"No, seriously, who's your stylist? If I try to do it myself again I'll end up losing my hair."

Ukai Keishin was my shiny new best friend. The second I saw that bleached hair and those sneaky little piercing holes in his ears, I had been quick to strike up conversation.
"Uh, my mom?" He responded, sparing me a glance before continuing to watch the practice match that was well into its second set.
"Wow. You just came right on out and admitted that, huh? Good for you."

Did he want me buzzing around him like an annoying little gnat? Of course he didn't, but that wasn't my problem. All my usual Tweedleees had volleyball on the brain, so I had to Tweedledumb with someone. I had a very valid reason for why I had chosen him, too.

Beneath whatever dollar store deodorant he'd dowsed himself in, I could smell that faint hint of tobacco.

"Don't you have, I don't know, a team to manage?" Ukai's patience was running thin, but it wasn't anything I wasn't used to. Sighing, I turned to gaze out upon my team, who were absolutely blitzing Karasuno, even after their weird little first years had arrived fashionably late.

"I guess, but I don't know if they really see me as one of their own. I don't even have a cool team jacket like you guys do..." I reached over to poke at the folded jacket he'd set down between us. The Miyagi coach kind of softened once I had said that, eyes flitting to where Nekomata was sitting on the opposite side of the gym.

"You wanna wear it, don't you..?" He still sounded pretty fed up, but I could read his thought process. Do something nice for the brat to make her shut the hell up. Perking right on up, I hoped I was putting enough excitement into my expression.
"Really?! Can I?!"

This is too easy.

"Only for a bit...as long as you're cool with your side getting pissy about it." Ukai shrugged, nudging the black jacket towards me. Clapping my hands together, I snatched it up, wasting no time in slipping it on, even though it wasn't at all the right weather to be adding layers.

Jumping up, I did a little spin, confirming that there was, in fact, an extra weight in one of the pockets.
"Oi! Traitor!" Glancing over to the court, I saw the Nekoma boys glaring at me. Even a few of the Karasuno guys were looking my way, curious.
"Hah! Now we have three!" Tanaka, the baldy, jeered in Yamamoto's direction, which caused him to completely miss a nice, clean spike score from Inuoka.

"Focus, boys, focus!" I scolded them with a devilish grin, though in the back of my mind I knew all too well that they'd get their revenge on me at some point.
"You're trouble, aren't you?" I turned back to Ukai, doing a little spin and sticking my hands into the pockets. Yep, as I thought, his box of cigarettes were right where I wanted them to be.

"Who? Me? Never!" I waved him off, spying Akaashi from the corner of my eye, chatting with the Shinzen High setter. "Excuse me a moment, bestie. Akaashi! Hey!" I spun on my heel and jogged away, holding my breath until I was certain he wasn't going to call me back.

"You prefer crows, do you?" He gave me a slight once over with his eyes and I shrugged, taking a place between him and the wall so I could carry out my plan.
"Hey, if Nekoma want to be exclusive with me then they gotta give me my own jacket. No harm in trying out other teams for size before settling down, right?"

As I spoke, I carefully lifted the flap of the cigarette carton within the pocket, pinching about three of them between my fingers.
"Please don't tell Bokuto, otherwise he'll actually try to convince you to switch schools...and my blood pressure can't handle that..." Akaashi jestingly pleaded. Actually, he was probably being deathly serious, but either way it was funny.

"Don't worry, I'm stuck here whether I like it or not. You're safe, my man." I gave him a light pat on the back, quickly pulling my stolen cigarettes out of the jacket pocket and slipping them safely into the pocket of my shorts. "Anywho, I totally forgot what I was going to ask, so carry on."

Easy as pie. I skipped on back to Ukai, shedding the jacket and folding it back up to set beside him.
"Thanks for letting me try it on. Maybe it'll make them think twice about getting me my own." I offered the coach a smile, and he returned it, looking very much relieved that I hadn't sat back down.

"Well, maybe they'd be more inclined if you did your job?" He pointed across the court as the final whistle blew, signalling yet another crippling defeat for Karasuno. Blowing a raspberry into the air, I wandered back over to where I had precariously stacked towels and water bottles, preparing to hand them out, as per my job description.

"You're lucky your little stunt got us a point." Yaku muttered as he approached, narrowing his eyes as he accepted the dented bottle I had chosen for him specifically.
"That little stunt was all part of my plan." Did I lie? Not at all. It just wasn't a plan that had included a score on their end.

"How about paying some attention to us, for a change, hmm? Your team?" Kuroo slung one of the towels across his shoulders, and I offered him a drink, brow quirking.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Captain. Was I making you jealous?" We locked eyes, and I could see that he had something he wanted to say, but before he could speak up, Yamamoto beat him to it.
"YES!"

I guess I should actually pretend to be a decent manager for a while...

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry, guys. This is just the most social interaction I've had in weeks. I got carried away." I sighed, shaking my head sadly. "Oh, Fukunaga, that was a really nice cross shot in the first set. Right on the line, too. Impressive."

The wide eyed second year gave me a thumbs up to thank me for the compliment, but the third years looked rather taken aback.
"I...didn't think you had been paying much attention, (Y/N)..?" Kai was the one to speak their minds, and I shrugged him off.
"Just because I look like I'm busy doing other crap doesn't mean I don't keep an eye on you lot. You're my boys."

Wait, that came out a lot more sentimental than I intended...

"Awww, you do care about us!" Lev barrelled through his seniors to sweep me up into a spinning hug, and I screeched loudly, writhing to free myself.
"UNHAND ME, YOU SWEATY ADONIS! STINKY! STICKY!"

I was ready to make a mad dash to the other side of the gym once Lev set me back down, but Yaku had other plans. Plans involving the perfect revenge. Grabbing me from behind, around the middle, he ensured he had an iron grip.
"What's that?! You want a group hug?! You heard her, guys!"

There hadn't been enough time to take in a breath before I was essentially dog piled by smelly, sweaty volleyballers, save for Kenma, who just watched on from his seat at the bench.
"YOU'RE ALL GROSS! QUIT IT, I DON'T WANNA SMELL LIKE ARMPITS!" I yowled for mercy, but they knew I deserved it for my little stunt.

The stank surrounding me was horrendous, but what really had me stressing was the fact that my face was smashed right up against Kuroo's chest. Damn, he was far more toned than he looked, and honestly, he smelled more like deodorant than anything else.

Nope. Don't you dare think that. We're not going there.

I fell limp after a few more moments, completely ragdolled in Yaku's arms once the team backed off.
"Wasn't that nice, (Y/N)?" He snickered, kind of jiggling me so my arms would bounce.
"Once I've recovered from the literal mustard gas you just bombed me with, I'm going to kick you in the nuts, Morisuke..." I growled, dry heaving, and not entirely for theatrics.

"Is that any way to speak to your loving nephew, Runaway?" Kuroo leaned down, mischievous grin completely at home on his face, and I felt my cheeks begin to heat up a little, much to my horror. For a moment, a fleeting second, his expression changed, but I wasn't about to deal with that.

Breaking free of the ginger, I made a show of spluttering and clutching my chest, staggering towards the gym doors.
"This is a no sweat zone!" I clumsily motioned to my entire body, wiping residue from my face to hopefully hide whatever leftover blush remained. "I need a decontamination chamber, stat! Anybody have disinfectant?! Or bleach?! A cleansing flame would work, too!"

If I had dropped my act and turned to look back over my shoulder, I possibly would have seen Kuroo watching after me, head tilted to the side in wonder.