Chapter Text
A Short Angst.
◖Nekoma 1st Years◗
A heavy silence encases the four, as fists ball and eyebrows furrow to an extent.
Lev's eyes dart towards the small figure of Teshiro, silently fuming whilst biting his lip as a way to hold back the anger slowly boiling in him.
"Was there something wrong with what I said?" The taller one asked, his green eyes widening in surprise with the silence he was given by fellow first years. Large, maroon eyes glared holes into Lev, the unpleased expression of Teshiro becoming more and more evident to the large cat.
"Oh! Don't worry, Tamahiko-kun, as your next captain, I'll make sure you play as the main setter in all of our games in our 3rd Year!" Lev smiled cheekily, raising his hands up in the air to emphasize his statement. " Y-yeah! What Haiba-kun said. After Kenma-san graduates soon, there's a lot of room for you to play as our official setter, Teshiro-kun." Shibayama chirped, in an attempt to loosen up the clear tension between them.
Instead of smiling as expected, Teshiro only clicked his tongue and stared at Lev with more disdain. "What makes you so sure coach will make you captain in our 3rd Year?" He spat, that little venom laced in his words, but to Lev, they were as harmless as a puppy.
"Hm.. Good point, maybe I'll become the captain in my 2nd year!" Said middle blocker exclaimed, pumping his fists in excitement.
"WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN REPLACE A GOOD CAPTAIN LIKE KUROO-SAN JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR HEIGHT?!"
Surprised, the other three turned their heads to see Inuoka. Eyebrows crossed, and teeth nearly gritting. A flush of red can be seen in his face, emphasizing his anger more.
"Eh? But, aren't I already good? Like, I can do so many fast spikes already! Aren't I already better than Kuroo-san?" Lev uttered, his lips forming a pout and his figure slumping.
"Stop acting so cocky! Inuoka-kun has been in the club longer than you, you can't surpass Kuroo-san just yet." Teshiro piped up, crossing his arms on his chest, glaring harder at the middle blocker. "And plus, if I were to pick a captain, I'd choose Inuoka to lead Nekoma in our 3rd Year, because he knows how to be humble unlike you."
"But I am humble! And Coach Nekomata said that I have sooo much potential that I can be a captain! Being the captain means you have control over your teammates and you're the best of the best, because you're the captain!" Lev objected, the pout not leaving his face.
"Le-let's not fight, guys.. Not all of us are that good since we are just beginners." Shibayama interjected, rushing to Lev's side and assure him that he was just as good as any of them in that room.
"I hate it when you blabber about being the best. It's like you can receive better than Shibayama-kun. Heh, well that's not what we see, buddy." Teshiro taunted, his aura darkening and tone getting sharper than a knife's edge.
"I know right? Like, no offense, Haiba-kun.. Can you not rub it in that you're 'the tallest' or 'the ace' in our faces? It's gonna' get annoying." Inuoka added, going beside Teshiro.
"Guys.. Stop, I'm pretty sure Haiba-kun only wanted to feel good about himself while playing volleyball. Coach did say you have to play with a lot of belief in yourself, right, Haiba-kun?" The libero replied. He then turned his head towards the tall boy, who's head was hung low. "Haiba-kun?" He repeated, a little worry heard in his voice.
…
"STOP SAYING LIKE I'M THE MOST HORRIBLE PLAYER ON THE TEAM, TAMAHIKO-KUN! YOU AREN'T EVEN A REGULAR TO BEGIN WITH!" Lev yelled, his expression showing that of anger the same amount as the other two. He glared at the two across him, his sharp green eyes looking through them with immense dislike.
Suddenly, a growl escaped Teshiro lips, and with a blink of an eye, the grey haired boy charged for the taller one, elbowing him right in the gut. Pushed back because of the force, Lev knelt, whilst holding his stomach in pain, a groan audible for the whole gym to hear.
"...Don't you say that to my face ever again, Haiba." Teshiro huffed, lowering his elbows, but his anger not ceasing. After a few seconds, Lev looked up from where he was, with a provoked face.
