"Thanks for driving me!" You grin, picking up your boxes and shutting the van door with your foot. You look at Togami; the window rolled down.

"Text me an hour before you want to leave."

"Sure, sure. If there's any food left, I'll bring it back." You hold the boxes up higher in emphasis before walking past the school gates. You hear the van pull off as you keep to the very right, heading towards the gym. You stop before the door, trying to rearrange the boxes so you can open the door, a broad smile on your face. Then out pops a player. You look them over, your face surprised. This boy has a tan and a face like a slapped arse. He wears casual clothes, something that is odd for volleyball practice. The white wifebeater hugs his biceps. He sneers at you, and you catch sight of a weird black dye job. His hair is blond but has two lines of black going around his head.

"Hi, um, I'm a friend of Tōru-Senpai an—" You don't get to finish as this boy growls - a literal guttural growl at what you just said.

"Fuck off!" He shouts, giving a quick push to your shoulders. You weren't prepared, and are sent down onto the pavement, dropping your boxes. "I don't wanna see you again." He slams the door shut and you listen to his heavy footsteps as he retreats. You stare helplessly for a second, before casting your gaze to the boxes. You shuffle to your knees and quickly open up the lunch box. The food inside is ruined. You'd spent hours on multiple batches of agedashi tofu for Haijme. It was his favourite, and tofu is always a bitch - falling apart. It was difficult. And now it's crumbled, the neat cubes all in a big jumble. You swear under your breath, scowling. You secure the lid and shove it into your bag hastily, trying to hide the failure.

What was the point in even trying?! Fucking happy he pushed me, they probably tasted like shit. Fucking hell!

You then pick up the other box, the edges of the wrapping paper now crinkled. You feel ashamed. You worked so hard on that food and wrapping up the gift neatly, and now it was all a waste. You were so careful on the way here with the food too, and tofu was hard, dammit! They were meant to be for the team to snack on for Hajime birthday celebration. The lunch box won't fit in your bag. With a loud groan, you put it down and loosen the straps on your bag before trying to shove it in. You couldn't show Hajime this mess. He'd be disappointed. He deserved better than your crappy cooking.

"Are you alright?" You look up to see Tur--Kindaichi. His expression is worried. He was on his way to volleyball practice only to see a girl on the floor, furiously trying to stuff a box into her bag. You look up at him, a deer caught in headlights. "Are you here to see Oikawa-senpai?"

"Kindaichi-san." You say softly, quickly getting up off the floor with flushed cheeks.

"Ah, (L/n)-san!" He realises, eyes widening.

"I'm here for Hajime birthday?" You explain unsurely. You feel like a mess right now and don't feel like facing anyone. You clear your throat. "I... tripped, and ruined this." You weakly point to the tofu. "I was-I was just putting it in my bag. There's no point in eating it now." Kindaichi bends down, picking up your stuff with a timid expression. He hands over the wrapped present and your backpack, then holds the tofu box, inspecting it. He shrugs, forcing a smile.

"We're guys. Even if you dropped it on the floor, I would still eat it." He walks towards the gym door, going to open it. You squeak, reaching out for the box.

Why does he make it seem like I'm worried about nothing?! They're disgusting, I don't know why I even made them. They can't have them!

He holds the box above you as if you're going to tear it from his hands at any moment.

"They're messy." You say weakly. He shrugs again, heading inside. He wonders off with the box in hand, and you watch him helplessly. You step inside cautiously, looking around for that boy from before. He looked older than you, so maybe a second year. But you would have met him before - should have met him before. You've never even seen him at volleyball here.

"Oh, Protégée!" You perk up, looking over to the voice.

"Floss." You jog over to the pink haired boy. Then you notice some first years looking over, so you stifle. "Hanamaki-senpai."

"Floss is fine." He grins, patting your shoulder. You give him a ghost-smile. You then pout playfully, remembering.

"You killed me last week."

"You had some good loot." He shrugs, unforgiving.

"How you can call yourself a wizard is unknown to me." You jest. He chuckles.

