The Weight of a Crown *ON HOLD*

The King of Flirting

The sun was shining brilliantly, only slightly hidden by the clouds, and there was a timid breeze that made the branches on the cherry blossom trees sway steadily while the same winds made the grass move erratically. With the chirp of the cicadas, the sound of light conversation, and the steady rhythm of his own footsteps in his ears, Iwaizumi felt tranquil. The only things he had to focus on were controlling his breathing and keeping a constant pace, but the fluid motion of his arms, his legs-- they came naturally. His mind began to wander like a dog let off its leash, allowing him to escape from the stresses in his life, and he hated that the sensation was only temporary. It had been about ten minutes since the team left for their morning run, and Iwaizumi had settled into the familiar, comforting rhythm.
The rhythm was soon interrupted by the heft of someone's back as he ran straight into it.
Iwaizumi bounded off of the person in front of him who had stopped abruptly, and fell onto the sidewalk. Cursing at the pain in his lower back, he peered up at the looming figure in front of him and clicked his tongue. "Oikawa, what the hell?"
The pompous little shit had stopped running because a group of girls had approached him. They were no different from the dozens of other fangirls that flocked Oikawa daily; they all had long hair, cakey makeup, and wore their school uniforms with quite revealing altercations. There was one girl in particular who look skimpier than the rest, and she was batting her clumped eyelashes so fast Iwaizumi was sure she could generate enough wind to blow the cherry blossoms right off of the trees.
"Aoba Johsai? I don't think I've ever heard of that school," she said, referring to the name in small print of the front of Oikawa's running jacket. She had a nasal voice. Very pitchy. Very annoying.
Oikawa lifted on hand and began to rummage it through his hair while he closed his eyes, tilted his head, and gave her a toothy grin. It was the automatic pose he made whenever he talked to women. "Ah, it's in the Miyagi Prefecture. We've been here for a training camp for the past week."
Iwaizumi, more than a little pissed that he was blatantly ignored, got help from two teammates and was lifted from the ground. He and the rest of the group did what they did every time Oikawa was stopped in the middle of their runs: stand back and watch. Some of them had the worst luck with women and liked to study the Captain's "techniques" as if he were teaching them how to change a tire or pay taxes. Most of them, like Iwaizumi, didn't interject because they knew it simply wasn't worth it as they would just be stopped again later. They just watched him flirt in annoyance at the fact that women were practically drawn to him.
If only they knew what a handful of garbage he is, Iwaizumi thought to himself.
When the ten-minute mark was approaching and the team still hadn't resumed their run, he started to get restless. As did Matsukawa, but for an entirely different reason. He had been whispering with Hanamaki for a few minutes, and Iwaizumi could only catch snippets of what the boy was uttering, but he could definitely pick up the sense of uncertainty and a hint of urgency in his voice. After leaning towards the two, he heard: "She's way out of my league," and Hanamaki's response in that deadpan voice: "I think everyone's out of your league," followed by a submissive: "That's true." Before Iwaizumi could interject, Hanamaki practically pushed the tall brunet forward. He swaggered out of the crowd of boys, over to the Captain and his groupies, with a smile on his face so creepy that it made Iwaizumi want to call the police. He took a deep breath, looked back at the team for reassurance, and received thirty upturned thumbs. The teen then puffed up his chest and lightly tapped the shoulder of one of the girls surrounding Oikawa. The conversation visibly died down and the girl slowly turned around to face him, then said something that Iwaizumi was too far away to hear. Matsukawa gave her a brief response, and she offered one of her own. The team watched in infatuation as a conversation ensued between the two and were pleasantly surprised; usually Matsukawa would tap the girl on the shoulder and get turned down right then and there, so it was a wonder as to why was he suddenly having succe--
Hanamaki was the first to burst out laughing when the girl pushed Matsukawa away with the force of a sumo wrestler and returned her attention to Oikawa. Matsukawa, newly dejected and embarrassed, drooped his shoulders and pulled his upturned collar back down.
He was visibly conflicted as he sulked back over to the team, and Iwaizumi put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him aside, "A+ for effort."
Matsukawa rolled his eyes and moved away while Iwaizumi chuckled lightly. He watched as the boy received pats on the back and a few high fives from the rest of the team, and a light smack on the rear from Hanamaki along with a "Maybe next time, champ."
When the laughter around him died down, Iwaizumi took it upon himself to clear his throat so loudly that the group of schoolgirls around Oikawa stopped squawking. Even a murder of crows perched on a powerline above their heads were frightened and took their leave, ascending into the sky. Oikawa made eye contact with the ace, which only prompted Iwaizumi to focus all of his rage into his gaze. He saw his best friend visibly shudder, and he silently apologized to the girls, waved goodbye, and jogged over to the rest of the team.
"Sorry, Iwa-chan," he said as he approached, "that took longer than I expected."
"Did you at least get any of their phone numbers?" Iwaizumi said, with some bite in his words.
"If you're jealous, just say so--" Oikawa was cut off by a kick in his rear from Iwaizumi and fought back tears. His nickname in summer camp five years ago was Thunder Thighs for a reason.
"I'm only jealous because they don't have to see your annoying face 24/7."
The captain didn't reply; he simply smiled at the hostility that he'd gotten used to being the target of for the last 17 years. He then looked around at the rest of the team and clapped his hands together.
"Let's get back to our run, shall we?"

