Iwaizumi Hajime

A/N: This 5-set match is not cannon and I'm not indicating which team their playing against, I'll leave that up to your imagination dear readers.


"Game-Changing"


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"Hey, it's that girl again." Hanamaki calls out to his team, subtly nodding his head over to the (h/c)-haired female over at the front of the bleachers. 


Iwaizume was the first of the athletes to turn his head towards you, completely aware that it was you that his teammate had mentioned. A faint blush dusted the Ace's cheeks as he basked in your appearance. 


Your (h/l) (h/c) locks were bouncing ever-so-lightly as you looked around frantically, focused as he was, he could see you anxiously nibbling at your lower lip. 


From your lone figure, he could easily tell you apart from those attention-seeking leeches classified as Oikawa's loyal followers. 


You stood there modestly, every single game, engrossed in the habit of nipping at your bottom lip until it grew red or until the match had started, where appetency would pile onto your anxious (e/c) orbs. 


No matter how much effort you put into blending in with the crowd, Iwaizumi or someone from the team would always spot you and point you out to the rest. He didn't want to seem obnoxious, but it was quite obvious that you weren't just there for the infamous Great King.


And he could only hope that he was at least one reason.   


Seconds after, you had made eye-contact with the male and immediately rip your gaze, blushing madly. Intrigued, Iwaizumi takes yet another minute to study you before shifting his attention towards his team once more.


"Aww, she blushed~" Cooed Oikawa.


"Think she's another one of your fangirls?" Yahaba snickers.


Oikawa gives him a smug look, "Well she did blush after seeing me." The brunette spoke knowingly, earning a scoff from the dark-haired Ace. This caught the members of the  team off-guard, considering Iwaizumi didn't usually react to conversations regarding their pretty-faced setter's admirers. 


"As if she'd be interested in fawning over a flat-assed, pufferfish-faced, genius-wannabe like you." Iwaizumi huffed, his words striking a lot of painful chords, even more so than Oikawa's knee injury. 


Hanamaki and Matsukawa whistled within the tension-filled atmosphere. Poor Oikawa was speechless, poking at his cheeks inadvertently to examine what his best friend had meant by 'pufferfish-faced'.


(author is referring to the sequence below.)



Lapse


Seijoh was doing reasonably against the opposing team, however it was their opposition that had the upper-hand this set. 


The fifth  set was most crucial in deciding the victor. Though it only required a minimum of 15 points, this is also where fatigue was at its peak and Iwaizumi was fighting through the burning sensation in his calves and thighs.


The other party only needed to score 2 points in order to win, but Oikawa managed to execute some powerful service aces before his next serve went under the net. The game was now tied at 13, and it was the enemy's turn to serve. 


Watari managed to receive the ball but it was a little off, Oikawa was running after the ball to and set it towards the Ace. Iwaizumi, unfortunately, failed to take the proper steps in approaching the ball resulting in a rather harsh ankle-twist that brought the grunting Spiker down onto the surface of the court. 


A squeak left your lips, eyes widening at the sight of your crush falling onto his bottom. (Oikawa grunting at the impact--)       


"F--" Iwaizumi refrained from shouting the explicit and instead bit his lip, holding his ankle in pain. Shocked, his teammates piled over to their Ace whilst Oikawa calls for a final time-out. Kindaichi and Matsukawa help their teammate off the court as he mutters subtle curses. 


Iwaizumi drank half a bottle of ade that had been offered to him as the coach advised him to take in slow and steady breaths to stabilize himself. It took the Ace a significant period of time to assess his state. Oikawa was close to breaking down, bombarding his best friend with questions in correlation with the injury inflicted upon the Ace but that was only him being the dramatic that he was.


Now that he'd calmed down, the dark-haired Wing Spiker rotated his ankles a bit, releasing strained grunts. The coach had offered for him to sit the rest of the game out in order to get it checked but Iwaizumi found that it wasn't that much of a game-changing event and it was bound to happen eventually, seeing as he was too focused on winning to really look out for himself. 


Guiltily, it was really about him wanting to impress you.  


