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@lintobln
°❀⋆ | certified geek & freak, writer, masterlist, she/her
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non-writers will never understand the mental illness of writing an entire conversation in your head while doing dishes and then forgetting every word the second you open a blank doc
my daily affirmation as an author
Girlll I missed you where have you been? (also I understand if you are busy tho!)
Glad I’ve been missed !! 🙈
I have every intention of continuing/ posting more chapters for BCS but I just don’t have the time or motivation atm 😔
Will probs be a slow comeback (for that fic atleast) but I’m not abandoning ya’ll so dw !
I noticed that the BBCS hiatus doesn't have a set time to end on Ao3? I understand if you're too busy to continue it right now but I wanted to know if it was coming back anytime soon! :')
Hi hi! Sorry for not answering this earlier - but yeah, unfortunately I don’t have the time atm to write 😪 so I’m not really sure when I’ll be back w/ BCS. I’ve also lowkey lost the motivation to write for it recently but I might post some other stuff later. My haikyuu obsession has been bouncing back and forth since I was like 11 so I’ll def be back tho!
Babo-chan Soup | Wakatoshi Ushijima x Reader
𝄞𝄢 Chapter 9: A meal of miscommunication
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Masterlist | Next Chapter | A03
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WC: 4.5k
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“We saw smoke coming from underneath Wakatoshi’s and Satori’s dorm room and we all collectively said ‘He must've exploded the microwave.’” Ohira takes a sip of water before carrying on with a grin. “And of course we were right, Satori had exploded the microwave via chocolate ice cream and ramen cup concoction.”
Entertained laughter rattles from the people around you. After leaving the stadium, Sakou, the third years and you, made your way to a local shokudo to share a meal together. And so, here you are, wedged in between Ohira and Sakou on a low table, with the rest of the guys circling the low table around you.
“I think it was because of the foil in the ramen lid.” Jin Soekawa, the last of the third years that Satori had introduced to you a mere 20 minutes ago, says calmly.
So it was because of the foil, that makes sense. I’ve almost done that once or twice.
Everyone’s understanding blends together into a collective ‘ohhhh’, it’s funny how everyone is so in sync with each other.
Except for Ushijima, He sits, blinking on the other side of the table diagonal to you. He’s listening but he doesn't look very entertained- although, his facial expressions are pretty limited. It’s almost impossible to guess what he’s thinking about the majority of the time.
Your eyes wander over to the huge pile of rice that has become a dome in Ushijima’s bowl.
He must be really hungry, especially after that performance on the court.
Looking around, you notice that most of the boy’s bowls are similar. They must all have one hell of an appetite.
Makes sense though, all of them are crazy-good athletes.
“Speaking of, we better start looking at getting another microwave hey, Waka?” Satori places a piece of sweet pork on his tongue and then chews it animatedly.
“Sure.”
“We had that one since our first year, y'know? It’s a shame it exploded.” Satori says, turning to face you.
“I’m surprised it lasted that long with you around.” You grin.
“A miracle really.” Semi joins in.
“Ay! Semi-semi! You’re meant to be on my side.” Satori pouts. “Dropping me for a girl you met a couple weeks ago…” He pretends to wipe a tear away mournfully. “Tragic, really.”
Ushijima pats him on the back. “I would like to be on your side, Tendou. However, unfortunately you did explode the microwave.”
“...And ruin like 5 textbooks in the process.” Yamagata - the libero whose name you can finally remember - adds.
Satori throws his hands up in the air defeatedly. “Is everyone here against me??”
“Yes.” Sakou, Semi and you chime.
Idle chatter continues as the night goes on, the boys relay statistics and details about today's game that you find yourself straining your brain to try and make sense of.
Sakou offers you some braised lotus root and you take it thankfully, letting your teeth sink into the soft flesh of the vegetable.
The game talk reminds you of a play that confused you earlier when watching the first team.
What was it- something to do with a block?
Oh yeah- the pink team blocked but the other one ended up with a point.
“In the first game the pink team made a play that I was confused about,” A few heads turn to you, including Ushijima. He settles his piercing, unwavering gaze on you. “I think they made a block or something but the other team ended up with a point. How does that work?”
“It was pro-” Yamagata starts off.
“Most likely an illegal block or a net touch.” Ushijima’s voice vibrates slowly around the room.
You nod, avoiding eye contact as usual. “How do you block illegally?" You ask, you know that it's a bit silly question but you want him to talk to you more, even if it makes you feel like there's a giant worm in your stomach.
“In this case an illegal block occurs when a player's hand or arm crosses the vertical plane of the net which interferes with the opponent's spike.” He talks in the same kind of monotone voice he would to ask someone to ‘pass the salt’. “And a net touch is exactly what it sounds like, it is when a player makes contact with the net during an active play.
You hum. “Okayy, volleyball is a lot more complicated than I thought it was.”
Ushijima sticks a hunk of marinated beef in his mouth.
Alrighty then. End of conversation I guess.
When you turn to your left side you find that Sakou is smirking at you, an acusing twinkle in her eye.
What?
You search for something, anything that could distract her from her train of thought. You’d rather her not bring any Ushijima-crush related topics to the table right now, especially not with all the boys around.
“Your eyelash is falling off.” you say, trying to match the kind of monotone voice that Ushijima uses.
Sakou slaps the side of her face with one hand, hiding the sight of her wonky eyelash. “Dammit! You should have told me earlier!” She shoots herself up from her cushion and trudges off to the bathroom.
For a moment, everything is silent.
Yamagata finally speaks. “How can her eyelashes just… fall off?” He looks pale. Like he’s just seen something that he wasn’t supposed to.
Semi looks like he’s solving advanced calculus in his head. “Has she got some sort of disease or something?”
Ushijima stares into his soup, not a thought behind those slanted olive eyes.
You and Ohira both stifle giggles at all of their ignorance.
Soekawa looks around the table, stunned. “Are you guys really that stupid?”
“I know right!” Satori leans way too far over the table and tries to whisper to you, he ends up toppling over two dishes in the process. “Can you explain it to me so I look smart?” His attempt at whispering fails so badly, the customers in the next room probably heard him.
You push his head back so he’s forced to retreat back across into his spot.
“You guys aren’t serious right?” You sip at your lime soda.
You get no reply.
Imaginary cricket sounds fill the room.
You and Ohira both glance at each other out of fear for the boys around you.
How did some of these guys get into Shiratorizawa?
“They’re falsies.”
Yamagata nods like he’s actually registered what you're talking about. “Falsies. I see.” He strokes his imaginary beard.
Satori plays along. “Ahh yes..falsies. Love those. Or something..” he trails off, eyes squinted off into the distance.
Semi sniffs, having forgotten the conversation entirely.
“False eyelashes.” You confirm. “You glue them on. C’mon guys.”
The boys eyes widen at this, finally understanding.
“Can you glue some on me?” Satori asks and you know that the question is completely genuine.
“Yeah, me too!” Yamagata adds. “Wait, can boys wear them too?”
Just as you were about to answer their questions and loose half your brain cells in the process, Sakou returns to the table, eyelashes sleek and back in place.
“What’d I miss?” she smiles, wiggling to get comfortable in her seat.
“Pass me the lobotomy kit.”
“What’s a lobotomy?”
Oh my god.
“Something I’m about to give you.” You turn to Yamagata and say, half aggressive, half laughing.
Ushijima checks his leather watch and the motion grabs Ohira’s attention, who then checks his.
“It’s getting quite late, we should get going soon.”
Everyone nods in agreement.
All of a sudden Semi jumps up from his cushion with a high-pitched yelp. “Someone’s touching my feet.” He says, horrified.
Everyone turns to Satori- the usual culprit.
He raises his hands into the air. “In my defence I was trying to touch y/n’s”
“That's worse?” Soekawa’’s face contorts.
You shrug and sigh at the same time. “No to be honest, I’m used to it.”
After all, he’s said and done much, much worse.
You shiver.
While the group starts to pack up and stack dishes, hammering droplets of rain begin to pelt the roof, filling the room with harsh sounds. You like the rain, but only when your inside.
You look outside to note just how heavy the rainfall is. It’s pretty bad.
Great. Just what we need.
“Who’s betting the buses have been cancelled?" Sakou says sadly, pushing around the scraps at the bottom her soup.
You grimace, stressed at the thought. “Don’t jinx it.”
*****
Yes. The remaining buses for the night were cancelled and just to everyone's luck a spring thunderstorm had also begun.
How lovely.
The group stands under an overhanging shop sign while everyone taps their phone screens desperately to find some sort of transportation. Soekawa’s on a call right now, he said something about his grandparents living in the area.
Hopefully they can save us then.
“If we aren’t going to make it back to campus tonight we have to contact the school.” You say to the group. It was a rule that the academy had put in place many years ago to ensure the well-being of its students - it was the same kind of idea as the curfew that was put in place too.
You understand why these rules exist but that doesn’t mean that they’re not annoying, especially in a situation like this when you’ve already got enough on your hands.
“Yeah true. Okay everyone, listen to what y/n said, make sure you contact the school to confirm your absence.”
“I’ll do mine now.” Semi starts dialing a number into his phone, just as Soekawa gets off of his.
“Good news,” He smiles hesitantly. “My grandparents live just a few streets over and they said that they’ll take us in for the night.”
Everyone collectively sighs in relief.
“But their house is pretty small so we’re going to be bunched in. Is everyone okay with that?”
Sakou sniffs and wipes hair away from her eyes. “Anything to not have to walk back to school in this rain.”
“Yeah well,” Soekawa shoves his phone into his pocket. “We’ll have to run through the rain to get to their house regardless.”
“Looks like we’ll be swimming at this point.” Satori giggles.
“You cannot swim on wet concrete, Tendou.” Ushijima responds.
You smile.
He takes things so literally.
You look around at the street you're on, the rainfall is so heavy that it acts almost like fog, you can only see a few metres in front of you. Luckily there's some streetlamps dotted around the place that cut through the darkness.
You hear something rustling behind you and then you turn to find Ushijima behind you, who has taken off his club jacket and is now outstretching it - folded - towards you.
“You are not wearing warm clothes. You should put this on.”
Oh.
The world stops.
THE Ushijima Wakatoshi is giving you his jacket?
Your heart threatens to leap out of your chest.
You're glad for the rain and it’s darkness now because without it, everyone would see that you're blushing deep crimson.
You realize that you haven't taken the jacket yet and snap back to reality, noting the array of eyes set on you two.
“Won’t you be cold?” You gesture to the rain.
Ushijima has that uncomfortable gaze settled on you. It makes your skin crawl.
“No. I will be fine.”
You dip your head slightly, partly out of thanks and partly out of embarrassment. “...thanks.”
Satori whistles in the background, you ignore him.
“Damn bro, I’m pretty cold right now too.” Hayato’s voice shivers out.
If you were in a better state of mind, you would’ve laughed at his joke. But right now? Your mind is solely focused on Ushijima’s jacket resting in your hands.
You slip the white and purple volleyball jacket over your shoulders. Warmth still sticks to it. His warmth. It's big too. And it smells like him. You hate how you notice so many details.
You zip it up to your neck and bury your hands in the pockets.
Sakou is going to give me so much shit for this.
You already know that she’s trying to stare into your soul, that mischievous grin on her face.
As you all make your way to Soekawa’s grandparents house in the cold and rain, you can’t help but keep focus on the jacket you're wearing and more importantly, the boy who lent it to you. The boy who noticed that you weren't wearing anything warm and sacrificed his jacket to you during a storm.
You think back to all the things Sakou has said, especially that time when you told her about Ushijima ‘complementing’ you in that classroom and what she said about it.
Do I actually have a chance?
You let yourself indulge in the thought.
Do you actually have a chance with Wakatoshi Ushijima?
*****
“What a fucking opportunity.” Your black-haired friend says, eyes ablaze.
You had made it to Soekawa’s grandparents house, soaked through and panting with exhaustion. Thank the gods, Soekawa has a big family - which means that there were plenty of loungewear robes for you all to switch your clothes for.
Despite the Soekawa family being large, the amount of room in the house was limited.
Two rooms.
Two. Rooms.
Much less than you were expecting when Soekawa said there was ‘limited space’.
One of the rooms was already occupied by Grandma Emiko - who insisted you all call her by such - and Soekawa’s grandfather. So that meant that there was the second room for-
You count on your fingers.
6,7,8.
-there was one tatami room for the eight of you.
Of course, Grandma Emiko had pulled you and Sakou aside and asked if you were comfortable with that since you were the only two girls. Sakou didn’t give you time to open your mouth, instead she convinced her that you were all very close and that the two of you didn’t mind at all.
The idea does excite you- being in such close proximity to Ushijima - but at the same time, it makes you so nervous you feel sick. And to be honest, you'd rather skip the entire ordeal to avoid the feeling.
You think back to what you were pondering over before about him.
‘Do I actually have a chance?’
If you do have a chance with Ushijima, avoiding interactions with him is not how anything will come to happen. You have to gain courage and face him head-on if you want anything, anything at all to happen.
What do I want to happen?
You brush the thought away, you’ve already come to the conclusion that you actually have a crush on Ushijima, that's enough for now. Anything else will overwhelm you.
That’s what you try to convince yourself, anyway.
Do I want to be with him? Is that what I want?
Maybe- date? That’s what most people do when they like someone.
The thought itself flusters you.
You? Dating Wakatoshi Ushijima?
The concept seems insane to you- yet, could it happen? Could he happen?
