Sugawara Koushi (Haikyuu!!) x Male Reader

They said that, when it comes to romance, the childhood friend is always bound to lose.

Maybe that was true. Based on some shows you've watched, the childhood friend, or best friend, or whatever, who had fallen in love with the main character, loses the fight. The main character always ended up with another person, the one he/she had fallen head over heels for.

Maybe that was true. You've heard stories from acquaintances, from people, about falling in love with their best friend. You've heard of how it hurts to pretend to support them in their love life, of how it hurts to be rejected. Being 'just friends' with the person you love really does bring them to a dead end, they said.

Maybe that was true.

But you didn't want to believe it.

.

"[m/n]!" you heard your name being called. You turned to see your friend of a lifetime, Sugawara Koushi. He was, still is, your friend ever since you could remember. You spent most of your time with him in your early younger years, playing games, eating together, watching shows.

You waved at him. "Koushi! What's up?" you asked. Though you knew how lame that sounded.

"Are you free this weekend?" he said as he approached you. It still annoyed the hell out of you that he was a bit more muscled than you. I mean, you thought, we ate and did almost all of the same stuff. "Let's go somewhere."

Except sports, probably. You're in the swim club while he's in the volleyball club.

But, "Don't you have practice this weekend?" you said. "You and your team are aiming for Nationals, right? You should practice."

You would have loved to spend some time with him. He had become too occupied with volleyball, and you with swimming. Both of you were too busy to spend time with each other like you used to. Though you honestly didn't mind because Koushi seemed to be happy with his team.

But it hurts.

Because guess what? You had fallen in love with your best friend.

And you felt like a failure for doing so.

Because the best friend always loses.

Your white-haired friend only laughs guiltily. "I know," he said. "But maybe after practice? It's just that it's been a long time we've actually spent time together."

You stopped walking suddenly as you thought of something. "Koushi? Wouldn't that only distract you during practice? Sawamura-san and Azumane-san are going to kill me if that happens," you said.

You both went to Karasuno High, your reasons only slightly different from Koushi's. Then he joined a club and became friends with Sawamura Daichi, and another student Azumane Asahi, and then you were suddenly thrown out of the loop. The three of them played volleyball, and formed themselves a set.

Though you admitted to yourself that these two guys are actually nice people, you just didn't appreciate how they were making you and Koushi distant from each other.

"You mean Daichi and Asahi?" he laughed. "Nah, they wouldn't. Daichi is a softy, and Asahi couldn't hurt a fly."

You felt relieved, and continued walking. You just then realized that the both of you were heading to the club room.

"I'll have to pass, though."

"Eh? But why?"

You scrambled your head for the reason. "We- I mean me and the swim team- are going to do joint practices starting this weekend. Apparently, since Karasuno doesn't have the proper facilities, we have to go to the other schools. It's also preparation for training camp that's scheduled next month at Tokyo."

"Oh," your best friend said. You wanted to believe that he actually looked disappointed, but that was probably your imagination. He was looking at you with these kind eyes. Those eyes that actually had you wanting to cry right then and there, because he was so sweet and honest to you. He didn't know how you felt for him, and you didn't want him to know.

Koushi then loops his arm around your shoulders, like he always did before, and said, "You don't have practice this afternoon?"

You shook your head. "Coach went to a meeting to finalize the schedule for training camp."

"Come watch us practice, and we'll go home together right after, yeah?"

Finding no choice in the matter anyway, you nodded mutely.

Both of you went up the stairs. You decided to wait outside as Koushi went in their club room to change.

Suddenly, the door slams open as this freaky duo came out and continued to argue for reasons you honestly didn't want to know. This short, orange-haired guy looks at you, and said, "Are you waiting for someone?"

"Hinata, dumbass, of course he probably is," the taller guy, said.

You wanted to laugh, but held it anyway. These were probably the first years that Koushi texted you about.

But wait.

"But, you're [l/n] [m/n] from the swim team. Ah, you're probably here for Sugawara-san."

He recognized you? Now that's a surprise. You didn't have enough pride to actually proclaim yourself famous, nor did you think you had the looks to become well known. You felt plain to yourself, with [h/c] hair and [e/c] eyes.

"Well, our practice got cancelled. So yeah, I'm waiting for Ko- Sugawara-kun," you said, just barely catching your mistake. Actually, how did he even assume that you were waiting for Koushi? Not that he was wrong or whatever.

You expected the two to just leave it at that and go to the gym, but instead, Hinata opened the door again, looked inside, and yelled, "Sugawara-san, [m/n]-senpai is waiting for you outside!"

What the-

Before you knew it, you were blushing and desperately trying to silence Hinata. How did he even know your name, anyway?

Voices came out from inside their club room, as Hinata had left it slightly ajar when he and the tall guy, Kageyama, left for the gym.

"[m/n]-SAN IS OUTSIDE? THEN I'LL GO BRING HIM INSIDE-!"

"EXACTLY, NOYA-SAN! WE NEED TO MEET OUR FUTURE IN-LAW."

"WHAT THE- DON'T GO, YOU TWO! You'll scare him away, and Suga will be angry with you!"

"Suga already looks pissed."

"You do realize he can hear all of you, right?"

And the door slams shut as Koushi exits the club room with a flushed face. He was already in his practice attire, and was looking away from you, trying to hide the blush covering his face.

You were also looking away, hiding your embarrassment from him.

"Uh..."

"Let's uh... just go."

.

