Untitled Part 35
Chapter Thirty Five: Table Games
Yamaguchi~
"Hey, copper top! You've gotta pick up the slack for your team!" Yuji shouted across the table at the bristling figure of Shoyo. "You're slacking!"
"You're one to talk, you criminal! You've missed more flips than I have!"
"I have not! You're drunk!"
"You're drunk!"
They were both drunk, Yamaguchi mused as the final drops of liquid from his cooler hit his tongue, everyone was drunk.
"Shoyo's right, Yuji, you have missed a lot of shots..." Yachi said quietly with a sweet smile, sloshing around the pink contents of her red cup. "Like, a lot..."
"Yachi!" Yuji exclaimed, wrapping his lean arms around the small Omega at his side. "You wound me! Maim me!"
"She's just telling it like it is, man!" Tanaka chirped, prodding Yuji in the forehead with a finger. "You're dragging down your teaaaaaam!"
"I am not!" Yuji whined as he nuzzled into Yachi's golden hair. "Yachi, you're breaking my heart! Shattering it!"
"You should've heard what she said about Tobio when you guys were playing Date--" Nishinoya called over from the end of the table, only to be cut short by a very frantic Yachi.
"No, no, no! That's out of context! I never said anything about you, Tobio, I swear!" She blubbered out from under Yuji's arm, her honey coloured eyes panicked. "I promise!"
"She said that your face," Shoyo quipped at the dark Alpha at his side, wagging a knowing finger in the air. "Yeah, that face! That one! She said that she was surprised it hadn't cracked yet, with how stern you always look!"
"It's my face!" Tobio exclaimed, leaning forward to yell at the bouncing ginger at his side. "This is what my face looks like?"
"Noya..." Asahi mumbled down at the energized Omega at his side. "Look what you've started, you've got them going in on each other again!"
"Oh shush," Nishinoya replied with a cocky smirk, filling his red cup with a bit of frothy beer. "They like each other, we all know it, so who cares!"
"Noya..."
"Okay! That's enough! Rooooooooouuuund four! Let's go, let's goooooo!" Bokuto cried out, throwing his hands into the air to silence the crowd. "Start at that end, Shoyo. Put your money where your mouth is, let's goooooo!"
"You got it," the ginger Omega replied loudly, eyeing down his opponent with intense eyes. "Leave it to me!"
"Alright, copper head, you're on!" Yuji remarked with a large smirk and a drunken, gentle smack on Yachi's small back. "You're mine!"
"Okay, ready? Three, two, one, GO!" Bokuto announced, banging a large hand on the table at the final word.
Yamaguchi watched as the starters hastily gulped their drinks, finishing mere moments apart. In his eyes, they were sloppy in their cup flipping, but much to his amusement, they both retained an intense, energetic determination to see the job to completion-- they were more similar than they let on...
"Done!" Yuji declared as his cup rolled onto the wooden table. "Go, Yachi, GO!"
"Mmmm," Yachi mumbled as she rose her cup to her mouth. "Ayy wamm!"
"Hurry up!" Tobio muttered at Shoyo, leaning forward on the table to inspect the ginger's flips. "I told you! Use your wrist! Your wrist!"
"I am doing that!" Shoyo quipped back, brows furrowed in concentration as he emulated the setter's technique. "See, that's exactly what I'm doing!"
"No, you're using more of your forearm! See like this, do it like this! Like this!" Tobio criticized, flicking his undamaged arm in an upward motion. "Not like that, like this!"
"I am doing th-- DONE!"
Yamaguchi giggled at their loud exchange-- always at each other's throats...in the best way possible. Both of them had an internal fire and a zest for winning that refused to be stifled. Although they seemed be in constant odds, he knew that it was their unique was of showing affection. Tobio had been practically glued to Shoyo's side since the hospital, keeping watch over him during his waking hours. Plus, the dark Alpha's scent had begun to seep an undertone of curiosity for the ginger-- one that Yamaguchi knew would eventually shift to desire, if their cheeky interactions and close proximity continued.
"Done! N-next!" Yachi exclaimed with a hiccup, wiping her mouth on the back of her shirt.
"As expected from my partner in crime!" Yuji mumbled into Yachi's hair, once again embracing the blonde Omega in an energetic hug. "Amazing! Incredible!"