“Babes, you've been staring off into space for the past fifteen minutes. We need to go help set up the futons.”
“Oh,” you whip your head around to her and then double knot your yukata. “Yeah, let's go.”
You slide open the door, not before Sakou can loop her arm around yours and lightly shove you.
“Let me guess- you were thinking about him?”
You stay silent for a second, eyes desperately trying not to meet hers. You know that you're blushing and that she can see. You also know that she probably already knows your answer and yet, you succumb to vulnerability.
“And what if I was…?” You say in a small voice.
Build up the courage. Face the situation head-on.
She smiles- softer than you were expecting. “You know, step one on that list we made was something like ‘get to know him more’, the second was to flirt and the last was to not be afraid to be friends first.” She lets go of your arm, tone switching to a more serious one. “I think you're almost done with at least two of them.”
“What do you mean?” you try to figure out which ones she’s implying. You already know that it is definitely not the flirting one. And you're not sure if you're actually considered friends yet. You wouldn’t even say that you know him that well either, afterall, what do you even know about him? Separate to volleyball and to his friends.
“I don’t know him that well though? And I don’t think he would consider me as a friend.”
Sakou Shibata sighs.
“You’re blind, y/n. Everyone can see what you two can’t.”
*****
“You’re blind, y/n. Everyone can see what you two can’t.”
That sentence sticks with you for the rest of the night.
Even as you finish ogling Ushijima in his robe that's just a little too tight across his shoulders, even as Tendou has a staring competing with Yamagata which leads to him sneezing on his face, even when Sakou shoots you a wink from her futon next to you and even as Ohira turns off the lights and you’re all left in the looming, quiet darkness.
“You’re blind, y/n. Everyone can see what you two can’t.”
You repeat the sentence over and over in your head, turning each word around and around, trying to understand them at different angles.
What exactly did she mean by that?
“Everyone can see what you two can’t.”
‘You two?’
Does she mean both me and Ushijima? She knows that I like him, I’ve told her that. So, what exactly does she mean by ‘everyone can see it’? Does she mean that everyone knows that I like him?
I haven’t been that obvious, have I?
You shift under a thick blanket.
But she said ‘you two.’ meaning that both me and Ushijima can’t see it. If it was about my crush on him, I would be able to see it, so how does that make sense? It can’t be just about me then, can it?
The realization hits you like a ten ton fucking truck.
You gasp - audibly and then look around without breathing to check if anyone had noticed. They hadn’t.
You ease back down into the bed.
Was she implying that both of us have a crush on each other and that's what we both can’t see?
Nope. There's absolutely no way.
Ushijima doesn’t have a crush on me.
He does not.
Your mind flashes snippets of small moments. Like him saying he liked your face, or how tenderly he touched your knees when he was putting that ointment on them. Even when he said ‘especially y/n.” mere hours ago.
You dare to imagine his gaze, something softer in it when he looks at you.
There's no way.
There's no way.
Maybe.. there is a teeny, small chance that there is a ‘way’?
You think back to- just a day or two ago, when you were convincing yourself that your crush on Ushijima was just a tiny thing.
But maybe, now, you let yourself think.
Maybe my crush isn’t so little afterall.
It never was.
Ushijima Wakatoshi is the only boy who has ever made you feel this way to this extent. You like him so much that sometimes you hate him, your feelings towards him make you irritated, so much that you often avoid him in the school halls. For gods sake you can’t even look him in the eyes half the time. And what makes it worse is that his eyes are so fucking beautiful. Steady, grounding. Every part of him is beautiful- at least based on what you’ve seen.
The room is so hot,you find that you're sweating beneath the blankets.
You think of his clothed shoulders that you were looking at before, the same shoulders and back you were looking at that one day he carried you to the infirmary.
Would he do that for just anyone?
He gave you his jacket when it was raining. He probably froze half to death. Yet he didn’t even mention it once.
Would he do that for just anyone?
He walked behind you in the halls when you got your period in class and even got you a whole pack of sanitary products without blinking, he also never brung it up again.
Would he do that for just anyone?
Maybe…? He is quite the gentleman after all, despite what his intimidating appearance might point to.
But the most important thing is that he did all of those things for you. Whether he was doing them just because he was a good person or because he liked you or- whatever. What matters is that it happened to you. And that could mean something.
Could.
A bead of sweat drips down your face. The combined breathing and bodyheat of everyone squished up together has made the temperature in the room unbearable.
You slip out of your futon and creep to the sliding door that leads to the deck outside. You slither outside.
The air is cool, relaxing. You let your shoulders droop and you let out a sigh at the same time. Then you patter over to the edge and sit at the edge of the wooden terrace, head lifting upwards to watch the trees and plants in front of you dance along to the wind.
I might have a chance with Ushijima, he might even like me.
You grin to yourself.
God, this is stupid, I would’ve never expected this.
You're sitting outside for another ten minutes or so before you hear the sound of the sliding door behind you. You turn, straining your neck to look back.
It’s Ushijima, hair a little tousled from bed but awake-looking nonetheless. He looks nice like this, in the quiet glow of the night.
Your heartbeat quickens.
Build up the courage. Face the situation head-on.
You open your mouth to greet him but no words come out- instead you silently watch him as he makes his way over to you and sits down to your side, an arms length away.
Ushijima speaks first, the tone of his voice clinging onto the drowsiness of sleep.
“Hello.”
You dip your head and give him a small nod, not ready to speak yet.
“It is peaceful out here.”
You let a swirl of cool air find its way into your lungs, your heart slows, returning to its usual, steady pace.
Build up the courage. Face the situation head-on.
“Yeah.” You say calmly. “It is pretty nice.”
You watch the boy as he tilts his head slightly and looks up into the night sky. There’s stars visible tonight, plenty of them.
The two are a good pair- Ushijima and the stars.
Both of them are quiet yet they hold a sort of strong presence that has everyone aware of them.
“It is not good for your body to be up so late.” He says to the stars, but you know he's talking to you.
You look up to them too, letting your eyes trace over every twinkling spark. And then you shrug.
“Couldn’t sleep, it was too hot.” You brush the hair away from your face. “Too many people in there y’know?”
He nods in understanding.
“Why are you out here? Same thing?”
“...”
You wait for his answer, which doesn’t take long.
“There was static in the room. I cannot sleep with noise like that.”
“Static…?” You think of what a tv shows when it loses connection and the sound that it makes. “Like the sound that a tv makes? Or like a refrigerator?"
You aren’t afraid to look at him now, unlike you usually are. The contact that your eyes make is comfortable, it makes you feel warm, contrasting the cool air outside.
“Yes. The sound of electricity.”
“Huh. Weird. I couldn’t hear it at all.”
“..People often say that.”
You turn to tilt your head at him
“Most people cannot hear what I hear.”
You take a second to think, after all, you two have the time anyway. It doesn’t look like either of you are going anywhere.
“Maybe you have like- sensitive ears or something. Heightened hearing.”
“...that is possible.”
You two lapse into a comfortable silence, being with him now feels significantly less awkward than it usually does. And for some reason you feel an odd sense of gratitude for it.
“Hey- Ushijima,” There’s something you want to ask.
He turns, settling his attention onto you.
This is a hard thing to ask. Hopefully he won’t think that it’s weird.
Build up the courage. Face the situation head-on.
You inhale slowly.
“You said you liked my face once- that time when you picked the boys up from detention. What did you mean?” You weren’t going to even try to flirt- much to Sakou’s future disappointment - but you were going to at least try to understand. Understand him.
He blinks slowly, taking in your words. Then a small circle in between his eyebrows appeared.
“I meant what I said. I do like your face. It is…pleasing to look at.”
His answer makes you huff a laugh. Of course he meant exactly what he said then, that’s how Ushijima is; he says things as he sees them.
At least now you know that it was an actual compliment.
You smile awkwardly into the trees and twiddle your fingers. “...Alright.”
Ushijima keeps his focus on you, studying the curves and features of your face.
He meant what he said, every word of it.
You turn back to Ushijima, you're a little surprised that he’s still looking at you but you have no complaints, you're just a bit embarrassed.
This is my chance to ask him. It’s now or never, y/n.
You muster up the courage to ask him a question, a question that could open up an entire new world for you.
And him.
Maybe.
You straighten your shoulders and look directly into those stoic eyes of his.
He always looks people in the eyes like this. I wonder why.
Maybe it’s just who he is.
Five more seconds, you decide. Five more seconds and then you’ll ask him a question. An easy question. One only slightly confrontational that you won’t be too afraid to let go past your lips.
You count down the seconds, they pass too quick.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
“Ushijima, …do you like someone?” You blurt the words quickly, embarrassed to let them sit on your tongue for too long.
“I enjoy the company of a few people.”
Of course that’s how he would interpret it.
You feel a tug at the side of your lips, he’s so oblivious to things that it’s funny.
“No like- romantically. Do you like anyone like…that?”
This could be your chance.
This could be the perfect opportunity to find out whether or not you actually have a chance with Ushijima.
He takes a moment to think and shifts his face to stare off into the shrubbery.
Ushijima Wakatoshi then turns to you, meeting your aching, waiting gaze.
“No.”
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A/n: Feeling evil today.
All works are owned by @ lintobln - please do not copy, edit or plagiarize ♡
Hey guys! It's already marked as so on A03 but I'm putting Babo-chan Soup on Hiatus for two weeks (23/1 - 6/2), I'll still be writing for it so I have stuff to release after the hiatus but until then, no more new chapters.
Luv u guys ! ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ
Babo-chan Soup | Wakatoshi Ushijima x Reader
𝄞𝄢 Chapter 8: Miracle boy Wakatoshi
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Masterlist | Next Chapter | A03
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WC: 3.9k
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You apply mascara on your top lashes from a new purple and blue tube, careful to not let it smudge. Sakou, who’s about a metre away from you, sticks a pair of lashes with a silver streak through each of them on.
Not to be vain, but you think you two make quite the pair.
“Boot’s or flats?” Sakou holds up a pair of black doc martens in one hand and a pair of studded ballerina flats in the other.
“Don’t the boots give you blisters?”
“Yeah, I haven’t broken them in properly yet. It just depends on if we’ll be walking much or not.”
“I don’t think we will be- aside from getting to the bus stop.” You stick your spoolie back into the mascara tube, which makes a wet ‘pop’ sound. “We’ll be sitting in the stands most of the game.”
“Sweeet. I’ll wear the boots then, they look better with this outfit anyway.”
You get up from your criss-cross position on the floor and stretch your body upwards, letting out a soft groan. “Let me just grab my bag and then I’ll be ready.”
The commute to the venue was short yet sweet, the weather was steadily getting warmer and as a result the scenery was becoming more vibrant. Pink cherry blossoms lined your bus ride to the stadium. The humble stadium had many more stairs to get to than you had expected, resulting in Sakou inevitably getting blisters on the backs of her heels.
“Shoulda gone for the flats.” Sakou whispers solemnly.
You give her a light pat on the back. “...yeah. I did tell you that I thought we wouldn’t be walking much though, blame me.” You shrug, reaching the top of the stairs.
To your surprise, the venue isn’t actually anything fancy. It’s average-sized and honestly- a little underwhelming, Semi did mention that this wasn’t a particularly important match so that was probably why. But hey, you're not here to judge the infrastructure, you're here to support your friend’s volleyball team.
Sakou and you walk through a pair of pushable glass doors which lead you to a small air-conditioned hallway.
The event is free-entry and so you just follow the flow of the people in front of you.
You scan the people around you, eyes trailing heads one by one.
Hm. No Ushijim-
Team.
No Shiratorizawa’s volleyball team. Satori’s team. You don’t see them.
They must already be in there, warming up or something.
You look around to make sure that nobody else can hear your thoughts.
That means he will be in there too. Not that it matters or anything.
You feel giddy.
The two of you make your way to your seats on a raised platform. You make sure not to sit too close to the awfully large school cheer squad because you have a feeling they’ll make quite the racket. That's good though, knowing that Ushijim- Satori’s team has a good support system.
Satori’s team. Right.
The venue has one volleyball court that all the seating is organized around, it's nice, shiny and clean, and looks pretty new too. There’s two teams you don’t recognize on the court currently, the one on your side wears a dark green and yellow jersey and the other team’s jerseys are light pink and blue with silver accents. You like the second teams jerseys’, they're cute.
According to the scoreboard, this match is on its third set, the final. The green and yellow team are currently ahead with a score of 9-7.
Sakou taps you on the thigh.
“Want a drink? I’m gonna go to the vending machine.”
“Ooo yes please, just whatever iced tea they’ve got.”
Sakou makes an ‘OK’ symbol with her hand and then walks off to hunt down a vending machine.
You turn your focus back to the game in front of you. Each team has both scored another point now, so the score is 10-8. It’s hard to keep track of the actual plays, especially when you're not accustomed to the rules of volleyball. But you try to make sense of it anyway, scratching your head when the pink team makes a block but the opposing team gets a point.
What? How does that work?
The referee makes an array of silly hand gestures that you’ll have to ask someone about later.
“Tch, why are you here?” A taut voice grumbles beside you.
You turn to find that it’s Ayumi, her long, straight brown hair is tied into two low pigtails, twin yellow pom-poms resting where she’s got her hands stuck on her hips. She’s clad in the matching Shiratorizawa cheer team uniform.
Great. Just who I wanted to see.
You raise your upper lip slightly, furrowing your eyebrows at her. “...To watch the game?”
Why else would I be here? The hell?
“Obviously,” she rolls her eyes “but you don’t even play volleyball so why are you here to watch Shiratorizawa?