"Think you can play?" Hanamaki pats the Ace's shoulder, tearing him from his thoughtful trance. Iwaizumi gave his friend a grin, "You kidding? I'm not giving up just 'cause of this." Iwaizumi says, standing up and walking towards their side of the court, with a bit of a limp but he was fine. 


He may well regret abusing the injury later on tonight but he wasn't feeling any painful sensation yet, and Iwaizumi was going to take advantage of that. 


"SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS IWA-CHAN!" 


A small voice amongst tens of cheers, pipes out, a voice that Iwaizumi could easily identify the owner of from the many occasions of crossing the hall and finding a flustered (h/c)-haired second-year on the other side talking to her friend in the same meek vocals that shouted his nickname. 


"KICK THEIR BUTTS!" You cheered again. 


The world conveniently started to slow down as Iwaizumi's dark-colored irises came into contact with your own. Your hopeful expression being the last thing Iwaizumi caught a glimpse of before something inside him snapped. 


"Shittykawa," The spike-haired Ace calls out to his setter lowly, earning a confused hum from the setter. "The next tosses are all mine, let's win this." There was a burning glint in Iwaizumi's eyes as he gets ready for the opposition's next service.  


Lapse


Despite the ankle-injury, Oikawa's perfectly-executed services, and the opposition's many errors, your out-of-the-blue cheering was what the Ace considered a game-changing event. 


And he also finally grew a pair to approach you after the game. 


"Hey." He didn't mean to come across as stern but it was out of habit and he unintentionally startled the lights out of you. 


Your tense shoulders dropped a little once you saw that it was only your long-time crush, but whose to say you weren't shaking the moment you recognized those bara-arms. You gave the male a nervous smile and murmured, "What... can I help... you with?" 


Iwaizumi figured that regardless of the in-the-moment outburst you had, you were still that timid, cinnamon-roll that he fell in love with, he chuckled at the irony. 


"Thanks for lifting my spirits, (l/n)-San." He gave you his sincerest smile, you almost fainted at the sight but his very-same presence prevented you from doing so. And you were very tempted to fall into those scrumptious biceps--


"Y-You're welcome...?" You mumbled almost questioningly. 


"I'd like to express my gratitude, when are you usually free?" No matter how calm and composed Iwaizumi put himself out to be, deep inside he was very much ready to beat himself to a pulp if he so much as stammered. 


'Girls appreciate confidence Iwa-Chan. You gotta entice her, you know--' He damned the faint voice of Oikawa ringing at the back of his head.     


Meanwhile you were a stuttering mess, this was the first time anyone asked you out and to make matters for better or worse, it had been your crush who'd done the act. 


"...It's fine if you don't want to, I mean..." Iwaizumi trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.


"N-No!" (y/n) shouts before waving her hands out in front of her, "I m-mean it's not that I'm saying no to you, I-I'm just saying no to you previous statement a-and regarding your previous offer it'd be a yes f-for me but--" (y/n)'s voice gave out and she could only sigh in frustration. 


She was surprised to hear a string of laughter leaving the Spiker's lips, "Then when are you free?" Iwaizumi inquires again, giving her a patient look. 


"W-Well... Whenever your ankle gets better, I wouldn't want to cause you trouble considering I like to take strolls around town, but if you find that rather boring we could always get ice cream or hit the arcade-- Ah, I'm sorry, I'm rambling." The (h/c)-haired female scratches the side of her face bashfully.


It came as a surprise to Iwaizumi, considering that was the most he'd heard from the girl all-year, and he was definitely looking forward to conversations wherein (y/n) would ramble on and on to him without having to mind what she was saying. 


But before Iwaizumi could look more into the future, the sheepish (y/n) offers to take a look at the state of his injury since she was the School Nurse's assistant, meaning she was the one assigned to look after her ill schoolmates while the mentioned staff member disappears from her clinic for the sake of fanfiction plots.    


Moved yet again, a triumphant grin crosses Iwaizumi's lips, "If I won't be a burden, having it checked out would be nice." 


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Word Count: 1.5k


This was weird, sorry. 



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