no major warnings apply, brief swearing. futurefic. 700 words
kentarou puts shigeru back together with his hands and surprisingly soft words, with his unyielding faith in his captain, in his abilities. he’s never had to describe what it was like to fill the shoes iwaizumi hajime left behind; everyone can see it. besides, as ace and wing spiker, the points he scores are his.
shigeru's victories are aobajousai’s victories, and his losses are theirs. he depends on spikers for points and blockers and their libero for defense; he is, body and soul, bound to seijou--so they look to him, up at him, and expect victory.
“shh, you did good,” kentarou whispers, breath warm against shigeru’s ear, and shigeru doesn’t even correct him: he did well (but the truth is: he did poorly). he doesn’t cry, just folds up his lips and lets the regret boil up in him until he shakes, shoulders trembling.
oikawa tooru wouldn’t have cried this way.
"shh," he says again, like shigeru will actually cry, or something. he takes his hand in his, callouses in different places and palms rougher than his, broader than his. for attack, not defense. shigeru knows exactly how those hands work (on him, with him) and knows that when he takes them, kentarou takes them seriously.
"it's not just you. we all lost. you could have done better. but so could i." his eyes are still sunken in, like he hasn't gotten much sleep, and shigeru finally braces himself, looks into them and doesn't tear away his gaze. "yeah, that's right. i said it. i meant it."
"you're telling me that i didn't work hard enough?" there's a strange sense of invulnerability to seijou that shigeru has always cherished.
"of course not," kentarou snorts. "it's just like you to pick out that immediately. no, what i'm saying is--and i'm only saying this once, okay--you're our captain. mine, too. and we look up to you. we don't blame you for our losses. we blame ourselves." he shrugs. "i could have scored more points. i could have played a better game. but you--you're a setter. you have to trust us to score. and today, your trust was the same as it always was." he looks somber, more grown-up than the punkass kid that shigeru shoved into a wall a year ago. "so just trust me, okay? you did good today."
shigeru doesn't quite manage his thank you. it's caught somewhere in his throat, on his tongue, and kentarou eyes him like he's radioactive. "what?"
"no," he manages. "that's just. that's really--i didn't expect to hear that from you."
kentarou's laugh is short and sharp, huffed in from his nose and barked out. "god, how are you still this much of an asshole?"
"i'm not," shigeru says defensively, straightening his shoulders. "only with you."
"yeah," kentarou agrees. "just with me." he leans back, satisfied grin slowly growing on his face. "feel better yet?"
"not because of you," he frowns.
"don't look like that. pretty boys shouldn't make those faces."
"stop calling me pretty." but shigeru gets himself up from the dirt and dusts off his shorts. the captain's mantle falls on him again, the heavy crown almost pressing in at his temples. "get up," he sighs. "we have to face them again. gotta go home."
"guess so. we could always leave them here." shigeru offers him his hand, and cracks a little smile when kentarou takes it, hauls himself up. he doesn't let go. "do you think kindaichi is still over being left behind from last year?"
"we could find out." shigeru glances back down at their hands, joined together. "but we should go back inside. can't risk him not being over it, you know?"
kentarou stares at him, stares until shigeru squeezes his hand in his. "oh. yeah." he drops shigeru's hand completely, flushes pink from his cheeks. shigeru's hand feels cooler. he can hear kindaichi's voice calling, "yahaba-san?" and it's a little thread that pulls him from the little private space they share back to seijou, back to their castle walls.
kentarou's hand reaches out and clasps his wrist. "this is okay, right?" he grunts, and looks straight ahead. shigeru pinks in the face himself, briefly, and grins. "yeah, thought so."
FILL: TEAM AKAASHI KEIJI/BOKUTO KOUTAROU/KUROO TETSUROU, T
700 words
kentarou puts shigeru back together with his hands and surprisingly soft words, with his unyielding faith in his captain, in his abilities. he’s never had to describe what it was like to fill the shoes iwaizumi hajime left behind; everyone can see it. besides, as ace and wing spiker, the points he scores are his.
shigeru's victories are aobajousai’s victories, and his losses are theirs. he depends on spikers for points and blockers and their libero for defense; he is, body and soul, bound to seijou--so they look to him, up at him, and expect victory.
“shh, you did good,” kentarou whispers, breath warm against shigeru’s ear, and shigeru doesn’t even correct him: he did well (but the truth is: he did poorly). he doesn’t cry, just folds up his lips and lets the regret boil up in him until he shakes, shoulders trembling.
oikawa tooru wouldn’t have cried this way.
"shh," he says again, like shigeru will actually cry, or something. he takes his hand in his, callouses in different places and palms rougher than his, broader than his. for attack, not defense. shigeru knows exactly how those hands work (on him, with him) and knows that when he takes them, kentarou takes them seriously.
"it's not just you. we all lost. you could have done better. but so could i." his eyes are still sunken in, like he hasn't gotten much sleep, and shigeru finally braces himself, looks into them and doesn't tear away his gaze. "yeah, that's right. i said it. i meant it."
"you're telling me that i didn't work hard enough?" there's a strange sense of invulnerability to seijou that shigeru has always cherished.
"of course not," kentarou snorts. "it's just like you to pick out that immediately. no, what i'm saying is--and i'm only saying this once, okay--you're our captain. mine, too. and we look up to you. we don't blame you for our losses. we blame ourselves." he shrugs. "i could have scored more points. i could have played a better game. but you--you're a setter. you have to trust us to score. and today, your trust was the same as it always was." he looks somber, more grown-up than the punkass kid that shigeru shoved into a wall a year ago. "so just trust me, okay? you did good today."
shigeru doesn't quite manage his thank you. it's caught somewhere in his throat, on his tongue, and kentarou eyes him like he's radioactive. "what?"
"no," he manages. "that's just. that's really--i didn't expect to hear that from you."
kentarou's laugh is short and sharp, huffed in from his nose and barked out. "god, how are you still this much of an asshole?"
"i'm not," shigeru says defensively, straightening his shoulders. "only with you."
"yeah," kentarou agrees. "just with me." he leans back, satisfied grin slowly growing on his face. "feel better yet?"
"not because of you," he frowns.
"don't look like that. pretty boys shouldn't make those faces."
"stop calling me pretty." but shigeru gets himself up from the dirt and dusts off his shorts. the captain's mantle falls on him again, the heavy crown almost pressing in at his temples. "get up," he sighs. "we have to face them again. gotta go home."
"guess so. we could always leave them here." shigeru offers him his hand, and cracks a little smile when kentarou takes it, hauls himself up. he doesn't let go. "do you think kindaichi is still over being left behind from last year?"
"we could find out." shigeru glances back down at their hands, joined together. "but we should go back inside. can't risk him not being over it, you know?"
kentarou stares at him, stares until shigeru squeezes his hand in his. "oh. yeah." he drops shigeru's hand completely, flushes pink from his cheeks. shigeru's hand feels cooler. he can hear kindaichi's voice calling, "yahaba-san?" and it's a little thread that pulls him from the little private space they share back to seijou, back to their castle walls.
kentarou's hand reaches out and clasps his wrist. "this is okay, right?" he grunts, and looks straight ahead. shigeru pinks in the face himself, briefly, and grins. "yeah, thought so."