Winner [Haikyu!! x OC] (Completed)

Sacrifice

"So, Lil-chan. How do you feel?"

I pause with my green tea mochi halfway to my mouth. Oikawa hasn't let go of my pinkie, so I'm eating with my left hand. I don't mind.

"How do I feel?" I repeat.

"About tennis," he clarifies. "About basketball. About mochi. Do you love them?"

"Well, it was never a question of whether I love mochi," I try to hold back a laugh as I hold up my mochi in a mock toast before shoving it into my mouth and reveling in the way it melts over my tongue.

Oikawa rolls his eyes at me. "I know. I gave that one to you as a freebie. But what about the others?"

I stay quiet as I think. It felt amazing to play tennis and basketball again. But do I love them? Do I have a passion for them the way Oikawa has a passion for volleyball?

"I'm not sure," I admit slowly.

He doesn't say anything, but his little finger gives mine a reassuring squeeze and he lets me think.

I run over each moment of the time I spent on court. Honestly, Oikawa himself takes up the majority of my thoughts. My main takeaway seems to be that I like him. A lot. But I already knew that.

I focus harder. What was I thinking when I was swinging my racquet? How did I feel when I was dribbling the basketball?

My brain zeroes in on the memory of when I was teaching Oikawa the proper way to shoot a basketball.

That's it. That's the moment when I was completely in my element. It felt natural to play the sports myself, and I enjoyed it, but using my knowledge and experience to help someone else improve their play took my enjoyment a step further.

I look up at Oikawa. "I think my favorite part was when I coached you through your shot."

He holds my gaze, then looks up at the sky and a small smile crawls over his lips. "That's very interesting, Lil-chan."

I continue looking at him, wondering what could be so interesting about that. I mean, sure, the expected answer would be that I loved playing those sports again, and not having to teach him the correct form, but it's not anything crazy.

"I've figured out what makes you a winner."

I blink. That wasn't what I expected him to say.

Oikawa's eyes stay stuck on the sky. "There are several things, but there's one in particular."

He's quiet, and I try to be patient, but as the silence drags on, I cave and ask him, "What is it?"

"It's sacrifice." Oikawa finally looks at me. "You always make sacrifices to do what you feel is right, or for the people you care about."

"Really?" I frown and look away. "I don't know about that. I feel like I'm pretty selfish and impulsive."

"You're definitely impulsive," Oikawa agrees, laughing when I glare at him. "But you're not selfish. You sacrificed your own athletic season this year to be our manager, and yes, I know it was somewhat forced upon you," he forestalls my argument when I open my mouth, "but you still chose to be our manager, so it counts. You sacrificed your money to buy us ice cream here. You sacrificed any time you could have spent practicing your own sports to do more for us as our manager. You sacrificed your Mondays to hold clinics. You sacrificed playing basketball for yourself to teach me how to play better. And I probably don't know a fraction of what you sacrificed to help Mad Dog-chan."