“I have friends on the team.” You say blankly.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from Wakatoshi?” Ayumi’s voice raises slightly.
“Some girl came up to me and said that you liked him so sure, if that’s what that means.”
“Exactly? So the fuck are you here for?”
“My friends. Did you not hear me the first time or something?”
She’s really pissing you off.
,i>Why is she so rude? Oh my god.
“Did you not hear me the first time?” She flicks some non-existent hair out of her face. “And what, you mean all the boys on the team are your friends? Whore.”
“Excuse me?” You stand, squaring your body towards her. “Just because you’ve got some unrealistic fat fucking crush on Ushijima- who, mind you- has probably never even spared you a glance, does not mean you need to act all bitchy towards me.”
Like, first of all, I’m only friends with a few of them. And how the fuck does having friends make you a whore? Just because they’re guys? What the hell.
Ayumi blinks a couple times, clearly not expecting you to lash out on her. She rubs her arm once.
“Whatever. Bitch.” She adds in the last part quietly as she storms away.
You replay that interaction in your head on repeat.
God she’s so rude. I doubt Ushijima would like a girl like that anyway.
You huff.
Sakou appears in time to see Ayumi marching away. She hands you a bottle of Lipton milk tea.
“What was that about?” Her eyes trail the pig-tailed girl’s path as she cracks open a can of Coke. “You know her?”
You shrug, grabbing your tea. “Sorta.”
“You don’t like her?” She says, already guessing your opinion on Ayumi.
“..No.”
She nods in understanding. “Do you want me to hate her too?”
“..yeah.”
“What a bitch.”
You snort. “She is.”
Just short of five minutes later the court is clear and a team with lime green and blue jerseys start filing in through a pair of large wooden doors. All of the boys wear matching dark blue headbands tied at the back. From your judgement - which isn’t saying much since you don’t know an awful lot about volleyball - they seem to look like a pretty solid team.
But they're not who you’ve been waiting for.
Ushijima walks at the front of the Shiratorizawa volleyball team, Coach Washijo with his usual scowl trottering just behind him. Familiar faces start to emerge within the group, but you find yourself staring at one of them in particular, the boy you first laid your eyes on.
Ushijima walks with determination in every step, stone-faced and ready for a worthy challenge on the court. His hair is as usual too, well-kept and clean looking. The only big differences you notice are how much more intensity radiates around him than usual - and that's saying something - plus the fact that he’s wearing his official volleyball uniform.
“That goofy-looking one is Tendou right?” Sakou’s sultry voice brings you back to reality.
“Hm?” You take a second to process what she just asked. “Oh yeah- that's him.”
“He seems interesting.”
“Interestings an understatement.”
Sakou nods her head and rests it on her fist, frame leaning forward.
She notices Ushijima three business days after you do.
Sakou nudges you playfully with her elbows. “Who’s that eh?” She teases.
You let a small smile slip and turn away. “Dunno.”
Sakou chuckles, watching all the players stretch and start their warm-ups with you. “Hmmm I wonder.”
She takes a swig of her coke. “Am I allowed to know what was up with that chick earlier? You know, the grumpy-looking one...”
You make an awkward noise that sounds like something between a groan and a sigh, turning towards her “...Yeah? To be honest I don’t really know what’s going on either, I’m still kind of confused about it.”
Sakou nods, ready to listen.
You take a sip of your milk tea before placing it down by your feet. “Okay so- it started off with one of her friends coming up to me after class, she came up to me randomly and was all like ‘are you dating Ushijima?’ or something. And obviously I said no, because I’m not- wait no actually I think I asked her why first.” You correct yourself, trying to recite the memory as accurately as possible. “Uh- and then she said something about her friend - who is Ayumi, by the way, the girl you saw before - seeing Ushijima taking me to our dorm that one time I got hurt. I explained myself so there were no misunderstandings about anything freaky and then her tone switched up and she was all like ‘good, because my friend-’ Ayumi ‘-wants him.’ or has a crush on him or whatever.”
You pause to take a big breath.
“And so yeah I was just really confused and all that and then- the friend of Ayumi, you know, the one who was telling me all of this said to stay away from him. Or like ‘you better stay away from him’, like a threat. And I was like ‘wtf’ because suddenly she started being so rude and - she can’t tell me what to do? I can be around him if I want to?”
“What the fuck? They can’t try and boss you around like that.”
“Exactly. So that pissed me off and then Ayumi came up to me just before asking why I was here and all that and started getting all pissy at me. I was telling her I was watching the game because I had friends on the team - honestly I shouldn’t have even had to justify why I was here - but she kept repeating herself and she wasn’t listening to me so I just went off at her.”
You decide to leave the part out where she called you a whore. You're not sure why you do though. Maybe you’ll mention it another day. Or not.
Sakou raises her upper lip and squints her eyebrows in confusion. “As you should though? Neither of them had the right to be straight-up assholes and come at you like that girl.” Sakou kisses her teeth.
“I know!” you throw your hands up, getting more riled up by reminiscing the situation.
“I’m annoyed for you. What did you end up saying to her? Like when you said you went off at her.”
“I was just like ‘just because you have a crush on Ushjima- who’ll probably never acknowledge you - doesn’t mean you get to act all bitchy towards me.’”
“Mhm. It’s good that you defended yourself, someone has to put people like that in their place.”
You hum in answer. “Yeah. I think she’ll come back though.”
“I’ll distract her and then you catch her with an overhand, aye?”
You fully laugh at this. “Sounds like a plan.”
In the time that you and Sakou were gossiping, both teams had finished their warm-ups.
You now look onto the court at the two teams lined up, facing each other. They bow out of respect and then move in closer towards the line to shake each other's hands.
Ushijima stands apart from the team, to the side of the net and shares a serious handshake with the other team’s #1. The captain.
You can feel the tension radiating off of the two, not to mention the intimidation that is the Shiratorizawa team in itself.
A whistle blows, signifying to everyone to get into their positions.
Six players remain on the court as the others go into a designated little square off to the side.
Ushijima, Ohira, Satori, both funky bangs #1 and #2 and a tall boy with dark ginger hair starts off the game.
And of course, that all-famous jump serve of Ushijima’s crushes the opposition team’s spirits first. Slicing through the air with so much force you thought you could hear it- and ultimately smashing down in the opposite court.
Screams ignite not too far away from you caused by the cheer team. You hear someone yell something about a ‘service ace’ and then the school representatives start singing the Shiratorizawa chant in an attempt to fire up the boys even more. They block out all the noise from the other school.
The game continues in a blur of slams, shouts and cheers. Everything goes so fast it’s hard to process what’s going on before a team scores a point and before you know it, the players are in their third set, Shiratorizawa in the lead, of course.
They have that libero in play now. You watch as he dives for every ball, determined to score his team that one extra point.
Everyone on the court is working so hard.
Your eyes trail to one of them in particular and you let a small smile creep up on your face.
This is fun.
Sakou raises an eyebrow at you. “What ya cheesing for, aye?”
You shrug, trying to act oblivious to what she’s implying. “Nothing. Just enjoying the game, that's all.”
You both share a mischievous grin.
“Mhm. Sure.”
“Yep.”
“Or enjoying something else.” She adds quietly, playing it off with a cough.
You roll your eyes. But she’s right. You really are enjoying something else.
It’s time for Ushijima to serve again and you let yourself indulge in the sight of his back muscles rippling as he warms up for the serve and the way his sleeves tighten when he brings his arms backward to hit the ball.
God would I like a piece of that.
You immediately sit up straighter and check your surroundings like an alert meerkat, checking that you didn’t say that aloud. Based on the lack of heads turned to you, you conclude that yes, it was just in your head.
You blush anyway.
“What? You see his shirt ride up or something?”
“What?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. What was that reaction for?”
You lie. “Nothing. I just thought it was a good serve.”
She snorts just as Satori scores the final point with his odd blocking. “Yeah. Sure. The serve was what you were paying attention to.” Her voice is mocking.
You both start clapping, joining in with the crowd's celebration.
“It was.”
“Yeah. Totally.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.
The boys on the court huddle up for a celebratory hug, everyone stoked with the win they just achieved together. Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, the other boy's energy visibly droops down, probably crushed that they lost to Shiratorizawa.
Well,
You feel a weird twinge of pride start to swell up in your chest.
What did they expect going against a powerhouse school like Shiratorizawa?
Like Ushijima.
Satori breaks apart from the group to face the crowd and if you could see any better you might claim that he was looking at you.
But nah, he’s too far away. You don’t expect any of them to see you from the stands.
That thought is crushed when Satori stomps his foot down dramatically and points at you, chest still heaving from the game and his hair lopsided and out of place.
“Y/NNNNN.” He screams loud enough that you think people passing by outside would be able to hear him.
“DID YOU SEE MY FANTASTIC BLOCKS?”
You sink into your seat, aware of all the faces turning their attention to you.
God this is embarrassing. And what is he even talking about? Like yes, his blocks were good, I’ll give him that. But he missed at least half of them.
You're proud of him nonetheless but the embarrassment of the moment is overshadowing that.
He yells something that you don’t hear and so you put your hands slightly up questionably and tilt your head to the side.
Hopefully he gets the point.
It looks like he does because then he makes a big ‘X’ symbol with his arms and then jabs his finger and the door that they came out of earlier.
“We should go congratulate them.” You say, hoping you understood his body language well enough.
“For sure. I’d like to see that horrendous bang duo up close.”
You smile, grabbing your things after the Shiratorizawa boys bow to the audience. “Prepare yourself. Their hair is much more painful to look at in person.”
She pulls a meat bun out of her pocket and tears off a chunk with her teeth. “I bet.”
“Where the hell did that come from?”
She shrugs and then looks at you like you're the weird one. "Emergency pocket meat bun. Duh.”
You stare at her for a second, lost for words. The one understandable sentence that you manage to come up with is: “I think you’ll like Satori.”
*****
“Yeesh. The bangs are really bad.” Sakou stands in front of the group of players, hands stuck to her hips.
You see that Goshiki visibly deflates at her words and starts smoothing down his bowl-cut shaped bangs self-consciously. Shirabu Kenjiro - who Satori has only now introduced to you formally - narrows his eyes at her.
“And you.” Sakou points a manicured finger at Satori who tilts his head and points at himself in return.
“Me?”
“Yeah you. Tendou, right? How’d you get your hair to stick up like that?”
Satori slicks his fingers back against his hair and then looks the girl up and down. After about another minute of that and some interpretive dancing from Satori he ushers her closer with his pointer finger and then leans down to whisper in her ear.
Everyone around you has now sunk into their own conversations, chatting with the buzz of adrenaline left from their win.
Now is my chance.
You look over to Ushijima, hair still a little damp from the match, who has taken himself out of the group to load the sports drink bottles into a carrier, he completes the task with the same focus as he would to write an exam.
Of course you came around the back to congratulate your friends and their teammates on their game but there was someone in particular that you had more interest in talking to.
You make your way over to Ushijima, playing with your hands nervously.
What should I say to him? Will a single ‘congratulations’ work or will that be too formal since we’re friends now? Wait- are we friends now? I mean, we hang out sometimes but it’s usually because of Satori and with him too. Am I even allowed to think of him as a friend? Does he think of me that way too?
Before you know it, you're standing over Ushijima from where he’s crouched, staring at him.
He stares back from beneath you, looking up.
He’s got very long eyelashes.
You notice you're still staring.
“Oh..”
Your eyes dart around the room.
You haven’t decided what to say yet and he’s already in front of you, staring like he’s trying to burn a hole into your soul.
Ushijima stands up, his towing height unfolds before you.
“Hello.” His voice is firm. Direct. It’s a simple greeting that doesn’t have anything behind it. But it only makes you more nervous.
You look up at him for a moment, growing even more socially constipated at the second.
You manage to blurt one sentence out, it comes out jumbled and stuck together.
“Youdidreallywellandyouruh..serveswerereallygood.”
Ushijima’s eyebrows raise slightly at your sudden babble of words, he looks a little taken aback.
Just as you're about to turn around, he speaks.
“Thank you.”
You look back to him, watching how the spring sun lights up the skin on his face. He doesn’t look or turn away from you. Instead he waits. For you or him to say something? You don’t know.
His lips part, and you get a small glimpse of frustratingly perfect teeth.
“I..appreciate that.”
The way his words come out makes it seem like it physically hurt him to say them, but not in a bad way.
At least that's what you think.
You smile at him, happy that you were able to get your message across and talk to him.
“If you would like to, you should come to Shiratorizawa’s next game. Where our plays will be optimal.”
You nod, not knowing what to say back.
He’s just invited you to another game.
Some sort of weight swings around your neck, pulling you sideways, it’s Satori’s arm.
“Ew dude your still sweaty.” You push him off grimacing. Satori being there disrupts the awkward air of you and Ushijima’s interaction.
“Yeah but you were too busy talking to Wakatoshi-kun to hear me.”
You scratch your neck, you didn’t even realize he had been trying to get your attention. “Well I’m listening now.”
“Duh.” He sticks his tongue out at you. “All the third years are going for food, you two are coming.”
You furrow your eyebrows at him. “Don’t you mean ‘Do you want to come?’”
“No.”
“So we don’t get a choice?”
“Nope.”
You blink at him slowly and then search for Sakou, who’s talking to Ohira about scrapbooking- of all things.
“Satori just said we were going with them to get food…?”
“Yeah, I said that I’d come and I assumed you’d be cool with it. That's ok?”