"Our roles are quite reversed. Aren't you meant to be a thief?"

"I'm chaotic good. But that still doesn't mean I can face a level 96 wizard when he's after me for my loot!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty good." He looks at his nails, grinning. "Almost at 100. Maybe we can go on some quests soon. That Applepie kid seems pretty good." You hum in reply, eyeing him. "We do make a good team though. Your bluff stats have gone up lots this year, but you've only been in the Florence Forest. How is it that you've gotten so good, I wonder?"

"By making friends with people." He laughs, fakely. "Don't believe me, fine. But it's not me who is unable to lie, Fae Wizard Floss!" He rolls his eyes at that. The other players - volleyball players - begin to walk off, filling out the room as another third-year walks over. Matsukawa approaches, throwing a ball into the hanger as he walks past it. He juts his thumb over towards the club room.

"We're starting the celebrations now."

"Thank you." You incline your head and allow the two to walk in front to lead the way.

"Ah, (F/n)-chan." Matsukawa begins, sending you an almost cheeky look over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"I heard you're a betting girl." He and Floss share a look.

"Yes." You slur out your response, eyeing the two suspiciously. Then it clicks. "Has Tōru been talking about my spectacular failure? The one where I have to go out with him in public?" You question, sighing.

"Don't let Captain hear you say it like that." Floss laughs.

"Can't help it. I thought for the smallest second that my team had a chance before he had to come along and be so freaking perfect." You roll your eyes.

"He'll be happy to hear you call him perfect, but you only had a fair in your team for a second?" Floss tuts, teasing you. "Sounds like the words of a morally ambiguous character."

"You're only saying that because you've never had faith in me."

Good distraction! Take the bait!

"How can I? You've made some powerful enemies in the game!" Floss defends.

"Ah, you're talking about ####, want you?" Matsukawa frowns, sounding tired already. He looks at you. "I didn't realise you played that."

"It's fun." You reply measly, shrugging. Then Matsukawa smiles, lightening you up. You'd met the bushy-browed player many times, but you aren't going to lie and say he doesn't intimidate you. Especially after what happened already in the last hour. You're going to be jumpy for the rest of the day. You step inside the changing room before being lead into the club room next door, the chars stacked into a pile and the tables pushed to the side of the room. On the tables are several presents, and some players sat on the tables.

"Give is a minute, (F/n)-chan," Matsukawa says. "We're going to go get mum and dad." You squint at him, confused, before both boys leave.

Do they mean Iwa and Tōru?

You look around and see the first years are all stood nearby. Kindaichi is leaning against a table, Watari next to him. You take in a deep breath, trying to will yourself. You've only had one set back today. You can't let it ruin the party. You will go and socialise.

"Wataru?" You say, trying to remember his name. Kindaichi raises a brow at you as Watari looks at you in surprise, then averting his eyes.

"Hello, (L/n)-san." He greets back.

"It's Watari." Kindaichi corrects, laughing, as both you and Watari flush. The bald-headed boy now refuses to make eye contact with you.

"Oh, sorry. I... they're very similar. Sorry." You apologise. "I just wanted to say that you looked really cool." You intertwine your hands, looking down at them bashfully as Watari's eyes dart around your face. "At the match against Karasuno. You did that serve, jumping from the backline." You give a small smile. "Using the rules to your advantage. It's cool." You repeat, hands now fidgeting.

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit." He starts. "Oikawa-senpai and I came up with it together. Him more so..."

"You used to be a setter?" You question, changing topics. You didn't want him to be talking badly about himself.

"Yes, back in junior high."

"Cool." You smile.

"Do you know that Watari is the second year?" Kindaichi asks, tilting his head at you. You bristle for the second time today before I cling your head to the second year.

"Sorry, I didn't realise. You looked close with Kindaichi, so I just assumed..."

"It's fine, really. No use in apologising for something with no offence." You still look down, embarrassed. Maybe you should have stuck to the sidelines. It's an hour later, and the guys had eaten a majority of the cake, the song passing quickly as you stand with your two closest friends. You and Hajime had been talking for a while.

