I Found your Thunder ↬ Yū Nishinoya

sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇ sʜᴀᴡᴛʏ

"You haven't thought about it, have you."

You let out a dry chuckle and say, "you know me too well." Trying not to show how frustrated you are with yourself and with volleyball.

You used to play volleyball in middle school and enjoyed it immensely. You loved the game and looked forward to practicing every day. However, ever since high school started, you have never really gotten the chance to play and have fallen out of the sport. Your love for volleyball had faded right in front of your eyes.

"Hey, it's okay if you're not ready to get back into volleyball, playing or not." Kiyoko smiles at you.

To her comment, you nod, not sure how to respond. Kiyoko says she is leaving for practice, and your legs follow her, even though you don't want them to.

You head across campus and you can already hear the volleyball team in the gym, sneakers screeching, balls hitting the floor, and teammates yelling. As you move towards the gym, your feet begin to drag as you remember what you're actually getting yourself into.

Trying to avoid thinking about it, you pull out your phone as you approach the gym doors.

As you are scrolling through social media, you suddenly feel someone slam into your back, throwing you headfirst into the gym. Your phone flies out of your hand and you turn around to see a blonde with some astray papers sprawled out across the floor, half in the gym, half out.

"OH MY GOD, IM SO SORRY." The girl shrieks.

A student, probably a third year, comes over to help the two of you up. He has silver-grey hair and looks kind of like a middle-aged mom. In getting up, you laugh it off and reassure her that it was not that big of a deal. After helping her collect the paper, you turn around to face the team and exclaim, "Surprise, Shawty!"

No response. Absolutely none. Just blank stares.

"Oh, hey it's you!" Tanaka yells as he walks into the gym behind you.

"Tanaka, do you know who this is?" another player asks. He has brown hair and looks like a third year as well.

"Hell yeah, that's (Y/n)! They're in a class with me and Noya." He says giving you a big thumbs up and a wide grin.

"Hi (Y/n), it's nice to meet you." The player with grey hair explains, "My name is Sugawara, this is Daichi and that's Enoshita, Asahi, Hinata, and Tsukishima. There are a few other players who are still in the club room." Looking around he asks, "Wait does anyone know where Noya is?"

"He is doing some homework! Got to study hard, you know." Tanaka blurts out. Everyone turns and deadpans at his interjection, knowing it is not true.

"Very believable, Tanaka. Now, where is he?" Daichi asks.

"Vice Principal, he got in trouble for running and yelling in the hall after school," Tanaka mumbles, seeing no point in trying to fight Daichi.

Daichi sighs at Tanaka's response and turns to you and says, "Well, this is the Kurasuno High Boys' Volleyball Team!"

In trying to break the awkward aura surrounding you, you respond, "your gym is really big!"

"I KNOW RIGHT," a red-haired first year responds, "THERE'S SO MUCH ROOM AND WE PRACTICE ALL THE TIME AND WE DO SPIKES AND..."

He carries on until the coach gets there and Yachi invites you to sit upon the stage with her to watch their practice.

While you were enjoying yourself watching the boys' volleyball practice, Nishinoya was sitting in the vice principal's office, writing an apology letter to a teacher he disturbed.

"Daichi is going to kill me." Noya thought as he glances up at the clock. The time reads 3:57 pm. Practice starts at four and if he doesn't get there in three minutes, there will be serious consequences.

"Why am I in trouble, all I did was run up to Kiyoko to give her a hug." Nishinoya lets out a small sigh as he crumples up the paper on his desk.

"Can I have a new piece of paper?"

"Another?" The vice-principal says as he grabs a stack of lined paper and dumps it onto the table in front of Noya.

"Thanks" Noya mumbles as the vice principal sits back down at his desk chair.

Scribbling a few words into the page, Noya stuffs the pile of extra paper on the table into his backpack for later. He gets up and goes to one of the second-year classrooms; that of the teacher he needs to apologize to.

Once he hands her the note, he runs over to the changing room to get into practice-appropriate clothing. Noya throws his clothes on and runs over to the gym, hoping he is not so late that Ukai and Daichi will notice.

In an attempt to be sneaky, Noya opens the door as quietly as he can, but end up slamming it because of the adrenaline pumping through his body.

"Glad to see someone could make it." Coach Ukai calls as Noya smiles up at him.

"Oh, hey Ukai. Wow, crazy weather we're having."

"Go warm up, Noya."

"Yessir!" Noya says as he begins stretching on the sideline.

Once he is properly warmed up, Noya walks over to Kiyoko, who is holding a clipboard to ask her what the team is doing today.

"Receiving and combos," Kiyoko responds with a grin, knowing how excited Noya will be to practice on receives.

"YES!" Noya shouts enthusiastically because he gets to show off 'Rolling Thunder'.

"Oi, shorty, are you the libero?"

Turning in the direction he heard your voice, Noya makes eye contact with you as you sit cross-legged on the stage.

"Well duh, I'm the star!" He says proudly as he points at his chest with his thumb.

You smile and say, "No way! I used to be a libero!"

"You used to play volleyball?" Hinata screams as he runs up to you.

"Yeah, I was the libero for two years and 'ace' winged-spiker another two years after that," you reply.

"Libero and winged-spiker?" Tsukishima joins in, questioning your response.

"I know, right? It was just middle school, so my team experimented with positions, but it usually worked out."

"Woah, so cool!" Hinata says, asking you more questions about being the ace.

Once Hinata is done questioning you, you jump off the stage and walk over to where Noya is playing around with a volleyball.

"Hey Noya!"

"Oh, hey (Y/n), what's up?"

"Just curious about the libero of Karasuno, not much."

"Well, we're working on receives today, so I get to show off 'rolling thunder!"

"You have a signature move, too?"

"Heck yeah, I do! Every star has one!"

"I can't wait to see it, squirt!" you respond, giving Noya the first nickname that comes to mind.

He scoffs as he begins walking over to the net, and yelling behind him, "Find a better nickname for me!"

"Aww, but I'm not good at thinking of that stuff on the spot!" you jokingly pout as he turns around as he walks, flashing you a grin.

to be continued...