Shiratorizawa x Reader

4 A.M.

Your phone rang at an ungodly hour.. it was four in the morning. FOUR A.M. PEOPLE. But now that you were so rudely awakened, you picked up the call to give whoever it was a piece of your grouchy mind.

"What do you want."

"(L/N). Come set for me."

"Huh? Ushijima-san..?"

"Send me your address, I'll pick you up in 10."

"He... he hung up. What the hell is going on?" You texted Ushijima your address, not even stopping to think about how he magically got your phone number. Somehow, you got out of bed and threw on a sports bra and some leggings, tying a matching light jacket around your waist in case it was chilly out this early in the morning. You wouldn't know, seeing as how you never went outside at FOUR A.M.

You were tying up your shoelaces when a knock sounded on your door. Geez, even his knock sounded all stoic and serious. You would've laughed at this normally, but it was FOUR A.M. and you were not having it.

"(L/N)-san," Ushijima nodded to you as you grumbled a hello and joined him outside. You got in his passenger seat before he even started walking back towards his car.
Hey- you were definitely not a person that functioned well off no sleep, he was just going to learn that the hard way.

He got in and started driving to your destination without a word. Pulling his car into an open spot (hell, they were all open at this hour), he reached in the back seat and grabbed a gym bag.
"Ready?"

You just grunted in response, a very Ushijima-esque response honestly. You finally looked at where you were- a sand volleyball court. Oh yeah, he did say something about you setting for him. WAIT, you? Setting for him? You obviously knew he was some big shot volleyball player, so why would he ask you, who has absolutely no volleyball experience, to set for him?

"Ushij-"
"-I'll teach you."

Well that curbed that conversation. Looks like you were stuck doing this, whether you liked it or not. Might as well learn a thing or two while you were here!
Just kidding, that was too cheery for this early in the morning.

"Hold the ball like this."

He handed you the ball and you tried to copy what he did with his hands, but he didn't seem satisfied with what you did. He shook his head and moved closer, adjusting your hands on the ball with surprisingly soft touches.

"There, that's the form supposed to set the ball in. I'm going to toss to you now, and you try to set it back to me."

Okay, talkative Ushijima was something you'd never encounter. You didn't have time to dwell on that though, because he was already tossing the ball to you. 'Here goes nothing,' you thought, positioning your hands to set the ball. You looked at him eagerly after you pushed the ball into the air, ready for him to tell you that you did a good job.

"You need to set it higher."

Or not. Instead of responding, you gave the ball back to him so you could try again. And again. And again. You did so many repetitions you didn't even realize the sun had started to come out.

"Alright, you're ready to set to me," Ushijima nodded once. Over the course of this strange volleyball lesson, you realized that was pretty close to receiving a compliment from him.

You put your game face on and got in position to set the ball once again, and he tossed it to you like before. Your tongue peeked out of the corner of your mouth in concentration as you tried to set the ball as perfectly as you could to Ushijima, who was now jumping. It was crazy to see him in action from this close, you'd only seen him play from the stands in the past.

He spiked your set so powerfully you squealed. He looked at you with wide eyes, which was the most emotion you'd ever seen from him.

"Nice job," he gave you a thumbs up. Your chest swelled with pride from his compliment and you couldn't keep the grin from rising on your face. Instead you ran up to him and gave him a bear hug, for which he caught you with one arm and semi-returned it.

"Oh! Sorry, you probably didn't want me to do that," you sheepishly rubbed your neck, quickly releasing him.

"No, I didn't mind."

If you had looked a little closer, you would've been able to see the pink on the tips of his ears. However, you were too busy trying to mask a fierce blush yourself.