compliant when buying us ice-"

"Ah!" The males perked up as they heard the captain cry out. "No! I left my shampoo in the cubby! I don't wanna get out..."

Ah. Hanamaki rolled his eyes, but found himself volunteering to get the bottle as he too had left his in the cubby. He wrapped his towel around his waist. "I forgot mine too. Anyone else forget anything?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Hiro, get my phone and play some music."

"Yosh~"

"Thanks, Makki!"

After Hanamaki slipped on a pair of slippers and carefully made his way out of the blue tiled room, he pushed through the blue curtain to reenter the dressing room. Before he could even get near any of the cubbies however, he froze. And then he blinked.

And Tsubasa blinked back at him, with a bulging plastic bag in her hands.

...ah. Some girlish scream tore through Hanamaki's throat as Tsubasa tossed the bag out an opened window.

"What the fucking-"

"Kaorin, go go go!"

Kaori laughed aloud as she boosted Tsubasa up to the windowsill above her, where the white-haired girl sat, took Kaori's outstretched hands, and pulled her up. Just as those two girls went tumbling out the window, Iwaizumi and the others came rushing out of the shower-rooms. The three towel-bound males gawked upon seeing the empty room, and while Matsukawa went to slapping Hanamaki to wake him from his daze, Oikawa rushed to his cubby.

In the wooden space, he found his clothes and shower accessories missing, all replaced by a single note. Oikawa read the note aloud with a twitching eye.

"'We heard about your game with Satori-san from Keiji'," the note started. "'And we thought it sounded like fun, so we hope you don't mind if we partake as well! We're gonna take the game a step further though, and instead of leaving your clothes at the door, you'll have to go out in your towels and roam the school grounds to find them. God forbid some gust of wind or an owl takes your towels too. Sincerely, the Fukuroudani managers'?! What the hell?!"

Iwaizumi snatched the note out of his hands to inspect it himself. "T-they drew a damn winky face on the bottom! This is all your fault!"

Oikawa gawked at him. "How?! You and Mattsun participated!"

"We wouldn't have had to if you didn't get baited in the first place!"

"W-well- yeah but still!"

"Well what about me?!" Ah. The two best friends turned to Hanamaki as he suddenly sprang to life. "I wasn't a part of this! Why am I being punished too?!"

Oikawa raised his hands in surrender as Iwaizumi slammed his head against the cubbies. "G-guilty by association!"

"Screw that! If I'm guilty by association, then the entire team should be guilty! Yahaba was part of the actual game too, so what about him?!"

"Don't worry about him!" a voice suddenly called from outside the window. The four males perked up as Konoha addressed them once more, with his arms crossed and his back pressed against the wall. "We took care of him too. He's a bit gullible, you know? He handed over his shirt and shorts without a struggle. Little creampuff-head is going around the school right now in search of his clothes."

...ah. Kicking a stool underneath the window, Oikawa popped his head outside and glared down at the blonde. "This isn't funny! Give us back our clothes!"

Konoha turned and smirked up at the male. "Heh~ But you did nearly the same thing to our managers!" The blonde then shrugged, almost apologetically. "Well, I guess Tsubasa-chan's taking it a bit too far; while you guys were arguing, Suzumeda carried her down the hill as she announced an alien invasion while waving around some pair of black boxers with alien figures. But whatever; they're all probably going around the school now hiding your clothes, so it's too late to stop them."

Oikawa jerked and slammed his hands down on the windowsill, just as Iwaizumi stood atop the stool as well to glare down at the blonde. "She- what?! That's not fair! We didn't look at their panties like that!"

"So what? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! Right, guys?"

Oikawa, now accompanied by the other three as they also stepped onto the stool, looked towards their right where Komi and Bokuto emerged. The smirking libero gave a ring of keys a playful twirl around his finger, while Bokuto high-fived Konoha.

"Yuki told us to lock the front and back doors," Komi further informed the males. "And we know better than to go against her word. She was seriously pissed yesterday, you know?"

Bokuto nodded and pressed his hands against his hips. "You guys obviously know how to get in through the window; so you can get out the same way!"

Iwaizumi gaped at the opposing ace. "In only our towels?! Like hell you'll catch me jumping a window butt-naked!"

The owl ace snorted and laughed once more. "Yeah, that's the spirit! Butt-naked and dicks swinging are what we expect!"

"As if!"

"Yosh~ good work, everyone!" Konoha cheered as he slung his arms around Komi and Bokuto. "Let's head back to the classrooms~ You guys up for some movies? I brought some bags of popcorn."

"What- wait hold up get back here!"

Bokuto perked up at the invitation. "Ooh! I'm in! What movie?"

"Don't ignore us, you dumb owls!"

Snickering, Komi pocketed the keys. "If it's Konoha, it's always some sort of horror movie."

"G-geh! Then I don't wanna watch..."

"Ugh. Fine, we'll watch something else."

"Yay!"

And then those three were gone. The Seijoh third-years could only gawk as they were left alone in the shower-house, and with the moon high above their heads and grinning down at then, they retreated back inside.

After long, angry arguments about who would go out, it was decided that it would only be fair if all of them, except for Hanamaki, went out on the hunt. And so, an hour or so went by with Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Matsukawa slinking around the shadows of Fukuroudani Academy in search of their clothes. Iwaizumi found both his and Yahaba's clothing in a supply closet of one of the gyms, Matsukawa found his and Hanamaki's clothing in some tall grassy field by the track, and Oikawa, of course, found his clothes sitting neatly atop some repulsive dumpster in the back of the school.

(Which, of course, was Tsubasa's idea.)

And so, the night of shenanigans and shit talking came to an end, with another victory in favor of the owls.

word count: 3,108

a/n: aND THAT'S THAT H00T

(But on a serious note, I hope everyone's safe and happy and well. I can't help but wish for your guys' safety and wellbeing after the most recent school shooting here in the US. I don't know if any of you were directly affected by it, but regardless, I sincerely wish for everyone's safety and happiness. Let's persevere.)

-glasses cloth