"What do you mean you don't know if you're going to visit Oikawa's practice?" Ami gave you a look saying 'this is a big deal'. She lightly smacked your arm as her other hand was occupied by her little brother.

"Why is it a big deal?" Ami's brother wondered out loud.

You turn to him and shrug. "Who knows Souta."

Ami gives a frustrated sigh. "You're so hard to work with sometimes." She gave you a little glare before she perked back up again. "Oh! Actually, I'm pretty sure Hanamaki-kun is on the volleyball team!"

"Hanamaki-kun..?"

Another smack.

"The guy I was talking to you about! He's pretty quiet but I've managed to get a few more words out of him. If you won't go for Oikawa then go for me!" Her face began to form into that very convincing pout you couldn't reject.

"W-well, what about our own club?" Your voice wavers a little, trying to keep hold of the will you had.

She hummed in thought. "Hey wait, didn't you say you were in a slump? This is more of a reason as to why you should take a break! We can skip club today, okay?"

"Ah—" You wanted to retort but Ami walked off towards the daycare quickly with her little brother. "Bye Souta!"

You could hear him reply back in a little voice before he was whisked away inside. You pouted a little as you stood and waited for her outside. Wait...didn't he say to tell him when you were going to come visit him? You didn't know how he would react if you came in unannounced. Your thoughts were cut off by Ami's hand smacking your shoulder.

"So! As I was saying, today after school I'll wait by your room so we can go watch them practice okay?"

You opened your mouth to disagree but the look she was giving seemed that there was no room for objections. You sigh. You can go to the club room after their practice to get some work done.

"Ah, ah." Her finger wagged in front of you. "Don't even think about going to the club room after their practice! Today is a day of rest!"

You stiffened. That was not reassuring at all. Your brows furrowed in discontent trying to figure out not to go about the day completely empty handed. "At least let me bring my sketchbook to their practice then."

Another look.

"It's just sketching!" Your hands raise up in protest at her unconvinced expression.

She sighs in agreement. "Fine. There's no pulling you away from it completely even if I wanted to."

Grinning, you bump your shoulders to hers in a friendly gesture. "Thanks for understanding Ami."

"Yeah, yeah. Try to get the other guys away from Hanamaki-kun if I manage to talk to him though!"

"...I'm really not sure how much help I can be but I'll try."

"That's the spirit!"

~~

The school day comes to an end as your classmates start shuffling out of their seats and plans to go out after school are made. Packing your things, you try to shuffle out the door but the more rowdy boys in your class blocked the doorway, again. You knew one of the guys in the group since he was also in the art club.

"Excuse me guys," your face was unfazed by their antics, "kind of need to get through here."

"Oh, [Surname]-chan." Your fellow club member turns over to you. "Heading to the club room already?"

"Well, actually—" In the process of replying, another voice cut you off.

"Not today, Tadashi-kun! She has plans with me today!" Ami butts in from behind the group of the guys and nudges her way through to get to you.

"Wait, what?" Tadashi seemed genuinely confused by the news. "You're taking a break?"

You sigh. "Not really. Just not painting today."

Ami pouts, "well, you can't win them all." She proceeds to take your hand to pull you out of the group of guys blocking the way. "Tell us what happens in the club today Tadashi-kun! See you later!"

As soon as you guys were out in the hallway she lets out a sigh. "You're too polite [Name]!" Hitting your shoulder lightly, she continues, "Always trying to negotiate." She turns to you with a grin. "I had to push those guys just so we could get through!"

"Yeah, thanks Ami." You smile at her. She was a little rough, but it complimented your personalities pretty well. "Anyway, you got to point out who this guy is when we get there okay?"

She lets out a little shriek. "Oh right! What am I going to say to him if he talks to me?" She holds onto your arm for support. "And you'll spot him right away, he's quite tall."

"Aren't they all kind of tall?" You couldn't help wondering. "Plus, I don't have your crush vision Ami. You could probably spot him even from behind or if he changed his hairstyle."

"As if." She denies, looking to the side with a pout.

As you guys finally made it to your destination, you notice a group of girls by the door. You never actually paid much attention before, but you did have a good idea on who they were going to watch.

"Ugh, his fans." Ami stops a little ways away from the gym and stops you too.

"Wait, why did we stop?" You face her. "Are they not friendly?"

Ami looks up in thought. "Well, maybe. Since you got so close to Oikawa so quickly."

You shake your head. "I'm sure they're not bothered by that. I don't even know if can call ourselves friends to be honest." You guys just started talking only recently so you weren't sure if this would hold up yet. You start walking and turn to look back at Ami. "I'm not going for him today anyway, I'm going for you. So I hope you show me how this progress has been going!"

Ami smiles again and begins walking with you. "You'll be so surprised."

By this time, the group of girls have already made their way inside so you guys easily get to the door and open it.

Just by stepping into the gym, you felt a whoosh of air blow by your face and took in the aura.

This was just a practice day...right?

You're knocked out of your trance when Ami calls you over to the bleachers. "[Name]! C'mon, lets sit here!"

"Ah! Rudolph-chan came!" The voice was unmistakable.

Oikawa bounds over to you before you made it to the bleachers. "Hmm~ I told you to let me know when you were coming!" He pouts. "We're just doing drills today. I don't think that's all that fun to watch."

