Childhood friends

16. Rumors

"Y/n!" The familiar voice called out to you.

You turn around, seeing your friend running up to you. You give the brunette a smile, letting her catch her breath once she stops in front of you. "Hey, Riko. It's been a while since we last talked. How are you doing? Is the volleyball club doing well? Are you getting along with your teammates? Oh, are you their starting setter this year or is a senpai filling that position?"

Riko chuckles breathily, finally getting her breath back after running. "I'm fine. The club is good. I get along well with my teammates. And, no, I'm not the starting setter this year. There's only me and a third year in the setter position, and they're letting the third years play until they retire from the team, so none of us first years are starters. It has been a while. I've been hearing stuff and wanted to finally talk to you."

You tilt your head to the side. "Talk to me about what?"

The brunette rubs the back of her neck, looking up at you since she's still shorter than you. "I hear you're doing well with the boys' volleyball club. I was wondering if the rumors are true."

"What rumors?"

"Are you and Oikawa dating?" She blurted out, surprising you. "If not, who on the team are you actually dating? People have been saying you're dating Oikawa, Iwaizumi, or Kyoutani. Which one are you with? And why didn't you tell me that you're in a relationship?"

You shook your head. "I'm not dating anyone. I'm just friends with the guys on the team. I take care of them, they take care of me. None of us have romantic interests in each other, at least not that I'm aware of."

Riko frowned. "Really? Literally the whole school has been talking about it. Everyone's convinced that you're dating someone on the volleyball team."

You rub the back of your neck. "Sorry to disappoint you, but there's no romance with me and the team. We're all good friends. Are these rumors really going around the entire school?"

She nods, averting her eyes away from you. "Yeah. People say you're really close with the guys, especially Oikawa. I hear you two hug a lot, and even hold hands. So many girls are jealous that you've won the heart of the most desired boy in this school."

You hold back your laughter. "Yeah, we hug. That's just cuz we support each other and like to show a little affection from time to time. And if people see us holding hands, then that's because Oikawa-senpai likes to grab my hand and pull me all over the place. There's seriously nothing going on with any of the boys."

"What about the Iwaizumi thing? People say you might be the closest girl that's ever gotten to hang around Iwaizumi."

You hum. "Well, since Oikawa-senpai is clingy with me, Iwaizumi-senpai decides to stay close to keep him from doing anything to me. He's just being like an overprotective big brother."

Riko raises a brow. "And the Kyoutani thing? No one gets close to him, but there are people that think you two are dating. Some girls even claim to have seen you two smile at each other."

You beam. "Well, I've actually gotten to befriend Kyoutani. He appreciates me going out of my way to try to be friends with him, so he's being somewhat friendly in return. Honestly, all these rumors are baseless. If I were to date anyone, it would most likely be Taichi. Right now, I don't have any interest in anyone romantically, though."

Riko sighs, slouching over. "That's boring. I was hoping to hear you managed to land one of the impossible guys on the volleyball team. Now I'm just depressed that you friend zone everyone."

"Yo, L/n. What are these rumors about us?" Kyoutani appears, looking as if he's glaring at you two.

You smile at the boy. "Hey, Kyoutani. I'm just hearing about these rumors now. Apparently people think I might be dating one of you guys in the club."

Kyoutani grunted. "People are stupid. They want to assume things without getting any evidence to prove if they're right or not." His gaze flicks over to your friend, who flinches under the glare. "Who's this?"

"This is my friend, Riko. She's on the girls' volleyball team."

Riko is unable to say anything, too scared of the boy that's getting closer to you. She just watches in silent terror as you and Kyoutani talk as if you've been around each other your whole lives.

"So, Kyoutani, is everything alright? You're not bothered by all these rumors, are you?"

He shakes his head. "I couldn't care less about stupid people talking about stupid things. How are you holding up? You don't seem like the type that likes having people talk about you behind your back."

You shrug. "I could say the same about you. I'm surprised you're so chill about this. I thought that by now, you'd be trying to rip someone's head off." You let out a giggle.

Riko looks horrified. Never in her life would she think that you find something like that funny. But, to be fair, she never thought you'd actually be friends with someone like Kyoutani in the first place. Here she was, seeing you have a normal interaction with the person that everyone in your year was too afraid to even look at. Riko looks between you two, thinking about how much you've changed since the last time you two hung out.

Kyoutani just stares at you, keeping a nonthreatening eye contact. "Usually, I would go look for whoever started this rumor and beat the ever loving shit out of them. Then I thought about how you would feel if I got in trouble for doing something like that, so I thought it would be better to find you first and talk things out. I don't want my friend to get upset with me."

You give him a gentle smile, then gently place your hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Kyoutani. You're being very mature about all of this. You did the right thing. It wouldn't be good for you to get into trouble. You wouldn't be able to play volleyball if you got in trouble. We really need you on the team."

The boy nods, offering you a small smile. "I'll get to my class now. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will. See you at practice. Oh, actually, let's walk to practice together after classes. I'll head to your class once we finish up, so wait for me."

He nods once more, turning around. "See you after classes, L/n." And he walks away.

Riko slowly turns to you again, trying to get rid of the lingering feelings of fear. "Are you sure you're not dating him? There's never been a single person that would be able to act like that with him."

You sigh. "I'm sure. I'm just friends with the all of the guys in the club. I promise. I'd let you know if one of them asked me out."

Before she could get another word in, you walked back to your class and continued on with your day. From time to time, you'd hear people talk about these rumors, but you'd pay them no mind. After all, the rumors were false and you knew that.