Summary: Kozue was brought to the conclusion that her seat-mate was the exact opposite of her when she found him screeching in the hallway about volleyball. She also came to the understanding that he wasn't a bad guy when he practically dove onto the floor when she fell down the stairs. It wasn't too embarrassing until she heard a "Nice receive!" from some classmate. [OC/Decided]

A/N: Hello, all you readers. Thank you for the support and reviews. This update came out way later than expected. Like one year later crazy. I swear I have to update things more frequently. It's just that life has been crazy. I got accepted into the University I wanted to and I'm still not used to the new routine. Anyway, I'm glad these prologue things have been pretty vague since that was my intention. However, from here on out the story is actually going to start moving. Additionally, I have noted how interested everyone is regarding Oikawa. I didn't actually think so many people would be so interested in his connection with Kozue but I am glad you guys are curious! There's also a very high chance I'm going to end up disappointing everyone who has built up high expectations regarding Oikawa's role in this story. (But be happy since he's finally being mentioned!). By the way, AFK means 'away from keyboard', basically when you're away from your computer during a game.

3: Too Nice

It was almost ridiculous now. Not in a bad way of course, but Kozue really didn't think something like this would ever happen to her. Bokuto was almost always by her side whenever he did not have a different class or had to attend practice (which was always after school so she wasn't even there). He always greeted her in the morning, hung around her desk, during the breaks he would eat with her most of the time unless he decided to eat with his volleyball teammates. It was to the point that whenever teachers and other students saw her alone they always questioned where Bokuto was. When they needed him they would ask her first in which she would always reply with whatever Bokuto told her he was doing.

It was also because of this she was always bumping into Akaashi, who without fail always apologised for his upperclassman whenever he saw her. Konoha always greeted her like he did since middle school and sometimes went out of his way to drag Bokuto back whenever he got too close to her face. Yukie, who she was already acquainted with, often chatted with her about food and also got her to remind Bokuto about the extra practice sessions that Bokuto for some reason always forgot about despite having told everyone in the team about them as the captain.

Today her day involved coming to school early, getting greeted by Bokuto and Konoha who saw her as she passed the gym, sitting at her desk reading a novel until Bokuto bursted into the room, eating with Bokuto and Akaashi (who seemed to look like he pitied her?), reminding Bokuto about the extra practice session that afternoon and then was asked by Yukie to run a few errands for the club since Kaori, the other manager, was sick. Apparently, she was going to be absent for a few days so the club needed help.

It was there she had met the other members of the team who seemed to have heard everything and also apologised with some chuckles. Did everyone apologise for Bokuto?

Midway through the session, Kozue heard the rain drops grow louder against the roof of the gym. She didn't remember anything about rain in the daily forecast. As the session went on, Kozue hoped that the rain would stop soon but it continued without wavering at all. She had to be careful then when it was time to walk home. Her gaming devices were in her bag after all. Yukie usually got picked up by her parents and apologised for not being able to lend her an umbrella. When they were discussing this matter, they got the attention of the other players who were making their way off the court for a short break.

Konoha gave her an apologetic look, "You're house is in the other direction, isn't it? Sorry, Socks but I don't think I can drop you off."

She shook her head and gave him a smile, "It's fine, thanks for the thought."

"What?! Socks doesn't have an umbrella?!" She flinched inwardly. It was taking her a while to get used to his loud voice despite almost always being around him. "Bokuto-san, don't you also live in the opposite direction?" Akaashi commented, tugging Bokuto back by the shirt when he noticed the male had literally shoved himself into the conversation.

Bokuto, for some reason looked shocked at this, as if he had totally forgotten where he lived. Akaashi simply closed his eyes before turning to her. "Yumeno-san, you live past the bookstore, right? If it's alright, I can accompany you." He offered politely. Kozue couldn't help but feel alarmed at this. Her underclassman was going out of his way to help her just because she didn't bring an umbrella. As an upperclassman, shouldn't she be the responsible one?!

"Ah-! N-No, I couldn't—!" She quickly began, holding up a hand but Akaashi only raised a brow at her. "Then, Yumeno-san, wouldn't you just end up drenched in rain?" He said.

"Well, yes, but—"

"Suzumeda already got sick because of the recent weather and it would be unfortunate if you also got sick."