"Yuji, move over!" Nishinoya yelled after finishing his drink, shoving the happy Alpha and his entrapped Omega to the side. "You're in my space! Do you want to win or not?!"
"Sorrrrrrrrrry," the blonde Alpha replied with a smirk, nestling into Yachi's blonde locks again to inhale her scent. "My badddddddddd."
"Hurry up, Tobio!" Tanaka growled, watching with intense eyes as his teammate concentrated on flipping his cup onto the table. "Aren't you supposed to be some kind of prodigy?! Flip the dang cup!"
"Hey, give the kid a break!" Nishinoya chimed in, his pink tongue sticking out as he attempted his fourth flip. "Just look at his messed up arm!"
"He's not even using it to flip!" Tanaka yelled back, a hand hovering over his cup in anticipation. "Are you sure that you're a prodigy?! Are you-"
"Done!" Tobio called out, raising back up to full height with a small sigh of relief. "Shoyo was way worse than me and you didn't give him any shit...and I don't call myself a prodigy, you call me that."
"Shoyo is," Tanaka started in response, angling his red cup against the edge of the wood. "Not as experienced...at...drinking...as...you...are. DONE! Next!"
"Nishinoya..." Asahi whispered over his Omega's shoulder, a worried look plastered on his tanned face. "You're falling behind..."
"Don't you think I know that, Asahi!" Nishinoya snapped back, holding his arms in a prayer position as he watched his cup roll around on its lip. "THERE, DONE! GO, KEIJI!"
Man, Yamaguchi mused with a sly smirk, Asahi really needed to make his move. Nishinoya had spent every single night in the nest room, cuddled up next to him. How long was it going to take for the giant Alpha to sack up? Their relationship was twisting into a strange, platonic, mess and Nishinoya too oblivious to make the first move...
"Oh, Keiji! Trying to sweep the floor out from under me?!" Bokuto cried out as he flipped his cup far too high into the air for a successful landing. "I don't think so! Not on my watch!"
"Don't mess up..." Keiji droned after polishing off his drink. "You had a pretty good lead..."
"I WON'T MESS UP!"
"Done."
"WHAT?!"
"VICTORY FOR TEAM OMEGA, AND YUJI!" Nishinoya cried out, sticking his tongue out as he danced in place. "Man, Bokuto, you really dropped the ball, man!"
"REMATCH! I WANT A REMATCH! I WAS DISTRACTED BY KEIJI'S SCENT!" Bokuto yelled out in anguish, throwing his head back dramatically. "REMATCH!"
"Lies," Keiji drawled, his navy eyes shining with amusement. "Your nose is still messed up. You can't smell shit. Don't try to use me as an excuse."
"IT'S NOT A LIE, KEIJI!" The owl whined loudly, falling against the table in an upset fashion. "As your Alpha, I'm suuuuuuuper sensitive to your scent!"
"Lies."
"It's not a lie!"
"I'm tagging out for the next round," Tobio muttered, absentmindedly ruffling Shoyo's ginger hair with his good arm. "I need some water."
"Alright, alright, we need a sub, then," Tanaka mumbled, eyes raking over the room, landing on Yamaguchi.
No, no, no, look somewhere else...please...
"Yamaguchi!" He called over, furiously waving for him to take Tobio's space. "We need a sub in for this round! Join our super star winning team!"
"You just lost..." Keiji quipped, smirking at Bokuto's tragic figure. "We're the superstar team..."
"No...I think that-" Yamaguchi started, his decline cut short by the overeager, and very drunk, Tanaka.
"Come on!" He whined, rushing over in two long strides. "Pleaaaaaaaase, I bet you're really good! The quiet ones are always good!"
"Really, I'm not very-"
"Do I need to get you a leash?" Daichi interjected with a growl, grabbing Tanaka by the back of his collar. "You can just go twice. I'm sure you'd like that, right?"
"Captainnnnnnnnn!"
"You can go twice."
"Why don't you joiiiiiiiin innnn?"
"Because I'm playing beer pong against Oikawa and Hajime in the backyard."
"That's so lame, cap. Flip cup is the game of the evening! We all agreed!"