“Yeah no, it’s fine.”
You see a flash of something mischievous fill her eyes, the next moment, it's gone.
What is she up to?
“Right Waka? Those two should come!”
Ushijima and Satori appear behind you, it seems like most of the first and second years have all left now, leaving just the third years behind. Including one with very thick eyebrows that you don’t recognise.
“I agree. Especially y/n.”
Oh.
Oh?
“...”
The room goes so silent you swear you could hear a pin drop.
You can hear the slight rustle of trees outside.
It’s surprising because you didn’t know that Satori was capable of not making constant noise.
The atmosphere in the room is suddenly extremely uncomfortable.
And of course everyone is aware of the awkward situation except for Ushijima.
Semi shifts on his feet. Ohira clears his throat. Satori looks intrigued along with Sakou.
But Ushijima?
He stands there like normal, blinking. Like he hadn’t just said something completely out of character.
You, on the other hand, are not sure if you are going to faint out of happiness or on the contrary- embarrassment.
Ohira claps Ushijima on the back and you don’t miss the quaint smile that ghosts his face.
What's that about?
“Yeah. Alright. We should go get all our things then.” Ohira looks down and pats the oblivious person beside him twice more.
Sakou wiggles her eyebrows at you. “Remeber the things I was saying when we were writing that list?” She says quietly, close to your ear.
You feel like both your heart and brain are going to implode instantaneously.
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All works are owned by @ lintobln - please do not copy, edit or plagiarize ♡
Babo-chan Soup | Wakatoshi Ushijima x Reader
𝄞𝄢 Chapter 7: I'll leave
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Masterlist | Next Chapter | A03
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WC: 4.8k
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Friday. One day until the Shiratorizawa match you were invited to.
Excitingggg.
You sit in the cafeteria with Semi. Tendou was here, but he seems to have disappeared somewhere else now though. As per usual.
You and the ash-headed boy are discussing bands that you like, and surprisingly, you have a lot in common when it comes to music taste.
“Yeah Joumyaku’s pretty good,” Semi carries on. “I’ve been listening to the Ink album a lot recently aswell.”
“Oh really?” You don’t know anyone who listens to Plastic Tree so being able to fangirl over their music is an opportunity you definitely don't want to miss out on. “What's your favourite song?” You’ve completely forgotten about your lunch now. “From the ink album I mean. I don’t think I can narrow it down to one but I really like Ink and Kuchizuke, ooo and Life is Beautiful.”
Semi nods along. “Yeah those are good. My favorites are probably Tefutefu or Abangyarudo.”
The side of his mouth quirks up and he glances at you momentarily.
“...What?” You ask, wondering why he looked at you like that.
Do I have something on my face?
You wipe your mouth with your sleeve.
Semi’s smile widens.
“Okay okay,” he raises his hands, his voice pitch raises a notch. “Don’t come at me for this but… I think Kuchizuke is overrated.”
You scoff dramatically, offended. “How dare you.”
Semi puts a piece of grilled fish into his mouth. “It's overplayed. Kinda boring too.” He says between bites.
You cross your arms and make a ‘hmph’ sound. Making an effort to show that you're ignoring him. You know something that’ll really make him riled up. “Oh yeah? Well I think Kuchuu Buranko is both overplayed and boring too.”
It was a lie. Kuchuu Buranko was the first song you ever listened to by Plastic Tree and it’s what got you into the band in the first place but you needed something to retaliate with. Maybe it was a little overplayed but it was by no means boring, none of their songs were.
Semi’s face looks like you just told him you killed his non-existent dog. It then shifts into a stubborn, fed-up kind of look.
“Whatever. That's just what you think.”
His eyebrows crease and that's when you really know you got to him.
“Yeah and I’m right.” You tease, trying to rile him up even more.
Semi ignores you but chews his food extra aggressively for the next fifteen minutes.
A pair of hands wrap around your face and blocks out the daylight from your vision.
“Guesss whooo?”
Who else could it be accept him?
“Where did you go before? We were waiting for you.”
“No idea who you're talking about.”
You sigh.
“Oh my god Tendou?! Is that really you?” You put on your most fake, anime-girl esque voice you can manage. You curl your hands up to your face and even bat up your eyelashes at him for extra points.
Tendou brings a fist to his mouth and clears his throat, ignoring your attempt to make fun of him. “Actually– no. It’s ‘Skibidi Sigma Alpha Wolf Satori. I can’’t believe you keep getting it so wrong.”
You think you hear all Semi’s brain cells dissolving.
You rub your temples, putting your chopsticks down. “We’ve gone over this.”
You think your brain cells are dissolving too.
These are seriously the types of normal conversations you have with Tendou.
The red-headed boy just pouts and then perches himself on the seat across from you.
“You should at least call me Satori.” He narrows his eyes at you and jabs his finger accusingly.
You two have been friends for a while.
Hmm.
Maybe you should.
You’ve never even spared that a thought. You’re really close to Tendou nowadays. Hell, he even called you while he was shitting once.
Not that that's a good thing.
You’ve kind of just stuck with calling him ‘Tendou’, paying no mind to his first name.
Maybe it's time to call him that then?
You twiddle your thumbs. You don’t want to say it, it's just kind of..odd now. And both Semi and Tendou are looking directly at you. You grimace, your cheeks reddening.
“Hey…Satori.”
You immediately drop down to cover your face with your hands.
Ohmygodwhattheactaulhellwasthat.
The way you said it?? So awkward! Why did you even say ‘Hey’ like that? You sounded like that creepy convenience store guy from when you visited Tohoku.
“Ehuhuhu.”
You lift your head out of your hands and your jaw drops.
“Fuck your actually so weird.” You smile nervously at the sight in front of you.
Tendou has his head tilted downwards, one hand covers his mouth and his eyes are closed. He inhales. Loudly. “That was so…”
“Oh hell nah.” Semi looks at him like he’s a disfigured cockroach.
Satori’s creeping you out too.
At the moment you could only describe him as…- what was that guy's name again? From HXH?
Oh yeah, Hisoka.
Specifically in that one scene.
Maybe you should just stick with using his family name.
You two kind of just stare at the boy for a few seconds until he packs the act up and goes back to normal. His version of normal anyway.
“-So,” He leans over the table to take a look at both your trays. “What for lunch hm?”
“Yeah I’m going to throw you across the room.” you say, resting your hands on the cafeteria table.
“Yeah I’d rather if you didn’t do that.”
“Yeah can you throw me instead so I get a concussion and forget this whole thing?” Semi chimes in.
You scratch your head. “Maybe I’lll just throw myself instead.”
“I’d prefer you alive.” Satori says.
“Awww, how nice of you. Can’t say the same for you though.”
Satori scoffs while Semi cracks a wide smile.
The hot-cheeto boy pretends to faint dramatically, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. “I should’ve known you didn’t love me the moment you said you were too busy to watch that horror movie with me.” He sobs.
“Yeah yeah, cuz I'd be here right now if I didn’t. Didn’t that second year watch it with you anyway? Shirabu?”
“It just wasn’t the same.” He sniffs, wiping away a fake tear.
You roll your eyes and turn to Semi, jerking your thumb backwards to point at Satori “Get a load of this guy.” You say in a demeaning tone.
Semi laughs this time, playing into your little gag. “I know right? Who let this guy in?” he tuts, shaking his head.
Satori sulks. “Neither of you like me.”
“Nope.” You both say, sharing a smile that feels like a high-five.
You look at Satori who is wallowing in self-pity. “You have a game tomorrow, you should probably carb up.”
Satori looks up, straightening his posture only slightly. It reminds you of that conversation you had with him and Ushijima when you were dying Tendou- Satori’s hair.
Only now, around a week later are your hand’s finally dye-stain free.
You look at your right hand.
Maybe they're still a little pink.
The wide-eyed boy reaches into his pants which makes both Semi and you recoil and share a look. You reach your hand out to either stop him or stop yourself from seeing what he’s about to do- one of the two- when Satori slams a can of monster onto the table.
“Nah, I’ve got this.” He gestures to the red can.
“Dude.” Semi whispers. “Thats not food.”
“Yeah..” you add in concerningly.
“Then why is it edible then?” Tendou says, giving you both attitudes. He cracks the can open and downs a big gulp.
“You're going to die on that court.”
“I hope so.” Your band-buddy says.
“The flavour is literally ‘Ultra red’, what the hell does that even mean?”
“Matches my aura. Bought another one for game day too, it’ll help release the alpha beast inside of me.”
“Bro.” The word ends up turning into a laugh. “I should buy you one of those cringe alpha wolf t-shirts for your birthday, isn’t it soon?”
“Ya the 20th. And they are so not cringe. It's an accurate representation of the beast inside of me. You two wouldn’t get it, I’m just a misunderstood skibidi alpha like that.”
“We should all get matching ones.” Semi says quietly, maybe hoping that you two wouldn’t have heard.
You shove Semi lightly, one eyebrow raised. “Ay, welcome to the Alpha club.”
“Never say that again. Please.”
Satori pumps two of his fists up into the air. “YES! That is such a good idea!” He points at you, almost climbing on the table.
You have to look around to check if there’s any teachers around. God forbid you get in trouble because of him again.
“We should totally get Wakatoshi-kun one too. He fits the criteria.”
“What’s the criteria?” Semi asks concerningly.
“To be alpha.” You say before Satori. “Obviouly.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Tsutomu would take it so seriously, especially if he saw Ushiwaka wearing one.” Satori says, rubbing his chin and looking up to the ceiling.
Semi just looks at the table like he’s trying to explode it with his brain. At least with what’s left of it.
“Where is Ushijima anyway? I thought he normally eats cafeteria food?” You try and egg Satori on into talking about him whenever you can, he knows so much, why can’t you too? You just hope that he can’t sense anything different. Regarding Ushijima- feelings wise. Not that there's much there of course. It's just a small crush. You're fine. It’s just a teeny weenie crush you have on some jock volleyball guy. Nothing out of the ordinary. No worries.
Your eyes narrow a little at Satori.
I don’t think he’s noticed anything yet.
Good.
“Dunno. I thought he'd be here. Sometimes he’ll just have a protein shake and bar for lunch though, other than that he takes his meals pretty seriously.”
You nod, hoping he’ll say more.
“He might be in the gym practicing his spikes. I haven’t seen Kenjiro so he’s probably with him. Wanna go watch?”
“Oh yeah sure. Could be fun.” You try not to show too much interest. “Wanna come?” You turn to Semi.
“Sure.”
“First,” You grab the packaged melon bread on your tray, you weren't going to eat it, you’ve got a bit of a stomachache anyway. “Have this.” You have to hold Satori’s wrist and peel his fingers back in order for him to actually hold the bread.
He tips his head back and whines like a spoiled toddler but complies. Satori unwraps the bread and takes a small bite while glaring at you. “Done.”
“Satori Tendou.” You warn.
“Ughhh fine. You're so mean.” He takes another bite. “This is not gonna help the alpha come inside of me.”
Semi wrinkles his nose in disgust. “...Be careful how you word things.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s fine with both implications.”
*****
The ball spins through the air after kissing Shirabu’s fingertips, a blur of colour whirling to the target. You watch in awe as it just..stops mid-air, like something's holding it in place. The moment doesn’t last long. Shiratorizawa’s ace meets the ball, slamming it down onto the shiny gym floors before you can even blink.
You, Semi and Satori are standing at the gym doors.
Semi slips his shoes off.
“Maybe I’ll do some sets too.”
And then he’s off.
Satori doesn’t do the same, which surprises you. “Aren’t you gonna train too Satori?”
“Nah. Tanji told us to rest. It’s only the real monsters who train the day before.”
Choppy bangs #1, Goshiki, slams another ball down on the opposite side of the court.
Insane…
“Damn. Makes sense.”
He slips his shoes off too, but doesn't put his gym ones on.
“Let's go sit.”
You hesitate, remembering what happened the last time you came and watched their training. “Umm. Maybe I’ll just stay here. Wouldn’t want to interrupt."
Satori shoves you lightly on the back. “You can’t interrupt somewhere where you're wanted. And you won’t get hit. We’ll sit on the other side of the court.”
He was onto you. “Okay.”
“You scared?~”
“Shut up.”
You watch the boys practicing on the court.
Ushijima’s really good. Like on another level, type good.
No wonder why he’s the top ace in Miyagi.
He spikes the ball with a bang, relentlessly and unwavering. Every touch of the ball is calculated and intense. The way he trusts that the ball will just come to him is crazy to you, as though the concept of failure has never even crossed his mind.
You would not want to be on the receiving end.
“He hits kind of differently right? In a good way though.”
“Yep. Wakatoshi’s left-handed so he can create this different kind of spin that makes his spikes really hard to receive, plus he’s got so much raw power he can punch through just about anything. It's beautiful.”
You hum in reply, eyes fixed onto the boys on the court. They really are something.
Excitement buzzes under your skin, you genuinely can’t wait to see them play tomorrow.
An angry looking boy from the other side of the court swoops in the way of one of Ushijima’s spikes, he lunges underneath it and splays his forearms out forward, connecting with the ball. The sound echoes through the gym and the ball is sent flying upwards, back to Shirabu.
“Holy shit! How did he pick that up?” You exclaim excitedly to Tendou who just gives you a wry smile in return.
“I said that his spikes are really hard to receive, not that they're impossible."
Whoa. Can’t imagine how much his arms must sting after that though.
“Who’s that guy? Is he a third year too?”
“Yep. That’s our Hayato, the libero.”