"Ah well, it was a spur of the moment actually..." You think back to your conversation with Ami in the morning.

"Heeh~ What made you do that—ACK!" You didn't see it, but you definitely felt a sudden burst of wind before a volleyball hit Oikawa square in the face. Your first instinct was be impressed by the precision of that ball but you noticed Oikawa was still holding his face with both his hands. "Iwa-chan I didn't do anything!"

"Practice isn't over yet Trashykawa!" His strong voice echoed in the gym.

Oikawa grumbles as he takes the volleyball and stands up to face you. His face...

You started laughing.

"E-eh? What is it?" His confused face made it even funnier.

"Y-your face..." You couldn't stifle your laughter. "I m-mean if I just had a red dot on my nose, you have a big red imprint on your face!"

His face suddenly turned horrified when he quickly put his hands back on his face, dropping the ball. "Iwa-chan look at what you have done!" He quickly turns away from you and rushes over to Iwaizumi. You see Oikawa drop his hands and point at his face to which Iwaizumi just smirks at and high fives his two other teammates.

You let out a snicker when you realize you figured out a perfect nickname to counteract his.

Sitting down by Ami, she nudges your side. "Hmm? Hmmm?" The implication of her tone was hard to ignore.

You just laugh. "Jeez, you can't just ship everything." You look back at the court and lean in closer to her. "Hey, where's the guy?"

She leans into you and also faces the court. "Okay. Tall. Short light brown hair."

You squint your eyes at the group of guys doing their drills. "Uh, the one who looks bored?" You felt a smack on your arm.

"That's his normal face!"

"I can see that you didn't deny it though..." You give her a slight glare before nursing your abused arm. It has been hit too often lately.

"Shh! It's his turn!" Her hands wave to the side to dismiss your comment and focuses intently on this Hanamaki guy.

You lean back and reach for your sketchbook. Opening it to a blank page, you place your pencil down and look at your surroundings. There were more people than you were expecting for just a practice day but you note most of those fans were there for a certain charismatic volleyball player.

Plus, those said fans seemed to glance at you every so often which made you unable to concentrate on working on an actual sketch. When you would glance up at them, they would quickly look away, talking amongst themselves. You raise your brow and notice that a couple of the girls in the group were some of your classmates. You shrug off the curious stares and start working on a sketch.

~~

Nearing the end of practice, Ami takes a break from ogling her crush and turns to look at your sketch. "Nice! But...uh...doesn't that look like Oikawa?"

Your pencil stops and you lean back to observe your work. It was a person with their back slightly arched and an arm in a move to smack down on a volleyball. Blinking at your work, you realize that the scene you saw of Oikawa practicing for the first time has etched itself in your memory. It was a moment in awe that you unconsciously documented. "Oh...I didn't even notice until you pointed it out." You shrug. "It was a nice serve though."

Ami shakes her head at you. "If you looked up, you would have seen it again." Glancing at it again she comments, "but that looks pretty accurate." Her ears perk up at the noise of them ending practice for the day and stands up resolutely. "Okay, I'm ready."

Smacking her back, your head nods over in the direction where the guy is at. "Make me proud."

You walk down with her but part ways as she heads towards her classmate Hanamaki. She effortlessly blends into a natural conversation with him and you see him responding to her from time to time. You shoot her an impressed look as she glances over and point your thumb towards the doors in a gesture to say 'I'll be going first'. She nods and returns to her conversation before Hanamaki turned around.

When you head towards the doors however, a hand clasps itself on your shoulder. "So, how was practice?" Oikawa shoots you a broad smile.

You didn't really want to lie to him so you honestly replied, "I actually wasn't paying attention much, as you can see..." Your head nods toward Ami. "We were on a bit of a mission."

Oikawa glances back in the direction you nodded at. "Oh~ I see!" You didn't even know his smile could get any bigger. But you could tell that his smile was not all that innocent.

"It's that look again." Your eyes narrowed at the seemingly innocent face he responded with. "Let them work it out on their own. Besides, it looks like it'll work out fine anyway."

Oikawa snorted. "He's a bit clueless in that department. I mean, all he can think about is beating Iwa-chan in an arm wrestling match."

You blinked. "Arm...wrestling?"

Oh boy. This might be harder than Ami anticipated.

Oikawa notices your face falling from his comment and speaks some more. "Well! I'll give little hints to my dear teammate so don't you worry about it!" He ends it with his usual wink. "I'm pretty good at getting a feel of the situation~"

You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes. "Hah, okay then. Thanks though." Looking behind him, you see his teammates cleaning up. "Um, aren't you going to help your team out? Since you might get another lovely red imprint right...here." You point at the center of his face and let out a laugh at his pouting expression.

"I'm going to practice a bit more but I'll help them clean up the things I won't be using." Oikawa starts to head back but swiftly turns back around again. "If you're not going to your club today, do you feel like sticking around some more? You know, since you didn't actually watch me practice."

"Uh..." You consider his invitation before you end up nodding. "Yeah, that's fine." Ami probably told the other members to lock the club room up for the day anyway. "I just have to get some things in my locker so I'll meet you back in here."

He grins. "Great! I'll be waiting then~" With that, he walks back to his teammates.

You turn back to the door that you've been having trouble opening with of all the interruptions and finally go through it.