Without hesitation, Lev ran up to Teshiro and loomed over the small setter, grabbed his shirt and raised him up to his face level. Taken aback, the smaller one gasped at how high he was raised up by only Lev's two hands.
"Listen. I absolutely did nothing to you, so why are you attacking me like this?" Lev asked, his voice sounding small and gentle. Teshiro gulped, his body shaking underneath LEv's sharp gaze.
"You were indirectly telling me I can't be as good as Kenma-san! Okay? And let me go!" Teshiro squawked, shoving himself off Lev's grasp, brushing the dust off his shirt. Lev frowned at how Teshiro was accusing him of these things he didn't know he was doing, but to be fair, he didn't, right?
"How about you, Inuoka-kun? Why are you attacking me too??" Lev asked, his frown wider. At this point, Inuoka thought he was desperate. Staring at him with a rather irked face, he spoke. "Lev, do you even need to ask that? You literally replaced me as a regular and a middle blocker! Kuroo-san and Yaku-san pay more attention to you now, especially Yaku-san! I'm glad Kai-san pays attention to everyone's needs."
"Then why not stick with Kai-san only? He's nicer and less harsher than Kuroo-san and Yaku-san anyways! You've got the best senpai ever, and you're complaining?" Lev hollered, approaching the brunette.
"Now you're just disrespecting the 3rd years!"
"I didn't even talk crap about the 3rd Years! You were the one who was complaining about Kuroo-san and Yaku-san not paying attention to you!"
"LEV YOU FREAKING COMPARED THE 3RD YEARS WHEN YOU KNOW THEY'RE EQUALLY GOOD!" Inuoka howled, fists balled tightly and getting into a defensive stance.
In a split second, Lev's figure came running up to his fellow 1st year, grabbing ahold of his shirt and shook him intensely. "Stop making it seem like I'm the bad guy here! I hate being the bad guy! I only want to be better than Kuroo-san, better than Taketora-san!" He screamed in rage, voice echoing off the walls of the gym.
Inuoka responded with a pulling at Lev's shirt as well, voice as loud as his, "What makes you better is practice! PRACTICE HAIBA-KUN! YOU DON'T GO PRO OVERNIGHT!"
With a strong push, Inuoka was planted on his back to the floor, Lev's towering figure shadowing over him. "Not to mention you overshadow the other first years! Like, how you thought you could've won without having a team behind you! Nekoma is all about teamwork, get that in your head!" He added, his voice unwavering as Lev continued to shake and bang his upper body on the floor.
"I know, I know, you don't need to say that to me all the damn time! I'm the bad guy now, I know!" Lev screeched, his tight grasp on Inuoka's shirt not loosening any sooner.
"STOP! YOU TWO NEED TO STOP!" Shibayama cried, running up to the fighting pair to break them up. The two boys did not stop, but rather got rougher with how Lev was about to go harder with slamming Inuoka's body against the gym floor. "Stop!" the libero cried louder, going in between them to try and stop their violent brawling. But as he did so, he didn't notice, Lev's long arm coming towards him, specifically at his face and with a hard smack, a hand came into contact with Shibayama's face, along with a strong force pushing him back.
"Stay back, Shibayama-kun! You aren't needed--"
…
Shibayama sat there, hand touching a reddish spot on his face. The silence loomed over them, as each and every one of them tried processing what the heck just happened.
Finally, the silence ceased, but all they could hear now was the shaking sobs of the libero, as his hand continued to caress his own cheek, stinging with the pain and power of Lev's slap.
"Y-Yuuki?" A quiet question unheard by the ravenette, proceeding to curl himself into a tight ball, his sobs getting more and more audible. Without a moment wasted, Inuoka shoved Lev off of him, angrily as he went, and marched over to where Shibayama sat. Inuoka's hands found themselves on Shibayama's back, rubbing circles to soothe the temporary pain. Unexpectedly, Shibayama shrugged Inuoka's hands off and stood up instead. Fists balled until knuckles whitened, he sucked up his sobs, and looked at them with a disappointed stare, his fresh tears dripping down his face.
"This is all of your faults.."