A Replacement!? [Volleyball AU]
Cordelia is the star setter of Ylisse East's co-ed volleyball team. Sumia played her second fiddle, but that never bothered her. But last night's game against Grima High had changed things…for the worse.
The first sign that something had gone wrong was that Cordelia was here, bent over the drinking fountain next to Sumia.
A/N: A drabble for the Volleyball AU where Ylisse East and Grima High are rivals and everyone experiences intense sports anime feels and volleyball spring youth. Unedited, written in a hurry, and mostly fluff/volleyball teammate feels. Imagine overly dramatic anime yelling and emotions over sports and you basically have the style of this piece.
They had just finished the most depressing warm up drills and stretches Sumia had ever had the displeasure of being a part of. After last night's disastrous game, Ylisse East's team morale had plummeted. It would figure that Sumia's court debut would end up as a loss. Even Captain Chrom seemed a little off, forgetting little things like specifying how many laps they were supposed to run or counting out loud while stretching. Coach Phila had called an early water break and to everyone's disconcertion, pulled Chrom aside.
Sumia had no interest in watching their captain get chewed out and so even though she had brought a full water bottle, she slipped outside of the gym to the water fountains. And that was when she saw Cordelia.
Cordelia never forgot to fill her water bottle. In fact, Sumia was pretty sure Cordelia never drank regular water as the one time they had a thirty second water break and Sumia had forgotten her bottle (again), Cordelia had let Sumia birdie from hers. Cordelia's water tasted kind of funny, sweet and dry, and Cordelia had said with that casual expression, "Oh, it's just sport water. Pocari Sweat. My aunt brings over the powder from Japan," like it was no big deal that Sumia just drank imported genuine Japanese athlete water.
Cordelia was indescribably cool like that.
As their team's star setter, she could not only set anywhere on the court but also jump up and spike high passes as well as Stahl or even Frederick. Sumia always winced when she, as the secondary setter, ended up inevitably being compared to Cordelia. If Cordelia and Chrom had not been so kind to her, Sumia was sure her shaky confidence would have been trampled into the dust. Still, regardless of what people said, Sumia looked up to Cordelia and whenever she worked to improve, it was Cordelia's back that she saw. That was why after last night, even though she finally got to play on the court (and managed to not fumble at all!), the fact that her chance had been at Cordelia's expense made Sumia uneasy.
So, Sumia screwed up her courage and asked,
"Cordelia, are you-"
"Oh, Sumia! Do we have to get back already?" Cordelia said with a start and her hand jerked up, sloshing water all down her arm, onto her shirt, and onto the floor. "Oh darn-"
"Are you okay? Oh my gosh-" Sumia was already turning to run to the bathroom and grab paper towels when Cordelia grabbed her shoulder.
"It's just water, Sumia. We're going to be covered in sweat soon. It'll dry out fast enough." Cordelia said and Sumia nodded. "I can't believe I didn't notice you were right there. I must have looked so foolish, jumping at the sight of you!" She laughed but it sounded a little forced to Sumia's ears.
"It's alright. Listen, Cordelia, are you okay? You seem a little, er, jumpy for lack of a better word." Sumia said and when Cordelia avoided her eyes, her stomach plummeted. So there was something wrong.
"I played an awful game last night. Of course I'm a little unhappy. There were so many things I still need to improve-" Cordelia began but Sumia frowned and shook her head.
"That's not it. The Cordelia I know would be working herself twice as hard and making us all worry. But you were even slower than usual during our run and you keep getting distracted- um, not that you're slow or anything-" Sumia quickly backtracked, waving her hands in front of her and turning pink.
"Sumia! It's okay. I understand what you're trying to say." Cordelia said before setting her water bottle down on top of the fountain and sighing. "I suppose everyone will know sooner or later. Actually I got pulled aside after last night."
Sumia felt her stomach drop. "What did Coach say?"
"Coach Phila wants me to play weak side as a hitter and backup setter. She wants to make you the primary setter." Cordelia did not mean to add a little tenseness to her secondary sentence but it hit Sumia hard nonetheless. A thousand questions ran through her head, mostly paired with the incredibly daunting feeling of 'I can't possibly replace Cordelia-'.
"I'm so sorry-"
"Don't apologize! To be honest, I'm not happy but… I agree with Coach's decision. You saw how I played last game- setting to Ch-Captain even though he was getting blocked left and right! I cost us the first set because I couldn't judge the court rationally like a setter is supposed to." Cordelia said, looking incredibly bitter, and inside the gym, the whistle blew.
"Cordelia-" Sumia began.
"Come on, we don't want to be running suicides if we're late. I know you hate running."
"You hate it too!" Sumia protested as they jogged back into the gym. On the outside, it looked as if Cordelia already bounced back to her normal diligent self, but Sumia could tell it was a front.
Coach Phila announced the position changes as if they did not upend Sumia's world around her. On the outside, nothing much changed for the rest of practice as Sumia and Cordelia had always alternated to set for the drills. But the mere status of being the primary, the one that would now play the entire game and direct the team through her sets, threw Sumia for a loop.
She tripped on her shoelaces three times that day, once right after a set. Thank the gods that Sully aced it otherwise it would have been amazingly embarrassing. When Sumia looked up from the ground, face smarting from the floor, her teammates pulled her up with laughs and congratulations. But no matter how well she played today, Sumia could not help but still feel she was trodding on toes. Especially when Cordelia kept forgetting she was not playing setter during the scrimmage.
