Lemon Tea

Don't blow it

You slept pretty well. You got a whole room to yourself since you were the only female teacher, although the managers did hang out for a while playing card games and trying to get you to gossip with them. 

You missed that about high school, the drama that seemed so important to you then, having a crush on one of your classmates you would always be too shy to do anything about. Although, you hated to admit that you were practically in the same situation yourself. 

In the morning, after getting ready you walked into the hallway where you passed Ukai. "Oh. Good morning," you said. God he's cute, you thought to yourself. 

"-Yeah, good morning." Ukai was still getting used to having you around. Running into you in the hallway during a volleyball training camp first thing in the morning, even before his first cigarette of the day, wasn't something he'd anticipated when he first met you. 

"Hm.." you hummed, staring up at him. 

"Huh? What." 

"You don't look fucked up to me." 

"Eh-" That was a roundabout compliment right? That meant you thought he looked good, right? He subconsciously hoped that's what that meant. 

"Oh. Well I managed to sneak away, I stayed behind to help the team practice more. Wait. Should you be swearing?" he said playfully, smirking slightly embarrassed by his own attempt at flirting. "I mean, you're a teacher," 

You rolled your eyes playfully. "So? You're a coach. There's no one around right now." 

A goofy smile spread onto his face. 

 "Wait, you stayed up late helping the team practice? Why didn't you ask me to help?" 

"It was a long day, I didn't want to ask any more of you." 

"I got roped into high school gossip so I was up late anyways! So I'll help you tonight, ok?" 

"Uh. Yeah, sure." 

"Ok, well I'll see you at breakfast," you said, walking away. 

"The hell?" Ukai thought to himself. "Is her charm more powerful in the morning or something?"

The practice matches continued, and so did the penalties. They didn't win any sets, but you were impressed by their lack of discouragement. You helped Ukai take notes on different plays, then head off to make lunch again. 

After lunch but before the practice matches continued, Karasuno was messing around and practicing serves. You and Yachi joined them, Hinata giving you both some tips. 

"You sure you should be teaching them? You can barely get your serve over the net," A tall blonde said mockingly. 

"Ahhh stingy-shimaaaa," Hinata yelled, running off. 

"They've still got a lot of energy, huh." You looked up to see Naoi standing next to you. 

"Hi Naoi" 

"Mind if I join you? I might know a thing or two." 

"Oh sure," you said, passing him the ball. 

"I can underhand serve but my overhand serves are always short..." 

"Here let me show you," Naoi said, giving you a slow demonstration. "Now you give it a try," he said, passing you the ball. 

"Tch. Cocky much?" Ukai said to himself, off to the side of the court. "And isn't that a bit cliche?" he said out loud to whoever was standing next to him, which happened to be Sugawara and Daichi. 

The two smiled, sinisterly. "Does that bother you, coach?" Sugawara said teasingly. 

"Eh-no I just meant-" he protested before drooping his head in defeat. "Come on you guys, just give me a break." 

You tried your hand at serving, following the technique Naoi showed you. To your surprise, when your hand smacked the ball you could feel it follow through, sending it much more force, only narrowly missing the net. 

"Ahhhh man I was so close." 

"Give it a few more tries, I gotta get back to my team," Naoi said, jogging off. 

You felt a pair of eyes on you and looked to see Yachi staring up at you. "Oh Yachi, want me to teach you?" 

"Oh! Um uh... sure." Yachi said flustered at having been caught staring. 

After the practice matches while everyone was cleaning up, Coach Nekomata walked up to Ukai.

 "So Keishin." 

"Oh, Coach Nekomata" 

"Looks like this training camp is proving to be interesting isn't it?" 

"You said that yesterday too." 

"Yesterday I was talking about the teams," Nekomata said, turning to eye Y/n across the gym. "Today I'm talking about your assistant." 

"She's only helping for a couple days, Takeda is coming tomorrow-" 

Nekomata raised his eyebrows knowingly at Ukai. "Hm... well don't blow it, kay?" 

Ukai stared, shocked. Nekomata too? Why did everyone keep saying that? 

It wasn't like that. Well, it wasn't like that to her. He on the other hand...it was getting hard to ignore her. Honestly he'd been in denial this whole time. From the beginning he'd avoided thinking about her, catching feelings would be too messy when he was sure she was out of his league. But after this training camp, he wasn't sure if he could ignore her anymore. He liked being around her, and he was starting to think she enjoyed his company too. He really needed to maintain his cool so not to make things awkward. He sighed. 

"Um Coach Ukai?" Speak of the devil. "Is there anything else you need me to do?" 

"Hm, doesn't look like it. Let's head to dinner." 

As the two of you walked, he broke the silence. 

"I'm thinking we sneak out of dinner a little early so we don't run into Nekomata." Now he wanted to avoid him for multiple reasons. 

"And also, I saw you practicing serves." 

"Haha really?" 

"Yeah," he said, looking over to you. "You're getting better." 

Something about that look, his eyes softer than usual, sent shivers down your spine. 

"Right.. Thanks," you said quickly looking away.