"I'm still hungry." Floss complains, picking up at his icing. He never liked the stuff, and now they expected him to eat it. Ew.

"I could go for thirds..." Kunimi - bowl-cut guy - adds.

"Be quiet." Yahaba scolds, now looking at Hajime. "It's time to open presents."

"Oh." Iwa widens his eyes as the guys shuffle over, picking up their presents and handing them over. Many of them are joke presents, the boys sniggering and more reserved ones blushing when Iwaizumi opens his card from the team to see some condom packets fall out. Matsukawa even added a comment about, "even when doing anal, you have to be safe". You stifled laughter at that. One, you hadn't expected him to say that, and two, he elbowed Tōru who retorts something along the lines with "not wanting to do it with a stuff prude".

"What did you get Iwa?" Tōru asks you, watching as Hajime unwraps the present. You grin, watching Iwaizumi flip the block over in his hand.

"It's a sting blue beetle in glass." You feel proud, watching as Hajime throws his arm around you, roughly rubbing your arm in appreciation as he makes eyes at the long-dead bug. "Do you remember?" You ask, looking back and forth between Tōru and Hajime. "With the getting married and having babies thing?" Oikawa grins, Iwa rubbing his neck bashfully.

"We were seven."

"That doesn't mean it didn't happen." You retort, grinning as he sighs in exhaustion.

"You brought that up the last time we were over. Is that what made you get this beetle?" Oikawa asks, holding I was wrist and moving so he too could look at the bug, just without touching it. You hum in reply, scanning it too. The blue shell, when shone under a light, became a shiny rainbow of colour.

"Sorry, what?!" Kindaichi blinks, alert. You stop, looking over at the rest of the team in confusion.

"Babies?" Matsukawa questions.

"And getting married?" Hanamaki adds, crossing his arms. He looks at Hajime fondly. "Wow, get in there. Didn't think you'd actually use the protection." You flush, feeling the heat run up to your ear tips.

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant! It's just that, when we were younger, Iwa and Tōru were being stupid and just wanted to be with me forever... I mean stay with me - stay my friend forever. Not be with me as, y'know, I—" Oikawa places a hand over your mouth, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're making it so much worse than it has to be. You could just stop talking?" He offers, but it's more of command as he removes his hand. You pout, glaring up at him, before thinning your lips and looking away.

How embarrassing.

"Aw, not that I don't want to be with you forever! You're so cute I think I'm gonna die."

"Then perish." You mutter.

"If there's not any more food, I'm just gonna go." Kyotani, the guy that pushed you earlier, voices. He'd been glaring at you earlier, but you chose to ignore him. Tōru had said something about him, and apparently, he is a disobedient brat that had been kicked out from clubs for 2 months.

"There's food here." Kindaichi holds up a box. A lunch box. Your lunch box with your failed attempt at tofu inside. You jolt to life, eyes wide. "(L/n)-san made us a snack! We also have sausage rolls and stuff." He nods his head towards one of the tables. Before you can even stop him, voice your concern, the boys are already ransacking the table. You watch in apprehension as they stuff their faces. You stand for a moment, just watching.

"Even though this is my party, I don't get dibs on the food." Hajime sighs.

"That's 'cause you're slow, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa rushes to the table. Hajime follows after with a bitter look, piling food onto two plates. He comes back over and hands one out to you. You notice the several tofu blocks on his plate. You made it because it's his favourite, but they look unappetising. You silently nibble on them, watching as Iwazumi begins to chew on it. You could never out-do his mother at the tasty treat.

"These are good." Hajime pats your head, gently rubbing your head before he continues to eat, leaning against the table beside you. "I love 'em." You look at him, shocked, before giggling.

"Thanks, Iwa. Happy birthday."

(A/N: ahh, I feel like this chapter is bad. I spent ages plannin' it and it still turns out like this? Hope you enjoyed it, comment your favourite part! Or request a character you want me to write more about.)