"Um—"

"You've assisted our club despite not having to so we're very grateful. Since you'll be helping for the next days, please allow me."

"But…"

"Yumeno-san." Akaashi was just staring at her. Kozue swallowed and took a step back, glancing at the other members who all decided it was a good idea to grab Bokuto and disperse. It was almost as if the gym got colder all of a sudden and she had a feeling that it was coming from the male in front of her.

Kozue bowed hesitantly. "Then… I will be in your care…"

"Then, please wait for me after practice." Akaashi seemed satisfied with her response as if he didn't just intimidate her into agreeing, and made his way back to Bokuto who was yelling for the boy to help him practice. Kozue let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and met Konoha's sympathetic eyes.

Yukie walked back to her and gave her a pat on the back, "Don't mind, don't mind."

And why did they keep using volleyball terms when talking to her?!

.

.

.

It was still raining, albeit not as hard as before, but nonetheless still enough she couldn't simply go home (according to the volleyball team who seemed to all take Akaashi's side on the matter). Bokuto had almost pushed her into the locker room where his teammates were changing because he was too busy talking about how amazing his moves were and ended up getting scolded at by Konoha. Yukie had already left and simply gave her a smile with some encouraging words, "Maa, Akaashi's just too nice it can come off as scary. Have a goodnight, Socks!"

Kozue had no idea how that worked but here she was leaning against the gym door waiting for him like he had instructed, somewhat scared of what were to happen if she didn't listen to him. She had no idea underclassmen were like this nowadays…

"Yumeno-san," Akaashi called to her, making his way towards her as he opened his umbrella. Bokuto and Konoha were following behind him with their own umbrellas. "Socks, see ya later!" Bokuto enthusiastically waved at her before slinging an arm around an exasperated Konoha who was going to walk home in the same direction. She waved back when Konoha gave her a grin over his shoulder.

When she turned to Akaashi he gave her a nod and she quickly joined his side. Admittedly, Kozue was rather nervous. It was the first time she was walking home with a friend from school… if Akaashi counted as one. Her lack of friends and experience only made her more fidgety when she thought about. Bokuto was her friend, right? She thought maybe Konoha was since they played often together online but party members aren't really automatically considered friends.

"Yumeno-san?" Akaashi seemed to notice her fidgeting beside him, unsurprising since they were sharing the same umbrella. Her head shot up at the sound of her name, "Ah, yes?"

"Is everything alright?" He asked, looking down at her. She paused for a second before stammering out a reply, "O-Oh, yes, everything's fine!"

They fell into silence as they made their way down the streets, pavements wet from the rain with only the sounds of nearby traffic surrounding them. Akaashi hadn't said anything after she reassured him it was fine and returned to his self-appointed task of bringing her home. It was then when Kozue properly took notice of Akaashi's character when she found her mind wandering.

From her observations, he often accompanied Bokuto and was close partners with him being the setter of the team. Akaashi was younger then both her and Bokuto yet even she could tell he probably was way more responsible than the two of them. It made sense he was the vice-captain especially when he had to deal with Bokuto as an ace and captain. He was also the only member on the team that didn't call her by her nickname and respectfully chose to use her surname when addressing her. Akaashi Keiji was almost the perfect example of 'getting your life together' in personality traits alone, the exact opposite of her. Kozue inwardly let out a breath of shame.

"Yumeno-san, your home is nearby, right?" Akaashi's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she quickly took note of their surroundings. They were at the bookstore already and the rain was starting to lighten up. "Ah, yes, thank you so much." She bowed gratefully before moving to stand under the roof of the building. She had expected him to leave but he remained planted in front of her, under his umbrella and regarding her with a gaze she couldn't decipher.

"Akaashi-kun?"

He looked at her with a his usual cool gaze, "Someone who enjoys talking to another person every single day will usually already consider the other to be a friend." Kozue's eyes widened at his statement. She couldn't help but be shocked at his words, it was almost as if he had read her mind. Kozue swallowed, unable to form a proper response before Akaashi continued. "Even if Bokuto-san and the rest of the team don't say anything, they are surely already viewing you as a friend."

He took a step back, signalling he was finished and bowed his head, turning to leave. "Have a goodnight, Yumeno-san."