"We did not agree on that."
"Who's reffing?! I'll ref!"
"Tsukishima, and you're playing flip cup, remember?"
"Tsukishima is getting involved?! Seriously?!"
"Yes."
"Seriously?!"
"Yeeeeeees."
Yamaguchi watched, a stiff expression on his freckled face, as Daichi hauled the whining teammate back to the long table of cups. It wasn't that he didn't want to play, he was just nervous about his abilities-- he couldn't bear to be the weak link on the team. He had never played flip cup before and he wasn't one to jump into something without ample practice first. If he could help it, of course.
"Yamaguchi," an unfamiliar voice startled him from behind. He whipped around, cradling his casted arm against his chest to see the Alpha professor, Ukai. "Miyo wants to chat with you, out on the front porch."
No...
"Oh," he replied with a sheepish grin and a shake of his head. "No thanks, I'm good!"
"Nope, you're not getting out of this one," the blonde Alpha affirmed with a knowing nod, gently ushering him towards the front door. "You know what she's like. She'll have my head if I don't escort you out there!"
"No, really, I'm just going to go and get a drink and then I'll go out!" He stated with a nervous laugh, growing more frantic as he neared the entryway. "I promise!"
"I don't think so! I'm not putting my life on the line for you, freckles!" Ukai responded, stopping him a few feet short of the open door. "And give her this, maybe it'll help you escape!" He continued as he handed him a chilled bottle of white wine, granting him a cheeky wink.
Why, he thought as he unwillingly took the glass bottle from the Alpha's hands, why did Miyo feel the need to shake the secrets out of him? He wasn't even sure that he knew what secrets she could shake out of him! Tsukishima was...his friend...nothing more...
"Um, Miyo?" He asked in near whisper, sticking his head out the front door into the cool air-- the echoing calls of his housemates fading into the night.
"Yams!" His professor exclaimed with a massive grin. "Oh, and you brought wine! My savior!"
"Yeah..."
"Oh, don't be so nervous!"
"I-I'm not!"
"Yams, I know you, you totally are," Miyo affirmed with a small chuckle, handing him the now open bottle of wine. "Here, take the edge off!"
So much for his escape plan, he mused as he took a hearty swig from the cold glass, now he was stuck with his nosy professor-- the good hearted woman with an unwanted interest in his love life. He had done well to ignore his developing feelings and she was going to pull them forward, in all their complexities, against his expressed will. He sighed deeply, taking another swig of the clear liquid to steady his nerves, ready as he was ever going be for her interrogation.
Hajime~
A perfect toss, he thought with a sly smirk as his ball floated down into Suga's cup with a small plop. Perfect, absolutely per--
"Your elbow was over the line. No point," Tsukishima drawled, smashing his internal victory to the ground with his lazy words.
"What? No it wa-"
"Ref says that it was, so it was!" Suga quipped as he shook the white ball to dry it. "Our shot!"
"Tsukishimaaaa~" Oikawa whined, batting his eyelashes at the amused Alpha. "Do you have something against us?!"
"Why, I would never show bias," the blonde replied, pushing up his glasses on his face-- still laced with scrapes and yellowing bruises. "I take this job very seriously."
Yeah right, Hajime mused as he rolled his dark eyes, he had never seen the kid take anything seriously...
"Nice shot, Suga!" Daichi cheersed, pumping a closed fist into the air as the ball landed in Hajime's cup. "Wow, so we only need to make two more shots until we win...again..."
"Shut up, Daichi!" Oikawa hotly remarked as he pointed a narrow finger across the table. "We'll get it back! Right, Hajime? We've got this!"
"You bet your ass we've got this," he affirmed, moving his hand downwards to give his Omega a subtle pinch on the cheek.
Oikawa let out a silent squeak, then shot him an intense look that said something along the lines of-- we're trying to win, stop being a thorn in my side and take this seriously!
"I am taking this seriously!" He replied to the silence, his dark eyes wide with feigned disbelief. "We're going to win this time, I'm sure of it!"
"Your tone! Your tone isn't serious!"
"It is!"
"No, it's all Hajime-like!"
"What does that even mean?!"
"Uh, guys?" Daichi interjected, pointing across the table as Suga giggled at his side. "It's, uh, your shot now..."
