Unlikely Lovers {LevKu story}

Good decision.. right?

In the following days, Yaku found his life to be much more mundane. Now that he was out of volleyball for the school, he had nothing to do on his early mornings where he was accustomed to waking early for morning practice. He even struggled to find something to occupy him after school, despite all the work he's getting as a 3rd year. His mind.. just could not stop repeating over and over the incident in the gym, and he couldn't help but question if his decision was the right one for him, and the rest of the 3rd years on the team, as this was their final year to play. 

He remained on good-ish terms with the 3rd years and Kenma, but after what happened, they couldn't see Yaku the same way again. Lev was completely avoiding him, unsurprisingly. Yet again, he was muttering to himself during class about his decision. The teacher called his name, snapping him out of his quite loud muttering. "Huh?" The petit boy said, confused as what to just happened. The class began giggling at his reaction, as his cheeks flushed from embarassment. Yaku would continue to find it difficult to get his mind off of the incident, and volleyball in general. After all, it WAS his passion since middle school. Even though he quit, he was technically still on the team as a substitute Libero as he was still put on the roster for the upcoming tournament next month, where they would qualify for Nationals. So often, Yaku would consider actually showing up for practice, but he let his rationality get the better of his feelings, and decided not to as it would be a shame if he would walk in like nothing happened, especially since Lev was the starting middle blocker, so there would be heaps of tension if they were to play an actual game. 'Me returning would only hold them back', he would think to himself.

~Lev's POV~

'I'm currently in class, but I'm not listening. I can't get my mind off of what Yaku-san told me. I know that I shouldn't have asked that question.. and honestly I regret asking it. Now I understand why Yaku-san gets angry a lot, he just can't with what he's been through. Everyday, I try to get the courage to apologise to him, but I chicken out each time and run away when he notices me. I'm also worried about volleyball. Now that Yaku-san isn't here to teach me receives, I'm mostly on my own. Kuroo-san would help me now and again, but he gets frustrated easily when Yaku-san was patient.. most of the time. I'm worried. Will I be good enough for the tournament? Yaku-san is the best receiver on the team by a lot, without him I'm not sure our defence will be able to hold up during the early stages of the set, which is when we're our weakest. Have I just ruined the dynamic Nekoma has had for a long time because I couldn't keep someone's trust.. and be so nosy?'

End POV.

Thoughts like this raced through Lev's mind all the time. It was beginnin to take its toll on him. His sleep schedule was way out of wack, and he'd often lay there motionless hours on end through the night, thinking negative thoughts. His performance was slipping, more than it already had been when Yaku stopped showing up to practice. He began to worry that Inuoka would get his spot back as a starter on the team. Sure, they were teammates, but they were also fighting for that starting spot. This worry would just make it worse for him, though. The Interhigh Preliminares were approaching quickly. If he failed to perform and they got knocked out, he'd be failing the 3rd years. This was after all, their potentially last tournament of high school volleyball. 

Yaku wasn't much better though. He thought similar thoughts as Lev did. Did he make the right choice to leave the Volleyball Club over something like that? He just dropped out of his passion in high school in his 3rd year. The last chance he'd for sports in high school. His last chance for nationals, and to win it. He felt like he was abandoning the other 3rd years and shamed himself endlessly during the night when he couldn't sleep, worrying about it obsessively. 

In the end though, Yaku would eventually semi convince himself that his decision was good... right? He would still have his doubts.

~Time skip to Spring Prelims~

Today was the day. The Spring Preliminaries for  Tokyo was beginning today. The Nekoma third years were nervous and  on edge. They were all on edge, especially since they recently lost their best defence player. 

~Round 1~

At the sound of a soft "Tora.", Kenma set the ball to the 2nd year Ace, who slammed the ball past the blockers of the opponents, signalling the end of their first game, in a win for Nekoma High in a swift 2-0 but with some pretty close scores at 25:22 and 25:23.  

"Man.. this is so much harder without Yaku-san here." Yamamoto began. Nobody wanted to say it out loud, but they all knew it was true. But they couldn't show weakness to the opponents ahead. All they would have to do is hope they could pull through with their quite talented, yet shy and inexperienced first year Libero in Yuki Shibiyama. 

Little did they know though.. round 2 would be nothing like round 1. 

Sooo yeahhh! That's it for today, I hope it wasn't too bad. I'm not all that great at writing  at the actual point of action in volleyball, so sorry if that's the case for these next few chapters of the Interhigh Prelims. See you next time!

- Deku Simp

Word Count: 973!