It had felt like a disaster. For the whole duration of their practice, you were as silent as you could be. Everyone had stared at you at some point, some unshamingly, and some discreetly. You wanted to hide and never appear again in their sights.

Their adviser had informed them about their upcoming training camp, and that details were to come soon.

"[m/n], isn't that great? We could meet at Tokyo or something," Koushi was near you, and obviously excited. You didn't know whether he was excited for training camp or meeting with you at Tokyo. You believed it was the former.

You nodded, smiling. "Yeah, Koushi," you said. "Only if one of us is willing to collapse due to fatigue, though. It's not training camp if you don't train."

"You are such a pessimist."

"But you deal with it, anyway. Now, get back to practice."

"Fine, fine, fine."

.

Chance was probably playing with you, and Fate isn't taking sides with anyone.

Training camp had come too soon. You and Koushi both decided to concentrate on practice and training. That means not much of contacting each other.

By the end of training camp, your coach suddenly tells the team something.

"We've been invited."

Huh? Invited to what? was what ran through you and your team's heads.

"Well, I knew the volleyball coach personally, and he decided to invite us to some barbecue."

"For when, coach?" your captain asked.

Then he, the coach, sported this evil look and a shiver suddenly ran through your backs. It was rarely a good sign when he gave the team that look. The last time he looked like that, which was just yesterday, nearly all of the team members collapsed.

"Later. And since they're also in Tokyo, we'll be doing some running to their place. If we do that, we'll arrive with just enough time to let you cool down before eating."

As the others were complaining about distance, others cheering for meat, you were undoubtedly excited. If all goes well, that should mean that you'll be able to meet Koushi later that day. One week without seeing him made you desperate.

Even though it still hurts to face him because damn it, he really shouldn't know.

You sighed. But you smiled, anyway. You decided to text Koushi.

To: Kou-chan

[m/n] is comin to see u laterr. prepare for my awesome entrance ヾ(¯∇￣๑)

29 Jul 07:18

When you looked up from your phone, everyone was warming up for the run. I guess meat motivates these people the most, you thought as you started warming up as well. A few minutes later, your phone vibrated, signalling that you had a text.

From: Kou-chan

ofc, love. (๑・ω-)～♥ i'll prepare the red carpet haha

29 Jul 07:21

You blushed at the 'love' part, but that was just a joke, coming from him. Right? You tucked your phone in your shorts, and went outside to start running.

.

You were one of the first few who arrived at their place. It was a friendly, but absolutely noisy cottage-like place. It reminded you of your camp as well. Just without the pool, but with indoor volleyball courts.

Once the rest of the team had arrived, out of habit more than anything, some started taking their shirts off because of the heat.

You were one of those who took their shirt off.

All of you were chatting mildly when the doors to the volleyball courts opened and outside went the volleyball players. You could hear their voices from where you were.

You saw Hinata and Kageyama stop once they saw some students that surely weren't part of any volleyball teams that went along. Then Hinata recognized you, and he waved excitedly. "[m/n]-senpai!" he yelled. He turned to Kageyama, and whispered something in his ear. Kageyama only nodded.

However, Hinata's yell also attracted some of the others' attention.

"[m/n]-SAN?! WOAH, HE'S REALLY HERE!"

"And he's not wearing any shirt on, too."

Unfortunately, for you, you weren't able to hear that last part as you were suddenly facing these two guys.

One guy had a bald, shaven head, while the other, shorter guy had wild hair with the blond streak. "You must be Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san," you said. "I've heard so much about you." They both jumped in excitement, shouting something about 'Suga-san talking about them to his boyfriend'. You smiled sheepishly, looking around for the one person that you came for.

"[m/n]! You're finally... here..."

You looked at Koushi, wondering why he faltered at his sentence. You raised your eyebrows in question. He was walking towards you silently, and for the first time in years, you didn't know what he was thinking. Even though you were both sweaty, he hugged you as tight as he could. You were confused. "Kou-chan? What's wrong?"

He was holding you quite firmly, and it startled you. You glanced around, and saw how Karasuno's members are looking proud, with arms crossed in front of their chests, with expressions saying 'finally'. Turning your eyes back to Koushi, you saw him blushing as well.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just missed you so much, [m/n]-chan."

Confusion turned to longing. It was just a reminder of how he only thinks of you as his best friend. This time, you really wanted to cry. And without letting your self-control take over, tears started to fall from your eyes. "I... I missed you, too... Kou-chan."

"And wear a shirt, please. You might catch a cold."

"Huh?"

He leaned towards your ear, still not letting you go. He whispered, "I wouldn't want anyone else to see you like this."

What?

Koushi?

You could faintly hear his teammates pushing an upcoming audience away. There were quite a few of them gathered already. Sawamura-san had looked like he wanted to drag all of the students away, but he only looked darkly to make them leave. Koushi had somehow let you go, but still stood close to you. He nodded in thanks to Sawamura-san, before looking back at you.

"[m/n]."

"Y-yes?"

"For years, I've felt something for you. I didn't want to be just best friends with you."

They said that, when it comes to romance, the childhood friend is always bound to lose. 

"I love you, [m/n]."

Being 'just friends' with the person you love really does bring them to a dead end, they said. 

"I love you so much, that it actually started to hurt. So I'm telling you this right now, as soon as I could. Because... I didn't want to be that friend who lost."

Maybe that was true.

"Will... will you be my boyfriend, [m/n]?"

That didn't stop the two of you anyway.

Your mind had short circuited. You barely noted that you were smiling. You were crying, as well. And you were kissing him.

"Of course, Koushi."