"W-Wait—!" It had been such a long time since she heard her own voice so loud it almost made her flush on the spot. "Then… Akaashi-kun, you're…?" Kozue was close to dying from embarrassment. How could she not be able to even form a coherent sentence?

However, as if he already knew what she was going to ask, the corner of Akaashi's lips curved upwards slightly. "Of course, Yumeno-san. I don't usually share my umbrella with anyone." He said with a lighter tone. The underclassman tilted his head once more and began to leave once more. Only this time Kozue didn't stop him and found her herself in her mind again.

Friends… She felt as if the weights in her chest were all removed at once. When Kozue's eyes focused on Akaashi's retreating figure now a small image as he walked further away from the bookstore. He had figured her out so easily and unlike the other times people did, she was glad he did.

Konoha liked to think of himself as a simple person. He got along with most people, rarely made enemies and average grades. Sure, he was a member of a powerhouse team but when it came to himself alone he was a pretty normal guy. He was also good at reading social situations and there was a time when Konoha was somewhat worried about Socks. She seemed totally fine with her loner life so it was a surprise when Bokuto came crashing into practice yelling about her— "There's a girl in my class and everyone calls her 'Socks'! Why?! Are they bullying her?! I need to stop them!"— and Konoha was forced to calm him down and explain that her nickname was not supposed to be some weird form of insult.

When he was asked the reasons behind such a nickname he only replied with a shrug and told Bokuto to ask her himself. But to think. To think some weird friendship developed because of him.

When he saw Bokuto catch her when she fell down the stairs, saving the girl from injury he really couldn't help it. "Nice receive!" He had said because he was a pretty funny guy. He saw her way more now that Bokuto had decided to shove his face into her life. Everyone on the team also seemed to notice and at one point he recalled discussing whether or not they should stop Bokuto or at least tell him to chill because Bokuto has no chill. Unlike himself. Konoha was always chill.

Akaashi had told them that it was best to leave Bokuto alone. "If you tell him not to do it he'll become more annoying." His underclassman explained and Konoha had to admit he was probably right. Now the whole team had this habit of apologising to Socks whenever they saw her.

He had known Socks since middle school, they were friends but they weren't too close. They did play online games together (she saved his ass so many times) and were still members of the same party. Though, there was this one time when Socks went AFK— he remembered because Socks never went AFK— and he heard her pick up her phone to talk to someone called 'Tooru'. Konoha always did wonder if that was a friend of hers, but anyway he totally got stepped on by the dragon and died. Socks also died because she was distracted and that was probably the first time he ever saw her actually lose in a game.

Konoha was and still is a simple guy and at the time had totally forgotten about the phone call that resulted in their deaths due to the pure rage he felt at losing his inventory. He then felt bad for yelling into the mic when Socks proceeded to apologise every five seconds.

Yeah, they were friends.

"Hey, man, Bokuto." He said. They had left Socks in the trusted hands of their setter.

"Yeah?"

"You friends with Socks?" Konoha asked, shrugging the arm Bokuto slung around his shoulders off. Bokuto shoved his hand into sports bag, pulling out a juice box which definitely had way too much sugar. He was tempted to slap the beverage out of his hands in some terrible effort to prevent Bokuto from losing even more chill.

"Yeah, of course I am!" Bokuto answered energetically, punching the air and the side of Konoha's umbrella. Konoha glared at the juice box and then at his captain. "'Kay, just don't bother her too much." He said.

"I'm not bothering her!"

Konoha stared. "Okay then."

Maybe Bokuto was a good person to have around Socks especially since she was an introvert. He heard somewhere that introverts hanging around with extroverts had a positive effect. Konoha narrowed his eyes at Bokuto who began to obnoxiously continued suck in the leftover juice in the carton.

…As long as Socks didn't become 'Bokuto 2.0' it was okay, probably. Konoha had thought about it a bit. If Akaashi was there then it would be more than fine. Simple friendship was fine. Simple was great. Konoha knew that very well since he was simple. Which meant he was great and that his ideas were great.

Of course, even he had his limits and in a split second Konoha whipped out his arms to slap that stupid juice box— which was empty, he had no idea why Bokuto insisted on sucking not the straw and making that annoying sound— out of Bokuto's hands.

"Bokuto, I swear—"

Too bad Bokuto Koutarou wasn't as simple as he was.

Thanks for reading and any reviews are appreciated!

#KONOHABESTBRO