“Damn. He must be pretty good if he can receive Ushijima's spikes, even if it's just the odd one.”
“Everyone on the team is good.”
“Even you?”
Satori almost pushes you off the bench when he stands up.
“Especially me!” He shouts, his arms splayed wide, chuckling.
You just side-eye him. “Humble much?”
He side-eyes you in return. “Mean much?”
You stick your tongue out at him.
“Hello.” You hear a deep voice say beside you.
It’s Ushijima.
You stand.
“Oh. Hi.”
“...”
Satori grabs you by the arm and yanks you so you’re facing Ushijima.
“Y/n here was just talking about how strong she thought our team was!”
Ushijima nods once. “Thank you. We have all been working very hard.”
“Yeah I can tell.” You say, avoiding eye contact lest it spark something inside of you. You look around the gym. “Why don’t I help you guys clean up? I’ve got the time.”
“That would be helpful.”
“Damn, we really got you out here doing free labour.” Satori chimes in.
You lightly slap him on the shoulder. “You should help clean up too Satori, they're your team too after all.”
“Whateverrr.”
“You are very close.” Ushijima says, just stating a fact.
It’s true, you and Satori are very close and comfortable with each other, it’s probably more noticeable now that you’ve been calling him by his first name. You're grateful for how close you are with Satori though. You just hope Ushijima doesn't take it in the wrong way, misunderstand it somehow.
“Ya.” Satori skips away, almost bowling over Shirabu.
Don’t just leave me here!
A bead of sweat collects on your brow.
Ushijima just stares at you, unmoving. You shouldn’t be as nervous as you are.
“Can you show me where the cleaning stuff is?” You say, twiddling your thumbs. This is awfully similar to the whole paint situation.
Well accept you both aren’t covered in paint.
Yeah it’s not actually similar at all, I just assume mops will be involved.
Goshiki and the libero who’s name you can’t remember work to take down the net while Ushijima leads you to the storage closet which has mops, cleaning supplies, mats and an assortment of other random equipment.
You get to work mopping, running the length of one side of the court horizontally, Ushijima does the other side.
Where the hell did Satori go? That cheeky bastard, always trying to get out of doing things.
These mops are actually really easy to use compared to the ones from the art room, they're wide and cover a lot of space so you don’t actually have to go back and forth that much.
A pretty easy task.
You bump shoulders with something and look up.
Oh.
You were too distracted and didn’t realize that you had crossed over into the other side of the court while cleaning, the side that Ushijima was mopping.
Your eyes interlock for a second too long and then you step back, your heart racing.
“Sorry…”
Ushijima doesn't move. “It’s okay.”
You nod slowly, clutching your mop with both hands. Usually, at least when it comes to him, you're not so good with eye contact, except for right now, you can’t seem to break away your eyes from him.
Your breathing evens out. You swallow.
The gym has emptied now and it's comfortably peaceful, just the two of you, twin mops in hand.
“We are in the same social studies class. Why don’t we go together? I just need to change back into my uniform.”
You finally manage to peel your eyes away from him. “Yeah, sure. I can put your mop back for you.” You say, reaching out.
Ushijima passes it to you, his grip tight. “Thank you. I won’t take long.”
“No rush.”
*****
You two walk to class in comfortable silence. Well, probably comfortable for him, not you though. Your face is on fire and you feel like if you even try to speak you’ll end up falling over your words and stuttering.
Just as he said, Ushijima didn’t take long to get ready. Although you're slightly concerned about how close you two are standing since you're pretty sure he didn’t have enough time to shower. Sure you have a small crush on him but that doesn’t mean you want to smell his sweat.
I mean sometimes a faint natural musk is nice but-
Y/n?? Ew.
I’m so weird.
You sigh and continue walking up a staircase with Ushijima.
Remember that time when he said he liked my face?
You have to inhale deeply a few times to calm yourself and align your thoughts back. All he’s doing is walking you to the class that you share together because he is a nice classmate. And you just happen to have a SMALL crush on him. That's all there is to it.
Remember when he said he liked my face?
Ushijima just says things like that. He’s blunt. You’re sure he also likes a lot of other people's faces too. Him saying that to you wasn’t anything special.
Unless it was?
Just like Sakou said, you two actually talk- well, sometimes. That must mean something, right?
Right?
You hope it does. You’ll convince yourself that it means something.
Delusion is the way.
You squeeze your eyes shut and keep walking when a sharp pang ricochets through your lower stomach causing you to hiss.
“Y/n, are you okay?” Ushijima stops.
“Yeah I’m fine.” You say through clenched teeth, resting a hand on your lower stomach.
“You look pained.”
“I’ve just had a bit of a stomach ache all day, nothing to worry about though.” You wave him off, the pain has faded now.
“That’s unfortunate. Would you like me to escort you to the infirmary?"
You smile slightly at his offer. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine.”
Ushijima pauses and narrows his eyes at you. “...Okay. But you should go if it gets any worse. You need to take care of your body.
You give Ushijima a double thumbs up as a response.
It’s nice that he cares so much, it makes you feel good.
Ushijima slides the door to the classroom open for you and steps aside so you can walk in first, the bell has gone so there's some people already in class but the classroom isn’t full, some students are still making their way back after lunch.
You seat yourself two rows down from the front but next to the window, you don’t like being directly at the front since that makes you uncomfortably close to the teacher but you’d still like a clear view of the chalkboard.
Surprisingly, Ushijima sits himself down right beside you.
“You’re sitting there?” You ask, hoping that it didn’t sound rude.
“Yes.”
Hm. Okay.
The classroom fills up quickly and the social studies teacher comes in and greets the class. You'll be working on the same work you were doing yesterday. Independent work that basically just focused on reading passages and analysing them and then writing the purpose of each in paragraphs.
A pretty laid-back lesson.
That’s what you thought anyway. About ten minutes into the lesson you spare Ushijima a glance, who is bent over his desk awkwardly, brows pinched together- more than usual- and has a firm grip on his pencil.
You’ve been gliding through the work, you didn’t think that it was very hard. Maybe this is one of his weaker subjects- most people have them, you might as well offer to help.
You lean closer to him and talk just a little hushed, there's a few other people chatting so you don’t have to worry about being called out by the teacher. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”
Ushijima turns to look at you, if you were just anyone passing by, you would think that his facial expressions were totally normal, but to you, he looks distressed.
“I…don’t understand any of this.” he admits.
You scoot your seat a little close to his desk so you're able to see what's on his paper.
Ah.
Nothing.
He’s written nothing.
“Oh. Um.”
You thought that he would've at least started with the work, considering everyone was meant to have a few passages done yesterday as well.
“What don’t you understand? You’ve read all the passages right?”
“Yes. I don’t understand what I’m supposed to write about.”
“...Okayyy.”
You tap the first section of his paper where a paragraph should be. “So here- ‘#1’ you need to refer to the first passage, about what that politician guy said. Then you just need to write a short paragraph about like- why it was important and what it actually means.” You scratch your head and turn to him. “Do you get it?”
“I think so.” Ushijima squints at the paper like it's done something to personally offend him.
“Oh-, and make sure to add a direct quote from whatever passage you're doing because otherwise the teacher won’t even grade you for it.”
“I see. Thanks.”
“No problem.” You scoot back closer to your desk again and pick up your pencil.
“You are very good at explaining things. Have you ever thought about becoming a tutor?”
You wave both of your hands over your face in dismissal. “Oh no no no, I’m not good enough at any subject to do that kind of thing.” You chuckle. “Thanks though.”
The boy nods and you two don’t talk for the rest of the lesson.
The bell goes and signifies the end of the period, now you have the 10 minute transition break.
Your next class is in the same room so you don’t have to worry about moving any of your stuff properly, you just have to shuffle a couple books and sheets of paper around.
After putting your social studies work away you get up to go use the bathroom.
Might as well use the transition break for something, even though the bathrooms will be pretty crowded.
A hand yanks you by the blazer back into your seat. Ushijima stands over you, his brows still pinched.
You're in shock. Why did he just pull you down like that?
What the hell?
“What?” You ask, annoyance laced in your voice.
“I think you should go to the nurse.” Ushijima makes an effort to keep his voice low.
“What? Why?”
“You're bleeding.”
What is he on about?
“Bleeding? Wha- oh.”
You gasp, you can feel all of the blood drain out of your face.
It wasn’t just a stomach ache.
“Oh fuck.”
“Yeah.”
Nononono this cannot be happening.
You feel tears of frustration and embarrassment gather in your eyes, how could you not have realised?? You knew it was coming up.
You bury your head in your arms on your desk. What the hell do you do now? You can safely assume that your skirt’s covered in blood so you can’t just walk out of the class- everyone will see. And you can’t just sit here either, class will start soon and the more time you waste the worse it’ll get.
You’ll just have to wrap your blazer around your waist and risk staining it.
Out of all colours the school really had to choose white?
It seems like Ushijima has that thought first though because he slips his off and hands it to you, careful to keep it on the low, you both speak in whispers.
“Thanks but it’s white. I’ll just use my own.”
“Are you sure? Do you want me to go get someone?”
“It’s fine.” You push his blazer back to him, undoing your own.
“I can-”
“I said it's fine. Okay? Just stop.” You snap at him, he’s really getting on your nerves.
This whole thing is stressing you out big time.
“I can leave?” Ushijima says, maybe his way of providing comfort. Trying to give you space.
Your eyes sting as you wrap your blazer around your waist and maneuver yourself out of your chair as strategically as possible.
You wipe your hand over the middle of your seat as you get up.
Better to have blood on your hand than on your chair where people will see.
“I’ll walk behind you.”
You can’t be bothered to say anything back.
You walk through the classroom and into the hallway, not bothering to look back to see if anyone noticed, that’ll just upset you even more.
This is the first time you’ve had your period in public before. You can’t stop shaking.
A tear slips, you wipe it away before anyone can see.
It isn’t that big of a deal. It isn’t that big of a deal. It isn’t that big of a deal.
You feel like everyone who passes you in the hallway knows. Like they can somehow sense it. You know that it's silly. They can’t. But you just can’t help but worry.
You slip into the girl’s toilets and for once, it's empty.
Thank god.
Your stomach is starting to cramp up properly now.
When you untie your blazer and move it away from your waist you find that it’s stained.
Fuckkk.
It’s not too bad, it’s just from what was already on your skirt but because it's white, the mark is way too obvious.
You sigh frustratedly. Maybe you can get the rest of the day off and go back to your dorm.
You manage to clean yourself up quite well despite what you’ve got around you. It’s relieving. The only thing is, your skirts still very badly stained and you don’t have any pads.
Why did I have to be a girl?
You squeeze your eyes shut and sigh. Toilet paper it is.
After about another minute your phone dings. It’s from Ushijima.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
> Are you okay?
< Yeah < Kinda
> ?
< Well like I don’t have anything < To use < I’m kinda stuck < Yk?
This is a really embarrassing situation to be in, especially since Ushijima’s a guy that you're not very close to. But at this point he’s your best bet for help. You hope he understands.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
> Stuck? > You don’t have any sanitary pads?
< Yea 😐
> Ok. Just wait there.
< Sorry.
> Don’t be.
Six minutes later he texts you the message: ‘I’m outside.’ And so you go to meet him, waddling to the entrance of the bathroom.
God this is so embarrassing.
Ushijima looks at you like everything's perfectly fine, like it's just as usual and hands you your bag and a pack of pads.
“You’re excused from the rest of your classes for today. You should go rest.”
“How did you get a whole packe- nevermind. Thanks.”
Ushijima pats you on the shoulder and walks away. You slink back into the bathroom, completely over the day. Over the week, even. You think this ruined it. You hope tomorrow will make up for it.
Ugh, but then I have to see him again after… all that.
Sakou 😛😛
< I’m going to blow up the skl. Including myself. < Guess what just happened 😆🔫
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀
All works are owned by @ lintobln - please do not copy, edit or plagiarize ♡
Source: This
warnings: mermaid hybrid satoru, exploration kink?, suggestive nsfw🔞
“nngh!”
sounds of distressed whimpers force your head out of your book with furrowed brows— you can barely hear the cries under the steady crashing of waves and birds singing in the wind. part of you thinks you might be going crazy considering no one is within your proximity on this side of the beach. you blink rapidly as you attempt to listen in on the sound and when it doesn’t fade, you hesitantly stand and attempt to make your way closer to it.
it leads you to a cluster of all different sizes of rocks near the shore and you sigh. you’re close to just deem yourself crazy, maybe your fantasy book is just encouraging your imagination. but when the whining turns into a faint cry, your curiosity only grows. you squint at the area in attempt to spot the source as you take your shoes off and throw them closer to the dry sand along with your book, as to not get them wet.
you take a step into the wet sand at the very border of the shore where the waves meet your feet as you eye the area.
“is someone there?” you hesitantly call, cringing at the sound of your voice as you look around to make sure no one is seeing you speak to the ocean like an imbecile.
immediately the whining and sobbing halts abruptly, making your brows furrow further with curiosity.
“are- are you hurt?” you ask, taking another step closer to the rocks. the rocks are a bit intimidating even though they’re not submerged much since the tide has shifted so you gulp as you near them.
you’re now ankle deep into the water, no longer needing to go in any deeper to approach the rocks.
it’s silent now. you’re now second guessing if you even heard anything in the first place, but it’s too odd that the noises seemed to stop once you had spoken.
so you finally approach the rocks, laying your palms down on a large one to peek your head over it, half expecting to see a child that’s lost their way.
and what you see makes your eyes widen and the blood drain from your face. you gasp in a mixture of shock, fear, and confusion when you make eye contact with what looks like a fairy tail creature.
you jump back in surprise, stumbling and falling straight onto your ass, completely soaking your bottoms and the hem of your shirt.
