Training Trepidation Into Composure

Chapter 9

At the door to the gym, Kuroo rolled the empty can of aloe juice between his palms before clearing his throat. "So-"

"I guess-" Yachi started at the same time. They chuckled and looked away. Yachi noticed Eri delivering the freshly laundered towels. She'd have to grab some for the team as she passed.

Yachi took advantage of the distraction, "well, thanks again. For the tea," she added needlessly, Shaking the pocket that buldged slightly with the squat can. "And for sitting with me. It means a lot." Even if it was technically his fault. She was more than happy to blame him, even as a blush feathered across her cheeks.

He shrugged and said, "you could repay me," he trailed off and she looked up. He wore one of his cunning smirks, the ones that still made her chest tighten with worry. "Cheer for me in my next match."

"Are you playing us?"

He scoffed, "no, I'm not an idiot." 

She pretended to think about it, "okay. I'll see what I can do." They both smiled for a second. Before another embarrassing interruption like that morning, Yachi broke eye contact first, "but I have to get started on my duties. And you should probably go do whatever it is that captains do..."

He nodded and made a mock serious face, "no, yea."

She tilted her head and scrunched her nose. "So which is it?" She asked with a small lilt and a smaller smirk.

His face fell in a moment of shock but then he smiled softly and reached his hand out.

She found she couldn't move away, but not out of fear. No, it was out of some strange desperation to feel his fingertips against her face. His hand came closer and he tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "I'll stay behind after the games to help you clean up a bit. Water bottle duty, right? I'll meet you by the water fountain. Try not to cheer for Nekoma too loud. Your guys might not appreciate it." He winked and jogged over to his team, Yachi re-tucked the hair behind her ear, tracing his fingers where they'd touched her skin before doing a small spin to head towards the bench with the towels, picking up her clipboard as well.

"You two were gone a long time."

"Gah!" Yachi jumped away and turned on her heel to face Eri. The older girl had a smirk and Yachi held her clipboard close to her chest as she stammered out, "I-I hit my-my head!"

Eri raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but then Yachi held back her bangs to show the still red, and slightly raised bump at her hairline. "Yachan! You need ice!"

Yachi let her hair fall and shook her head, holding her arms out to calm the other girl down, "no it's fine. That's what took so long." The other managers joined them at Eri's commotion.

Eri tilted her head, then an almost dizzy smile lit up her face, "he took care of you? That's so sweet!"

"Oh! I mean, it was kind of his fault anyway," Yachi tried to diffuse the situation. But quickly realized that was definitely the wrong way to go about it when she heard the stern, familiar, voice of her gorgeous upperclassman.

"How do you mean?" Yachi watched as Kiyoko's attention zeroed in on where Kuroo was giving a speech to his team before their first match began, oblivious to the girls' conversation. The rest of his team walked away but Kenma stayed behind and said something that froze Kuroo in his tracks. Yachi was sure she imagined his eyes flickering over to her, but he definitely turned red at the tips of his ears before running his hand through his hair and getting into formation.

Yachi turned her attention back to the other managers, who were watching her with varying degrees of interest. Yachi cleared her throat and turned to grab fresh towels from the bench. "He just startled me and I fell into the drink machine," she mumbled.