As the back up setter, Cordelia was supposed to wait until Sumia needed to call for help to set the ball and focus mostly on hitting and blocking the weak side. But more than twice, Cordelia crashed into Sumia trying to get a ball clearly not for her. The second time Sumia's elbow hit Cordelia's nose and to Sumia's horror, blood started streaming down her lips and chin.
"Cordelia, go get that cleaned up. This is why you have to back off when Sumia's setting." Coach said sternly as she handed Cordelia a wad of gauze. Sumia had ran to and from the bathroom with more tissues, only to slip on the floor and slide in front of Cordelia's feet. "And Sumia, stop letting Cordelia run the court. You're the setter, you get to make the calls. Push her out of the way to get to the ball if you have to."
"Yes, Coach." Sumia said in a small voice as she got to her feet. Face red with humiliation, she handed Cordelia the tissues.
"Coach, it mah fault. I was bahl hoggin'-" Cordelia tried to say through the wad of tissues pressed against her bloody nose.
"Go wash up Cordelia. And the rest of you! Stop gawking around and go back to the drill." Coach Phila clapped her hands and the team muttered amongst themselves, slinking back to their positions on court. Sumia looked between Cordelia's retreating back and that empty setter position on court.
"Come on, Sumia, we have to perfect that outside shoot! We got it earlier, let's make it happen again. I wanna hit another one like that, except with less you falling on your face." Sully called.
"R-right!"
Cordelia came back to the gym to find the team picking up the volleyballs and folding up the table. With a sigh, she headed over to collect her stuff when Sumia came running up to her, volleyball in hand.
"Don't you have to put that away?" Cordelia said and it came out more bruque than she intended.
"Let's practice. Coach said she gave you the keys to the closet and if we put away the net at the end, we can use the gym until the school closes at nine." Sumia said and threw the volleyball to Cordelia.
"Sumia, what's gotten into you? We can't stay until nine-"
"I want to practice my back sets. And I want you to teach me. And you need to practice your hitting. It's a win-win. Come on."
Sumia being assertive was odd enough that Cordelia followed her to the net in a daze.
"Frederick, can you toss for me for a bit?"
Frederick eyed them for a moment and Sumia nervously tried to stare him down, despite being a head shorter. She did not miss the way his eyes strayed to Cordelia, who looked oddly nervous. "…just until my ride comes."
Frederick had his own car and drove to school, often taking Chrom and Lissa who otherwise had a thirty minute walk at six am. Cordelia's eyes went wide. This was too much.
"Thank you!" Sumia said and before Cordelia knew it, she was watching Sumia at the net, knees bent in ready position.
Frederick passed the ball to Sumia, who jumped up to back set to Cordelia. As her fingers made contact and sprung the ball into the air behind her, Sumia did not have to turn to feel the set was off. The harsh smack of Cordelia's hand against the ball and the sound of it catching in the net and falling to the ground range throughout the gym.
"Sorry, that was too straight out and fast. Frederick, again." Sumia said.
"Actually, the speed was fine.I was too slow." Cordelia said as she remembered how her approach staggered and slowed in the last step. The contact had been explosive but the ball had been low. Now she was starting understand why Sully, Chrom, and Frederick always noisily demanded one more set after a failed hit. The frustration itched at her and Cordelia narrowed her focus to just Sumia, the ball, and her own body.
Again, Frederick passed to Sumia, but this one went a little off the net. Sumia moved before even Cordelia noticed, repositioning herself and jumping to intersect the ball rather than waiting for it to fall. It flew off her hands, a promise to Cordelia, and Cordelia had taken flight before she even realized her legs moved.
So this is what being up so high feels like-
The ball slammed down into the opposite court right on the line so hard that Sumia still was finishing her landing. She whipped around to Cordelia- "That was amazing!"
"…I've never hit like that before. Sumia, that set should have rolled right off your fingers."
"I know! But I pushed a little harder because I knew you wanted it high and it worked. Oh my gosh, Cordelia, you're going to be our new secret weapon." Sumia gushed.
"Sumia, I think this is why you were made our new setter." Cordelia said and Sumia's good mood was replaced with concern.
"N-no, that hit was all you. Clearly Coach saw a missed opportunity for you to-"
"Listen. That hit could not have happened if it wasn't for you. You…understand how to set for people and adjust to play to people's strengths. Unlike me who stubbornly fixated on Chr- setting only one hitter, you keep trying your best with everyone. You like setting people up, don't you?" Cordelia said and the smile that crossed her face was the first genuine one in days.
"Yes, I do! But I like setting for everyone because they're so cool and confident and it makes me feel good to make that happen. Like you, Cordelia. I want to send you the best set so everyone knows how amazing you are-!" Sumia shut up with a squeak and Cordelia laughed.
"…do you still plan to practice any more?" Frederick said behind them and Sumia gave Cordelia a questioning look.
"What do you say, conductor of the court? I'll hit anything you send me." Cordelia said, stretched her arms out and feeling that strange urge to rush and take flight. Sumia's eyes went big and her earnest smile was only offset by the fact she nearly tripped over her own feet while running back to the net.
"R-right! Once more!"