Oikawa gingerly pulled the white balls from their scored cups and handed over. "Don't you dare miss this shot!" He declared as he snubbed his nose upwards, showing off the angular jawline that Hajime loved to admire.
"You do know that I'm the one who's made all the shots this round, right?" He chirped, his snarky words stiffening Oikawa mid-throw-- messing up his shot.
"I missed that one because of you! How could you?! We're in the clutches of defeat and you pull a stunt like that!"
"Oh, shut up," he retorted, lightly kissing the chestnut Omega on his tense cheek. "You can't fake experience, but don't worry, I've got plenty of it."
"So cute..." He heard Suga mumbled out as he lined up for his shot.
Whatever. Maybe he was acting cute, he couldn't help himself. He was drunk, his Omega was back at his side, and he was surrounded by friends. Who, in the right mind, wouldn't act all cute? The cheeky words were not going to bother him-- not in his happy, content state. Although, he mused to himself with a small grin, admittedly...his show of affection was uncharacteristic.
"We're not cute, SUGA!" Oikawa called across the table as he tossed the white ball, landing it directly in the front red cup. "Also, TAKE THAT! Hajime scored! One step closer to vi-"
"Arm was over the table," Tsukishima declared with a coy smirk, taking a sip of his wheat ale. "Doesn't count."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME, TSUKI?!" Hajime growled, turning to face his blonde teammate. "ARE YOU JUST OUT TO GET ME OR SOMETHING?"
"I don't make the rules, Hajime, I just enforce them."
"I don't see you calling out Oikawa, or Daichi, for overreaching!"
"That's because they haven't. You have."
"Hajime!" Oikawa chirped, rubbing him on the back with a tenderness that melted his insides. "Don't let four eyes harm our unbreakable bond of trust! We've still got this-"
"That's game," the blonde ref said with a small chuckle, pushing forward off the yellow siding of the house.
"WHAT?!" Oikawa yelled, snapping his neck back to the blue table in front of them. "DAICHI, WHEN DID YOU TAKE THE SHOT?"
"Just now...when you guys were arguing..."
"I didn't see it, so it doesn't count," Hajime asserted, gnashing his teeth together at the loss...another loss.
"The ref saw it!" Suga replied with a cheeky grin and a wag of the finger. "So that's, four wins for us? And, how many for you? One? No...wait, Daichi, how many did they win?"
"I believe it was, zero."
"Oh, that's right, it was ZERO!"
"Cockiness doesn't suit you, Suga~~" Oikawa seethed through clenched teeth. "Sore winner..."
"Oi, who won?" Hajime heard a familiar voice enter the playful banter, Tobio...the sullen setter.
"They did," he drawled, rolling his neck on its axis to loosen his muscles as he pointed across the table. "They wiped the floor with us.
"HELLO, TOBIO, if it isn't the mopey little mophead that I wiped the floor with last time!" Oikawa yelled, shoving at Tobio from the side. "Care to face me again?! One on one, just you and me!"
"You're on. You're not going to beat me this time!"
Hajime watched as the two boys set up the table in a hasty flurry, slinging insults at each other as they did so. When did they--
"Um," Daichi interjected his thoughts, stopping at his side with furrowed brows. "When did they become...rivals?"
"I don't...know..." Hajime whispered back with wide eyes. "I guess...they just have conflicting personalities?"
"Nah," Suga chimed it, bumping Daichi playfully in the side. "It's cause Oikawa used to be a setter in high school. A pretty good one, too."
"Oh, really?" Daichi said, his brown eyes wide with astonishment. "I guess he's got the grace for it, and the level head..."
"Yeah, he was pretty torn up after seeing Tobio set in the Date Tech game," Suga explained with a small giggle. "Normally he has it in his mind that he's better than allllllll the Alpha setters, but I think he was a bit rattled by Tobio's abilities. The kid's good, and this is how Oikawa responds to that kind of realization."
Hajime was always learning something new about the chestnut Omega, he loved it-- it kept things interesting. Oikawa was full of surprises. Perhaps, later in the week they could rent out a university gym and he could show his omega just how good at volleyball he actually was. Plus, he did always fantasize about sleeping with someone in the storage closet...