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After an invigorating run in the countryside, the volleyball team returned to the training camp, tired and hungry. There had been no more interruptions since Oikawa was first stopped, and so the team continued to jog for almost forty minutes. After that, Iwaizumi not only felt a slight sting in his legs, but he also couldn't ignore the emptiness in his stomach. There were volunteer chefs at the camp, and for lunch they made close to 500 rice balls and placed them in one large bowl in the center of one of the long tables in the dining area. Within five minutes of walking into the dining area, Iwaizumi learned one thing: when around twenty teenage boys are reaching for food from a single bowl, people get hurt. It took about seven kicks to the shin (all of which he returned with a kick aimed at the other person's arse) and three elbows to the chin (all of which he narrowly dodged by bending over backwards as if he were in the Matrix) to learn said lesson, but it was all worth it when he ended up with the largest pile of rice balls in front of him. Hanamaki had the second largest pile as he had stricken up a deal with Matsukawa that if he gave him three-fourths of his pile, Hanamaki would give him tips on how to impress girls. He didn't look like it, but Hanamaki was substantially popular with women. The middle blocker happily gave up his food in exchange for the master's wisdom.
Iwaizumi was amused, but he had bigger fish to fry. "Guys, in case you've forgotten, I'm still pissed."
"Ah," Hanamaki started, before taking a bite out of one of his rice balls and continuing with a full cheek, "you mean the Captain's little joke this morning?"
Iwaizumi flicked away a grain of rice that had flown out of his friends mouth and onto his face, "Yes, that. I need to get him back before we leave camp tomorrow morning."
Matsukawa leaned forward in his seat, "I'm down for revenge and all, but it was just a harmless prank. Are you sure it's worth it?"
Iwaizumi scoffed. "A harmless prank? No, this was a declaration of war. I'm not going to let that leech get away with everything. Let's teach him a lesson for once."
"What exactly do you have in mind?"
"Hmmm..." Iwaizumi leaned back in his seat and took a bite out of a rice ball. As he moved the food in his mouth, he sifted through ideas in his mind. He'd never pulled a prank on anyone before; it simply wasn't in his character. What could he do that would piss Oikawa off almost as much as he had been pissed off that morning? "Ah! The pie!"
Both Hanamaki and Matsukawa displayed expressions of reluctance and disbelief.
"Not the pie," Matsukawa breathed.
"Yes," Iwaizumi nodded, "the pie. Meet me in the kitchen after dinner, okay?"
Matsukawa gulped, while Hanamaki's reluctance had turned into excitement. The three of them nodded at each other before reaching into their respective piles of rice balls and eating them in silence. Iwaizumi's eyes were drawn across the room at the handsome captain with that perfect chocolate brown hair and the eyes that matched, and the signature smile.
Prepare yourself, Trashykawa, he thought to himself.

Hi!!! Sorry it took me awhile to update but I have standardized testing this week so my focus was on that. But the year is almost over so I'll have lots of free time to write over the summer! I've decided that each chapter will be semi-long but not crazy long (unless I suddenly am cured of writers' block) but I will try to update every 10 days or so. I hope you guys enjoy it so far! SHITS GONNA GO DOWN REAL SOON OK