“w-what-what the fuck?” you stutter to yourself, shaking your head harshly as you clench your eyes shut and grip the wet sand. maybe these fantasy books are finally getting to you or maybe you fell asleep on the beach and this is all a dream.
a moment later, you blink rapidly as you shakily stand. and this time, you walk around the rock so you can properly see what you think you saw without something in the way.
and once you do, you see it again, staring at you with wide piercing blue eyes. you can’t even speak as you analyze it, much less breathe. it looks deathly afraid of you, whatever it is, and it eyes your every step with the upmost observation and fear.
it’s long scaly fish like tail is a beautiful blue color, but it’s torso and head is seemingly human. it has milky white skin, pecks with nipples like a man, toned arms with little blue fins attached, and hands with fingers— though they seem more webbed than a normal persons. it’s tail begins where a normal humans legs would. it’s some kind of a creature that’s half man and half fish. if you didn’t know any better, you’d say it looks like a mermaid.
you don’t dare to take another step closer, staying a few feet away with caution. it’s tail is caught in some kind of netting connected to the rock and it looks as though the grip it has on it’s tail is so tight that there’s a bit of red blood seeping from it.
it’s not moving one inch as the baby waves crash gently on it. the creature is so still, in fact, that you’d believe it was dead if not for its eery eyes watching your every breath and the way it’s blinking every now and then.
you’ve had the ‘do aliens exist’ talk before, everyone has, but no matter your stance on it, actually seeing something inhuman and seemingly otherworldly is a whole nother conversation entirely.
your breath is shaky as you squint at the netting because even though you have no idea what this creature is, it looks like it’s in pain. you can’t help but wish to help it.
you gulp and take a step closer to get a better look at the netting but the moment you do, it flinches and it’s tail begins to slam against the sand with force— like it’s trying to scare you off by splashing you with the small amount of water under it.
and if his intent was to scare you, it works because you fall right back onto your ass with a gasp as droplets of water litter your face.
“i-i-i’m sorry! i- won’t h-hurt you!” you stutter out, voice shakier than it’s ever been as you wipe your face of the water. you aren’t even sure if this creature can understand your language, but even animals can understand intent so you figure it’s worth a shot.
hesitantly, it slows it’s flopping and tears begin to fall from its beautiful, gleaming eyes as soft whimpers fall from its lips. it seems as though it’s accepted its fate, that you will hurt it or even worse, kill it.
your brows twitch in sympathy as you stand once again. its teary eyes follow you every step of the way as you inch closer to it ever so slowly with hands extended, as if to communicate that you won’t hurt it.
and once you get close enough to potentially touch its tail, you crouch in front of the mid part of it with caution, eyes trained on it’s terrified face.
you gulp. “i’m going to t-try to get this off, okay?” you voice, knowing it likely doesn’t understand you.
it’s face contorts with confusion and eyes flicker down to your hands that are steadily moving towards it’s tail.
you pause for a moment, giving it time to process what’s happening before attempting to make contact. as you get just inches away, it flinches violently, tugging against the netting and letting out a painful whine.
“it’s okay! don’t move— calm down.” you coo, attempting to adopt a calming tone to your voice. it seems to help a bit because its tail stills, though still obviously hesitant.
although your natural curiosity urges you to touch its tail to learn more, you don’t want to frighten the injured creature any further. this is your first time encountering such a being, and it's likely the creature’s first time seeing a human.
you gently place a hand on the net around its tail, careful not to touch the tail itself to avoid scaring it. you carefully maneuver the netting, examining what can be done. the knots are tangled, but not impossible to undo.
you gently let go and look at its face once again with sympathy.
“that must hurt, huh? poor thing.” you coo as it softly sobs, “i’m going to unknot it now.” you explain with a newfound determination.
you begin working, carefully untying the netting as gently as possible. when the creature’s whines intensify from a particularly painful tug, you pause, easing up to show that you mean no harm. this gesture seems to soothe it, enough that its gaze shifts from your working hands to your focused face, filled with curiosity.
you notice that whenever your fingers get close to its tail, there's a subtle resistance, as if an invisible barrier is pushing against you, protecting it from your touch.
finally, you get it untied and you pull the ropesoff of it’s tail with an accomplished sigh. “all done.”
it’s eyes widen in shock as its tail suddenly moves freely. you huff with a cheerful smile, watching as the creature realizes it’s free and no longer doomed to die here. you can’t help but wonder why it was so close to shore in the first place.
then, suddenly, as if realizing you might still pose a threat, it swiftly turns and glides gracefully into a deeper part of the ocean.
you stand up with an expression of bewilderment as you watch it swim into the water, disappearing with a splash of its large tail.
you chuckle to yourself in disbelief, rubbing a hand down your face. your eyes remain fixed on the spot where you last saw it, hoping to catch just one more glimpse before you leave. you know no one would believe you if you told them what you just witnessed, but maybe that’s for the best, given how cruel humans can be.
just as you’re about to turn to retrieve your book and shoes, your eyes light up when it’s white haired head pops up, exposing its face as it stares at you from afar.
when it doesn’t move to leave immediately, you lift a hand and awkwardly wave, mentally cursing yourself when you realize it probably doesn’t know what that gesture means. sure, the way it’s just watching you is a bit unsettling, but it doesn’t seem to have any ill intent. you’re fairly certain it understands that you set it free—or at least, you hope so.
and then, you exhale sharply in bewilderment when it surprisingly copies your gesture, lifting a hand and waving back at you before disappearing back into the ocean.
the next few days you can’t help but visit the same area of the beach again, hoping that maybe you’ll see the astonishing creature again. but you don’t, not for days.
after about a week, you finally see it again, but any hopes or expectations you had are quickly dashed when it merely observes you from a safe distance in the water. you don’t dare to push the boundary and enter the water, fearing that it might scare the creature away or even the possibility that it could hurt you.
in the days that follow, it surprisingly returns each day at the same time to watch you for hours at a time. whenever another human comes by, it vanishes into the ocean in the blink of an eye, only to reappear and gaze at you again. you’ve noticed that it seems particularly interested in watching you read for some reason.
unfortunately, you have college classes to attend still so you’re forced to skip a beach day. the entirety of the class, all you can do is wonder if the creature is waiting for you to show up.
the next day, instead of lounging on the dry sand, you sit in the shallow water, where it reaches up to your waist, wearing your swimsuit.
to your surprise, when it pops up like usual, it doesn’t seem afraid of your new proximity but it stays a long distance away as it eyes you. its expression reads curiosity but you can’t be sure from this distance.
after spending about an hour idly watching the creature and playing with the wet sand under your hands, you grow comfortable. you even close your eyes and bask in the sun.
but when you hear the gentle ripple of water— as if something is moving, you peek open your eyes to see it much closer now.
it scares you at first, making you gasp and scoot back a bit with fear. but your reaction seems to scare it too, making it quickly retreat into the water again.
“n-no! wait! i’m sorry— come back!” you plead in fear that it might never return as you crawl in deeper on all fours, unsure if it can hear you beneath the water.
a moment later, it peeks up at you again, much further than before but still close enough to see. immediately you smile and wave, hoping it recognizes your gesture again.
and it does recognize it, showing a sort of naïveté as its eyes light up and it swims closer, shockingly fast. it’s a bit unnerving how fast it moves but maybe you should have expected as much from a creature of the water. you try not to show any signs of fear or shock at its movement so you don’t potentially scare it away again.
it then exposes its entire face as it lifts a hand and waves back with wonder in its eyes, only feet away from you. it seems it’s hesitant to come any closer because you’re in a shallow part of the shore— though you think that’s for the best because even if it hasn’t hurt you thus far, it’s an unknown creature that you know nothing about. it’s best to keep a small space between the two of you for now.
you take a seat in the water that’s now up to your lower ribs as you examine its beautiful features while it examines yours.
it’s facial features are that of the most beautiful in the world, you think, surpassing even the most famous of beauties in the human race. and it’s eyes are a color that shouldn’t be possible, so piercing blue that they’re almost glowing. its hair is milky white, much more pure of a white than any bleach could ever turn a humans hair— matching its eyelashes and eyebrows. you aren’t sure, but it looks like a man in his twenties.
“beautiful, you’re so beautiful.” you breathe out in awe, making it’s head tilt in curiosity— reminiscent of a puppy.
and then it suddenly speaks, but the language scares you. it’s like no language you’ve ever heard before and it’s tone sounds bewildered. it’s voice is deep and raspy, like a man and you’re not sure what you expected but it wasn’t that.
you can’t help but flinch and gulp a bit at the sound of it, it’s only natural to be afraid of such an unknown sound but you’re trying your best to be open minded.
as if responding to your sign of fear, it begins to speak again but this time— in english.
“c-calm— d-d-ow-n, poor th-thing.” it stumbles over its words, attempting so hard to copy your words and cooing tone from weeks ago when you were freeing it.
you can barely grasp what it’s trying to say, but as you piece it together, your jaw drops in awe. you’re amazed that it remembered what you said well enough to repeat it—especially since it’s using the same calming words you used on it to try to soothe you. It’s as if it’s trying to calm you down, even though it probably doesn’t understand the meaning of the words.
“amazing,” you breathe out, blinking in utter disbelief.
“ama—zong,” it repeats with a curious tone.
you giggle with your eyes crinkled closed as it mispronounces “amazing” as “amazong,” and your laughter only seems to intrigue it further. its white eyebrows twitch as it swims closer, trying to catch more of your laugh.
when you open your eyes again, you find it closer than before, causing you to stiffen and gasp. it’s now only a few feet away, and because it’s in such shallow water, it’s forced into a horizontal position, with parts of its tail visible behind it.
then, it speaks again, slowly, but in its own language like it’s trying to teach you a word.
“sa-tor-u.” it coos, sounding out the word for you to learn with gentleness.
the fear that rose when the creature came closer is quickly replaced with fascination as you focus on the word.
“satoru.” you repeat the word slowly and immediately it smiles as it lifts its tail and splashes the water excitedly.
you chuckle at the sight as droplets from the splash of its powerful tail land on your cheek.
“satoru. what does it mean?” you question with a smile, more to yourself than the creature as you wipe the water away from your cheek.
and as if detecting your questioning tone, he quickly points at itself and repeats the word again.
“you? your name?” you ask, eager to learn more about the creature. but he doesn’t understand your words and simply blinks at you. it’s astonishing that he wants you to know his name—not that you think he’s unintelligent, but you weren’t sure of his level of awareness. ‘satoru’ is primarily a male name, you wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve come across some humans with the name.
“uh- um,” you then point to yourself and speak your own name slowly, eager for him to learn yours now.
he repeats your name with determination to pronounce it correctly, and you nod with a big smile, delighted by the sound of his beautiful voice saying your name.
then, as if the setting sun is a curfew, satoru suddenly turns and dives into the ocean with urgency. but before disappearing for the night, he resurfaces briefly, waves with a smile, and then vanishes once more.
the following days are some of the most exciting of your life, stories you’ll tell your grandchildren about teaching a beautiful merman to speak english.
unfortunately, the first thing you teach satoru is how to say, ‘stay back or i will hurt you.’ its a bit tough to explain the meaning but once you point to his tail to remind him of the painful netting, he understands for the most part.
you’re afraid someone less moral will come across satoru who’s so beautiful and naive and innocent to the human world. you have to explain that not all humans are like you and though he’s a bit confused, he mostly grasps the concept.
you’ve found that the easiest way to teach satoru about words and meanings is to read to him. he listens to you for hours and when you begin to pick children’s books that help in learning english, he excels quickly.
soon, he’s able to speak at a moderate level and you’re simply aching to ask him every question in the book as you sit in your familiar place in the shallow water by the rocks.
“are you a mermaid?” you inquire, knowing it’s a silly question to ask considering ‘mermaid’ is a silly human term for fairytales.
“‘mer-maid?’” he repeats with curiosity, and you chuckle to yourself. you should have expected that response.
“where were you born? how old are you?” you instead question, eagerly.
he points to the open ocean before turning back to you. “eight— six.”
you hum in thought, recalling how you’ve already tried teaching him about human days and years, but it seems he has his own way of measuring time. you’ve discovered that in his terms, eighty-six translates to twenty-six in your time.
“are there a lot of your kind?”
“yes. lot.” he nods, seemingly happy to be able to communicate with you.
“are you able to get out of the ocean completely? or do you need the water to breathe?” you ask.
“no, i can get out. but we are not supposed to. rules,” he grumbles, clearly annoyed by the rule. you wonder if he might be a bit of a rebel in his society. this also explains why he was treading so close to the shore when he got caught in the net.
“can i ask question too?” he suddenly questions.
your brows twitch in slight surprise at his curiosity and you nod with a smile.
“why do you save me?” he suddenly asks, referring to the time you met and you freed him from the netting.
you exhale with sympathy as you gaze at him.
“why not? i saved you because you were in pain.”
he blinks at you with utmost wonder in his blue eyes and then quickly refocuses onto his next question— as if he’s afraid he won’t have time to ask everything he wants to.
“how many are you?” and his question slightly confuses you until it clicks that he’s asking your age.
“uh— in your time, i’m eight-one,” you explain, converting your age of twenty-one into a number he can understand.
he immediately coos, “cute. you are young. in my home, you would be offered up to mate.”
you blush a bit and gasp a bit before chuckling nervously. “o-oh!”
