failed attempts to fly

who will be there to take my place?

"What the fuck just happened?" A phrase he continually said out loud and in his mind.

Rin was upset at him specifically. He understood that much. But for a reason, he couldn't come up with anything. For days he tried to contact her, peeking out whenever he heard the trash being thrown out at night, only to find a middle-aged man on the verge of tears because he had to touch the germy substance.

"So she was upset, and then some dude came and picked her up?" Semi also tried to make sense of it all, as he taped up flyers outside the record store, but he also was coming up empty.

In search of a rad bassist. If your rad and want to jam out, come to Paradise Records. Rock on!

"Excuse me." The voice was wispy and could barely be heard over the zooming traffic and honking cars, "I'm here about the bass position." Dyed blonde hair with brown roots danced in the wind as Semi and Iwaizumi looked at each other in puzzlement.

Semi had barely put one sign up, and already someone was interested?

"I'm not interested in joining a band or anything...but Rin told me you needed someone just for one gig, and I guess I could do that."

"Wait- did you say, Rin?" Midst the confusion, Iwaizumi finally notices the same familiar red polo Rin wears as a uniform.

"Do you work with her? How is she? Is she okay? I think she's ignoring me, and I don't know why to help me out, man."

"They."

"Huh?"

"My pronouns." The person with the name tag "Kenma" corrected him.

"Oh, shit, my bad—." Iwaizumi realizes his mistake. He got carried away and concerned with his own issues, failing to do the respectful thing, and ask. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to- shit."

"It's not that serious." So long as theirs no malice, Kenma is surprisingly a forgiving person, plus all the begging was freaking them out.

Semi interjected to fill Kenma in on all the details about the position. Grateful he didn't have to go around campus putting up flyers all day.

Kenma seemed interested. Well, more like not totally uninterested—and the bassless band was desperate.

"Your reputation," Kenma states to Iwaizumi on the out of the record store. They never directly answered the question Iwaizumi had about Rin. Only vague answers and riddles. "I know firsthand that for the right person, a person can change...so just make sure she knows that."

*******************************

My reputation? The words replay in his mind as he tries to figure out what they mean by that.

"Do you guys think I'm an asshole?"

"Yes." The entire wheezing volleyball team groans at the uphill sprints the assistant coach demands.

Rolling his eyes at their complaints, he dismissed the team, but not before scolding them for getting carried away with the partying.

If you didn't drink so much, you guys wouldn't feel like shit the following morning.

Most of the team disbursed, except for Iwaizumi's closest confidants and the two first years who felt the torturous laps weren't enough and needed more.

"It's okay, Iwa-Chan, so what if you have RBF? Not all of us can be blessed like me." Iwaizumi didn't even have to look at his friend to know Oikawa was doing his signature victory pose.

"That's not what I'm asking." He snips. "If anything, Tooru's reputation is worse than mine! And he doesn't even try to hide it."

"Well, that's because I have a thing called charm, and you don't, sweetie." Out of instinct, Iwaizumi threw a volleyball straight at Oikawa's head for his remark. However, if a person gets a ball chucked at their face enough times, they learn to dodge.