"Hey, Daichi, Hajime," a deep voice, one that could only belong to his coach, chimed in from behind, pulling him from his lewd thoughts. "Have any unwanted guests shown up back here?"
Unwanted guests...what did Ukai mean...unwanted guests. In an instant, his instincts roared inside his skull, his scent coiling into the air around him with a vicious fury. Protect Oikawa...Suga...fellow Alphas...pack.
"What do you mean," Daichi growled as he pulled Suga towards the house, his domineering scent seeping out into the night air. "Where."
"Relax, you would've smelled them," Ukai asserted, his own throat rumbling in response to his fellow Alphas. "There were a few out front, but I took care of them."
"Good," Tobio barked from the table, dark eyes fixated on the dim yard before him. "If anyone--"
"Okay, boys. Let's just relax and enjoy our night, hmm?" Oikawa chirped, his calm, ocean scent wafting over the back porch-- blending well with the blue hue from the overhanging lights. "We're more prepared this time to handle any unwanted guests~~"
"Exactly," Suga nodded in agreement, his own sweet scent blending in with his nestmate's, forming a strong, relaxing tranquility to ease the Alpha tension. "Take some deep breaths and relaxxxxx."
"We can still guard while we play and have fun," Ukai growled in agreement, reaching for the green cooler near the door. "Hajime, ya got any amber beer back here or what?"
"Uh, yeah, the tall boy cans," Hajime replied, shaking his head to physically bring his foggy mind back from his instincts. "Grab me one, would ya?"
"Yeah, me too..." Tsukishima grumbled and Hajime sniffed the air, surprised to find his teammate's scent gruff and agitated. "One of the Sapporos, not that dark shit that he drinks."
Huh, maybe the kid's feelings towards Yamaguchi were further along than he had expected. Why else would he be so easily provoked by Ukai's words? Perhaps, all of the Alphas in the home had something to protect now...
"Hey, Daichi," Ukai called out to the captain next to him. "You going inside?"
"Yeah, I was going to grab a few more beers for the cooler, what's up?"
"Can you check in on Miyo, she's on the front porch..."
"Uh, yeah, of course..." The captain replied with furrowed brows, momentarily debating whether or not to push the topic further. "I'll, uh, be back in a second."
"Yo, coach," Hajime put forth, catching the can of beer that Ukai tossed his way. "What's the deal with you and Miyo, anyways?"
It was bold to ask, but he couldn't contain his curiosity. Miyo was mated, Ukai's scent seeped a desire to mate with her, and the two hadn't been closer than a few meters all night. It was an...odd situation.
"I'm remating her," Ukai stated plainly as he cracked his tall can, catching Hajime by surprise with the honest answer. "Her mated scent is fucking killing me, though, I can't get within an arm's length of her without wanting to throw up."
"That's daring of you," Tsukishima drawled, taking a hearty sip of his wheat beer. "When did you decide that?"
Wow, Hajime thought with a smirk, Tsukishima, showing interest in someone else? The kid must really be drunk...
"I know, but what's done is done. It's already decided," Ukai growled, fiddling with the sticker on his can. "We'll figure it out, and don't you have more important things to worry about, Tsukishima? Like...that freckled Omega you've been lurking around?"
Hajime burst out laughing at the daring accusation and Tsukishima shifted uncomfortably against the yellow siding. Man, having their professors around was certainly providing the house with some humorous banter-- no way in hell would he say something like that to his blonde teammate. He didn't want his eyes clawed out.
"Yamaguchi is doing well, thank you for your concern, coach," Tsukishima seethed back through clenched teeth, averting his gaze to the side.
"Oh, hit a nerve did I?!" Ukai pushed forward, his face plastered with an impish grin. "You sure you don't want some advice?"
Tsukishima's face stiffened and Hajime snickered again at his vivid mental image of the blonde Alpha's thoughts-- keep calm, keep calm, don't punch him in the face. He took another sip of his amber ale and sat down on the porch swing behind him, eager to watch the comedic exchange before him. Maybe, just maybe, Tsukishima was drunk enough to let slip some of his normally steel emotions. No way in hell was he going to miss this, not with the preachy Oikawa and the blonde's arch enemy, Tobio, listening in on the fun.
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