“do you have a mate?” he asks with gleaming, glowing eyes.
you breathe out a laugh. “no. do you?”
“how do you say—” he hums in thought, likely looking back on your language exercises, “—hell no.”
immediately, you burst into a fit of giggles. that phrase was one of your favorite to teach him.
“beautiful. you are beautiful,” his smile broadens at the sound of your laugh, breathing out audibly through his nose— making a noise reminiscent of an awe.
your eyes widen at his compliment, blinking rapidly as your cheeks burn. “w-wow, me? says you.”
“thank you!” he cheers, like a child who has been taught to say thank you after every compliment— it makes you snap out of your flattered state and giggle a bit.
“what are these? why?” he questions and you jump when you feel his fingers graze along your calf under water.
“m-my legs? um- i’m not sure why. to walk i suppose.” you shrug, slightly shivering at his touch with a blush. you hadn’t made physical contact yet and it’s a bit unnerving. he doesn’t seem to be the shy type.
“painful?” he questions with concern, fingers still curiously exploring your legs gently.
you giggle softly at his assumption, and he tilts his head at you with a curious smile. you figure he thinks your legs must be painful since they’re split in two instead of being one piece like his tail.
“no, not painful,” you shake your head, attempting to eye his hand traveling up your thigh through the murky water as you grip the sand.
“soft,” he says before dipping his head under the water, intently examining your legs. he runs his hands along them, but when he reaches the inside of your thighs in exploration, you gasp and quickly grab his hands to stop him before he can reach your private area. he surfaces, looking at you with a puzzled expression.
“hurt you? sorry, i’m sorry.” he pouts, slightly pulling back and lowering himself to show that he’s a non-threat submissively.
you huff and gently pull his hands from your legs so you can interlock yours with his— partly to keep control of where he puts them and partly to just feel his skin.
“you didn’t hurt me. that area is just,” you pause, thinking on the right words to use for this, “-sensitive and private.”
he moves closer again, your friendly gesture of holding his hands helping him to relax, as his fear of hurting you fades and interest takes its place. he says a word in his own language and you blink at him with confusion.
“what’s the word for— is it—mating organs?”
“um— ‘mating organs’?” and quickly you realize that you had never taught him a word for your reproductive organs and your face burns in embarrassment. “oh uh— yes, sort of.”
“can i see?” he questions, making your embarrassment sky rocket. it’s obvious he’s simply intrigued with the human body, without ill intent.
“uh— that’s not a good idea,” you quickly utter, letting go of his hands and shutting your thighs tightly.
he starts pouting, and if there’s one thing you’ve learned about satoru over the past few days, it’s that he’s kind of needy and playful, and definitely prone to pouting when things don’t go his way.
“why?” he whines, hands returning to caress your ankles gently.
“uh-um because— well, that’s like me asking to see your- fish-tail-mating area,” you exclaim dumbly, unsure of if he even has male reproductive organs like humans do.
he blinks at you, pout still prominent.
“‘fish tail?’” he repeats, thinking for a moment before his brows raise in understanding.
“you can see and i can see!” he shouts, as if he’s just solved the issue easily.
you gulp and your gaze flickers around, avoiding his gaze in utter disbelief. you’re pretty sure that he’s insinuating a ‘i’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ situation.
“please?” he pleads, and you wish you hadn’t ever taught him the word because his sweet, graceful tone sways you, as if his voice has a spell woven into it.
you can’t deny your own curiosity about his tail and his anatomy, so you find yourself looking around the empty beach before gulping and nodding—for research purposes.
he brightens up and promptly adjusts into a seated position. using his palms, he scoots closer to the shore, encouraging you to move back until his tail is completely exposed. he rests his back against one of the many rocks by the shore as the baby waves crash against the both of you.
you gulp as your eyes linger on his stunning physique, sitting back on your calves while you focus on where his abdomen transitions into his tail. he seems to notice your ogling, taking your hand and gently guiding your fingers from the wet ridges of his abs down to his scaly tail.
“w-wow, you’re so beautiful.” you breathe, lips slightly parted as your breathing deepens in astonishment.
he giggles, as if he’s quite used to this type of admiration, and lets you explore his tail. when you reach his fin, he playfully flicks it up, huffing in amusement when you flinch and gasp.
you then bring your hand to press against his warm chest, where his heart is and your jaw drops when it beats in such an irregular way— unlike any human heart.
“your heart! it’s- amazing.” you breathe in awe, moving your fingers around slightly to feel it better.
his head tilts in wonder before reaching out and pressing his own finger tips to your chest, just between your breasts.
and after a moment of waiting, he gasps and hunches forward to suddenly press his ear to your chest.
“boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!” he breathes in astonishment, now understanding why you were so amazed at his heart beat. he thinks yours sounds so comforting, he could stay pressed to your soft chest all day.
you chuckle and blink down at him, slightly embarrassed that he’s pressing into the fat of your breasts. but after a few long moments of him simply listening to your heart, you gently pull his head up to lean against the rock once more.
“you keep feel?” he questions, asking if you’re done exploring his body or not.
although you feel a bit deranged for letting your mind wander, you can’t help but ponder how his kind reproduces. you don’t see any visible dick of any kind but you do see a slight bulge where his dick should be.
you tilt your head at it, hesitant to ask but it seems you don’t have to because he notices.
“under. like your cover.” he gestures towards your bathing suit bottoms with a slight blush dusting his high cheekbones.
“o-oh, i see,” you stutter with a bashful smile, lowering your chin in an attempt to avoid eye contact with the bulge beneath his scales.
as if reading your mind, he then tilts his head down to make eye contact with you.
“you want to see?”
you part your lips and stutter, blinking rapidly.
“um- if that’s okay.” you gaze up at him nervously, biting your lip coyly. you figure if you’re ready to reveal what’s beneath your bottoms, it’s only fair that he does the same.
though he seems quite shameless and confident, he grows shy as he moves his scales to the side and exposes a slit.
your brows furrow, eyes squinting briefly as you focus in on the area. you can’t help but gasp when a long, thick member resembling a human cock slides out. it’s nearly identical to a humans, except for the fact that it has blue scales near the base.
it bobs, seemingly hard, but you aren’t sure if he’s naturally this size or not. you wonder if it’s potentially arousing him to show his genitalia to a human but you can’t deny the possibility that you’re just demented.
“w-wow, big,” you gulp, in a slight haze as you watch a bead of what looks like pre cum dribble out of his tip. you don’t even realize what you just said until he’s chuckling.
“human not ‘big’?” he questions, almost slyly. he seems quite confident in his body, which he absolutely should be considering how ethereally gorgeous he is from top to bottom.
you clear your throat and force your gaze away from his throbbing member.
“n-not usually that big.” you mumble. “are those.. scales?” you point at the scales near the bottom of his cock.
“yes, touch?” he asks, reading that look on your face as a look of a creature that wants to mate— though he’s not so ignorant as to be unaware that you’re likely just curious like he is.
your eyes widen even wider and your mouth opens and closes as you try to put your thoughts in order. you aren’t sure if he’s so shamelessly lewd as to ask you to jerk him off.
“no mate, just touch,” he attempts to clarify, delicately grasping your willing hand and moving it close until it’s just inches away from the scales you were curious about.
how many human can say they’ve ever had this opportunity before? to explore a merman’s body? you figure as long as you just touch briefly, it’s fine, it’s not like you have harmful intentions.
you gulp and your gaze flickers up at him as if to make sure it’s okay to be doing this before focusing on his cock.
you softly brush your fingers along the ridges of the bumpy, slick scales at his base, causing his cock to twitch. you glance up at his face as he whines a word in his language and unintentionally thrusts his hips toward your touch.
the scales are soft but textured at the same time, and they seem to ripple in response to your touch—as if they’re just built to react to stimulus that way.
“o-okay you can put it away,” you quickly mutter when you form the instinct to wrap your hand around his cock and pull more of those adorable whines out of him.
he nods, eyes lidded and breathing deeper than before. you watch as it slides back into his slit and he covers it with his scales once again. it’s a bit bizarre the way it retracts and moves but mostly fascinating.
“my turn?” he questions eagerly, gently nudging your legs with one hand as to make them part while the tip of his fin grazes your outer thigh.
your nerves rise as you close your eyes and take a deep breath. a promise is a promise and though it’s nerve racking, you want to prove that even though you’re a strange creature in his eyes, you’ll stick to your word.
“y-yes.” you nod with a nervous smile.
excitement litters his face as he moves to lie on his stomach, tail playfully tapping against the shallow puddle of water beneath.
you tentatively and somewhat embarrassedly get into position, with your legs bent on either side of his head and leaning on your elbows to watch what he does.
you attempt to take deep, steady breaths as he gently pushes your thighs apart with warm hands.
shakily, you let them part ways, allowing him to push them as far apart as they go until you feel the subtle burn of the stretch. it’s really not his fault, he’s likely completely unaware of how far your legs can push apart.
you can’t help but imagine how startling this sight would be if someone were to stumble upon it. he then pulls at the material of the gusset of your swimsuit with confusion, making your abdomen gently flinch.
“is this connect to you?” he looks up at you. it seems he’s asking if your swimsuit is similar to his scales that cover his slit.
“no, i can take it off.” you utter shyly before simply pulling it to the side so he can see your pussy.
immediately his eyes widen and he leans in so close that you can feel his breath fan over your twitching folds.
you’re aware he’s likely never seen a humans genitalia before and has nothing to compare yours to but it doesn’t stop you from growing self conscious under his stare.
“like me?” he asks, blinking up at you with furrowed brows. he’s attempting to ask if you have a cock that comes out of your slit as well, though your slit does look very different than his.
“n-no, no. it’s just a.. hole.” you explain, humiliated, blushing, and gripping the sand to cope with the embarrassing words.
“what is this bump?” he questions, pointing at your twitching clit, fingertip only breaths away from making contact.
“um— mating.. tool?” you cringe at your choice of words but he chirps a hum as if understanding— though you aren’t sure how much he could possibly understand form your poor explanation.
“touch?” he asks, not taking his eyes away from your slit. he doesn’t miss the way your ‘mating tool’ spasms when he speaks.
you gulp and close your eyes with a sharp exhale through your nose, trying to collect yourself and your naughty urges.
“why?”
“to see more,” he explains, “so compact.” you can tell he’s referring to the way your outer lips keep your inner lips closed to an extent in this position.
“o-okay,” you nod, watching him like a hawk as he reaches out and pulls one of your outer lips to the side, making your folds straighten out on that side. it allows for a peek into your clenching chasm and it only intrigues him further, squinting his eyes to look into your hole.
“smells yummy,” he whines out, causing your pussy to clench around nothing and slowly leak a bit of arousal. you bite back a moan at his unintentional compliment.
“a-are you done?” you gulp, hoping he doesn’t question your slick leaking out.
“this is your mating hole?” he refers to your pussy and you bite into your bottom lip, mind racing with ideas of ‘mating’ with the beautiful creature in front of you and how it would work.
“y-yes,” you stutter, breathy.
“you have mated before?” he asks, gaze flickering up at you and gently letting go of your lips. it takes everything within you not to laugh at his question, he’s basically asking if you’re a virgin.
“no, have you?” you turn his question back on him with a small smile.
“no, that’s for life long mate,” he admits with a matching smile, leaning in and licking an affectionate stripe up your inner thigh.
you gasp pathetically in pleasure and your thighs clench, making you quickly cover your pussy with your bottoms once again in fear of your urges pushing this experience too far before you know it.
“o-okay no more.”
he frowns a bit at the sight of your covered pussy and gently pushes back into the water to submerge more comfortably.
you settle into a criss crossed position after scooting closer until the water reaches your waist.
“thank you for showing me, you are interesting,” he coos with a smile, gently lifting a dripping finger to brush it down your cheek, making you shiver.
you exhale slowly and lean into his touch. “will i see you again?”
he suddenly seems as though he has an idea or remembered one, face lighting up.
“i be back— wait,” he voices briefly before turning and diving into the water so fast that you’d have missed it if you blinked.
you can’t help but furrow your brows and reach out to the ocean in fear that he might never come back— even in spite of his words. but a few moments later, he re-emerges, making you exhale in relief. he seems to have brought you a large white shell.
“watch,” he coos, keeping eye contact with you as he brings it to his lips and blows. a beautiful sound comes out of the shell, inducing a peaceful tranquil feeling deep within causing you to light up with awe.
“you call and i come,” he explains softly, wrapping your hands around the shell like it’s a precious gift.
your heart flutters at his words and the feeling of his hands around yours, eyebrows twitching in a pout when he lets go.
the sun suddenly sets below the ocean and now it’s his turn to pout. “i must go.”
and just like that, he kisses the back of your hand before escaping back into the dark ocean, leaving you to wonder when you’ll see him again.
———
Reposted from an old account kiss kiss
HOLY FUCKKKKK I KNOW THIS ISNT HAIKYUU RELATED BUT I HAD TO REPOST
OP IM SO GLAD YOUR BACK OMFGG
Chocolatier!Satori and his Apprentice!Reader...mmmfghhghgh...nghh
I just started writing chapter 17 of Babo-chan Soup and I am so fucking geeked out for Ushijima bro, like it's actually embarrassing. I keep having to take breaks and walk unhealthily fast laps around my house.
Sedate me.
Like why am I giggling and kicking my feet and shi
This is all bc of some mundane stuff too btw, I'm not even writing anything freaky or tension-fueled.
help
Update I have a headache
I just started writing chapter 17 of Babo-chan Soup and I am so fucking geeked out for Ushijima bro, like it's actually embarrassing. I keep having to take breaks and walk unhealthily fast laps around my house.
Sedate me.
Like why am I giggling and kicking my feet and shi
This is all bc of some mundane stuff too btw, I'm not even writing anything freaky or tension-fueled.
help
Aone Takanobu squeezing you into a full nelson
end post
Babo-chan Soup | Wakatoshi Ushijima x Reader
𝄞𝄢 Chapter 6: Platonically- of course
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Masterlist | Next Chapter | A03
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A/N: Hello! I may have made a mistake with the timeline of things since in the fic atm it's around early may- which means Shiratorizawa doesn’t actually have any upcoming games until like June. So the tournament that the reader goes to on the weekend will be non-canon and the description for the school they go against will be relatively vague.
Thank you for reading and sorry for the mistake- I was a little too caught up in the writing and ended up forgetting the actual facts (whoops).
Third person POV focusing on Ushijima around the second third.
Warnings: Sexual content. Jorking it. MDNI.
WC: 3.6k
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It’s nine-thirty, you're bored as hell and neither Sakou or Tendou’s there to entertain you. Also- you can’t stop thinking about that damn girl. And it pisses you off that she left enough of an impression for you to remember her name.
Ayumi.
You’ve never ever seen her near Ushijima, let alone any of the boys he hangs around with, why does she think she has a chance?
I mean, why does she even like him? It's not like they know each other.
Unless they do?
You groan. Why is this even affecting you? Some random girl's crush? Why do you care!?
This is going to eat away at you for the rest of the night if you don’t do something to least distract yourself.
And you know that you can’t control other people's feelings so you resort to the latter.
Distracting yourself.
You scroll through your contact list, maybe you should talk to someone? That’s the easiest type of distraction right? Because if you end up watching or reading someone you’re just going to space out and fall right back into your stupid brain.
You could also journal?
You look over to your thick, heavily decorated journal that peeks out between the space of your drawers and bedframe. That’ll probably force you to think about it even more, and that’s not what you need right now.
You could message someone from your judo team?
Nah, you're not close enough with any of them to just strike a random conversation up late at night.
Maybe a classmate? Use the topic of homework as an excuse to talk to them?
Maybe, although the conversation would be pretty dull, plus people might think you’re weird for messaging them at nine-o’clock at night. Especially if they were a boy.
You sigh and swipe your tongue over your front teeth. If you really want a distraction, someone to talk to, you have to find someone who you can talk normally with. Someone who will carry on a conversation and won’t find it weird that you're messaging them late at night.
But who could that be?
You scroll through your contact list, head resting in your palm.
You look at your recent texts.
Ushijima?
Maybe?
I mean, he fits the requirements- aside from the ‘carrying on the conversation part’ he’s not so great at that.
But hey, you’ve got the energy, you wouldn’t mind putting that little extra bit of effort in like you’ve been doing lately anyway.
You open his contact and stare at the typing bar. Last time you two texted- or more like you texted- he was super dry. Like the classic dad reply kinda dry.
He sent you a thumbs up for god's sake.
You weigh your options for a minute, not that there’s many.
Oh well, the worst that can happen is you feel dumb afterwards because he brushed you off. No biggie.
You start typing.
I’ll use the next game as an excuse.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
< Hey, is it all good if I bring a friend along to your game next weekend? She’s pretty cool dw.
The ‘friend’ that you have in mind is Sakou- you haven’t asked her if she wanted to go with you but you’re sure she’d be more than happy to watch some buff teenage boys run around with you.
Ecstatic even.
Ushijima sees the message almost instantly and starts typing.
Hey, at least he doesn't seem like the type to leave you on delivered for hours.
Right?
Ushijima Wakatoshi
> Sure.
Regret floods you instantly.
Okay yeah maybe he wasn’t the best option to message.
You take a minute to brainstorm. What could you say next that would guarantee the start of a conversation? You have a feeling that saying you were excited to watch the game would either get you left on read or another thumbs-up emoji. So that was out of the question. Maybe you could talk about something school-related? Was there anything coming up?
Aside from the sports festival- which was in two weeks -you couldn’t really think of anything.
In these kinds of situations you wish you were a little more like Tendou, he’s always so carefree and can strike up a conversation about anything to literally anyone whenever.
And then a thought hits you. Why don’t you just ask him about volleyball? Isn’t it like his life purpose after all?
Ushijima Wakatoshi
< Okay cool! < How was practice? everything going well?
You shove your phone down underneath your pillow and anxiously wait for five minutes.
For some reason you feel kind of stupid for the little message you just sent. You have no idea why.
This is normal. We’re just talking. What am I so jittery for?
You grab your phone to check it again, squinting at your homescreen.
No notifications yet.
You contemplate just deleting the message. You're not even that close, maybe he will think that you're being invasive by asking him about training. What if he thinks you're weird? What if he’s only replying to you because he thinks he has too?
I'm sure that he has plenty of other girls trying to text him all the time.
What if you're just another one of them?
You’re about to press on the last message to get to the ‘delete’ function when his typing indicator pops up.
You exhale out your nose.
See? Everything's fine.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
> Good. Things are going well. Our team is very strong this year. > However, Tendou gave our teammate Goshiki some kind of spicy chips before practice and he vomited while spiking.
< omg nooo 😭😭 < Thats so embarrassing, is he ok?
> Yes. He was okay afterwards. Are you upset?
You physically recoil away from your phone out of confusion and furrow your eyebrows.
Huh? Why would he think that?
Ushijima Wakatoshi
< no? Why would you think that?
> You sent crying pictures. > Emojis.
< Ohhhh ok lmao < People use ‘😭’ when something’s funny too. < like laughing so hard u cry or something idrk
> I see. I understand now.
< No worries haha < emoji’s & stuff can get confusing, I get it.
> Can I ask you another question?
< Yeah sure
> What does: “idrk” mean?
< I don’t really know
> Okay. Thank you anyway. I will google it.
< ??? < What 😭😭
> ?
< Ushijima. < “idrk” is a acronym for “I don’t really know”. Its like slang
> I misunderstood. Thank you.
< np < No problem.
He’s such an old man, oh my days.
You grin at your phone. Ushijima is so funny without trying.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
> See you at school tomorrow.
< Yeppp, see u there
You sleep with a warm, fuzzy feeling coiled up in your chest.
*****
Ushijima tries to convince himself that it's okay. That its normal. He’s seventeen. It's just hormones. The boys on his volleyball team always go on about their magazines and the porn they watch so they must do it too.
Right?
But it just feels wrong.
Especially when he’s half-hard in his grey sweatpants, clinging to his old shirt that smells of y/n’s perfume- who he was just texting. All things gracious and holy he swears this has nothing to do with her as a person.
It’s just…been a while. Ushijima’s been battling for some alone time since school started back. He needs an outlet.
It wouldn’t be too disrespectful, right? To do something like this? Since she was the one wearing the shirt and all.
God. He should just go for a run instead.
Y/n is a girl. And Ushijima is attracted to girls. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less. It has nothing to do with the fact that they were just texting either. Or that he finds himself looking for her in the classes they share together. Or that he’s constantly wondering if you’ll show up to his practice again. Or the fact that he remembers every encounter you two have had to far in extreme detail.
This has nothing to do with any of those things.
He is a teenage boy and teenage boys do this type of thing.
Masturbating is normal- healthy even, he’d come to understand after a quick google search earlier. It improves sperm quality and can even improve the outcome of your sleep.
But god. Doing this because of a mere T-shirt felt so wrong to Ushijima. Especially one that smelled like her perfume.
Get a grip.
Ushijima convinces himself that it’s got nothing to do with the shirt. It’s just bad timing, an ill-timed occurrence.
He huffs out a breath, sitting on the edge of his bed in the dorm, alone. He made sure he locked the door after coming in, Tendou’s notorious for just barging right in. Which has led to some…unfortunate times across the years. For the both of them.
The ace’s beats steadily in his ribcage, perhaps a little too strongly.
There's no point in depriving himself of this, it’s good for his body after all. Might even improve his performance at practice tomorrow.
Ushijima dares to take one last look at the- now crinkled -grey shirt, careful not to hold it too close to him in case he catches the scent of your perfume again.
And that's that.
Ushijima swears he can actually hear his heartbeat now. He slips a hand under his shorts and pulls his erect, throbbing cock out. He’s rough with himself, no time for games. This is about being efficient.
Pictures and scenes flash through his mind- if only for a mere second.
Let's just say this boy has a very…vivid imagination.
His ears burn red.
Ushijima grips his cock at the base and moves upwards, keeping a steady, unwavering pace. He thinks of you.
He thinks of the way you stutter when he catches you off guard. He thinks of the blush that crept up your face when he told you that he liked your face. He thinks of how shiny your hair is and how much he just wants to reach out and touch it when he sees you in front of him in the halls.
But this was all platonically of course- he was only thinking of this to blow off some steam. Much to his shame. This would be the first and only time he thought about you while masturbating.
Ushijima’s mind flutters back to the sparkling sensation he felt when he touched your knees, he wonders what the feel of your skin would be like if it were to be somewhere else.
He’s breathing much, much heavier now.
Ushijima runs his hand down the length of his cock, clenching his jaw. His hands are calloused and rough, he doesn’t use anything for lubricant except the growing amount of pre that’s dribbling out of him.
He thinks of you, good lord, your voice, your skin, your face, the way you look at him. Ushijima brings the shirt up to his nose and inhales deeply, he’s clutching it with so much sheer fucking need. It’s driving him insane.
He grunts into the fabric, imagining what it would be like to have his hand replaced by yours. Your soft fingers tracing the tip of his cock, running down the sides to grab him by the base and stroke upwards, he wonders if you’d keep eye contact or look away, too shy to confront the situation head-on.
Ushijima thinks you’d look away. And he decides that he would grab you by the chin softly, lifting your head so you were forced to meet his eyes. He would then tell you that you were doing good and urge you to keep going.
The olive-haired boy tips his head back and moans, the sound stifled by the fabric. He manspreads further and hugs his hand around his dick tighter, squeezing harshly when he reaches the base. Ushijima can feel the knot coiling in his lower stomach, he’s completely gone now, absolutely fucking spun of the face of the earth, his brows pinch together and he grimaces, speeding up. He’s desperate, he breathes in your scent, devours it. A starved man unsure of his next opportunity to eat. He bucks his hips up, chasing as much friction as he possibly can. Ushijima thinks of what it might feel like to buck his hips up into-
That's enough.
He diverts his mind elsewhere, somewhere that isn’t so…ill-mannered.
But he’s literally jacking off to the thought of you so it can’t really get more lewd than that.
Ushijima's breath rattles when it travels down his throat, it comes in ragged. He knows he’s close now, everything’s hot and slippery and all his limbs feel weak and he’s suddenly very aware of how far away the tissues are and the only thing he’s got near him the shirt that smells like y/n’s damn perfume and- oh, Wakatoshi just falls completely apart.
Ushijima comes with a strangled groan and a sharp intake of breath. His body hunches over itself as response to his orgasm. He shudders.
After a minute or so and a few needed deep breaths he regains proper consciousness to the world again.
He moves his hands to view the damage.
Damage indeed.
With the tissues being so far out of reach, he instinctively moved to use the next best thing he had on hand- the shirt. And as a result, it’s now got globs of Ushijima's thick, white cum seeping into and dripping off of it.
He stares at it for much, much longer than he should.
This had nothing to do with you, he tells himself.
*****
“-and then he asked me what ‘I don’t really know’ was but like-, the abbreviation, you know? And I straight-up wrote ‘I don’t really know’ but then he thought that I was telling him that I didn’t know and so I had to explain all of that and like, I’m not sure why but I found it really funny at the time and-” You look up at Sakou who had been walking up the stairs in front of you. She’s stopped now. “Sakou? Are you even listening?”
She looks over her shoulder, a half-warm half-mischievous grin plastered on her face.
“What?” You frown.
“You like him.”
You're thrown off from the sudden accusation. You look at her like she’s just grown an extra arm out of her head.
“What?! No!” You hate how your voice climbs an octave.
“You do.” She says firmly, turning back around. The heel of her school shoes clatter against the stairs. “Don’t tell me that I realized you liked him before you did~?” You can hear the smile in her voice.
You stutter, scrambling to find words to defend yourself. But then you stop.
You think back to the way you’ve been reacting when talking to him, the way your eyes look for him in every class you share, whether you're aware of it or not.
Maybe?
You might have a little crush on Ushijima afterall.
Emphasis on the little.
“I might…” You're hyper aware of how red your face must be getting. “...Have a little crush on him or something.” You avoid eye contact with Sakou, embarrassed. You cross your arms defensively. “But so what? Tons of girls do.”
Your mind flicks back to Ayumi. That's someone you know for sure that does. She seemed so pressed over whether or not you liked him too.
You haven’t told Sakou about that whole thing yet. You haven’t told anyone, actually.
“Yeah but you two actually talk.” She’s halfway down the opposite hall now, waving goodbye with the back of her hand. “All I’m saying is you actually have a chance!” She shouts.
If you stand here any longer, contemplating this…, this- whatever this is, you’ll be late to class. And so you get going, pattering down the hall.
You could like him. There’s nothing wrong with having a crush.
A little crush. You confirm. A little one.
Tiny, even.
You just like him a bit.
A teeny, weeny little bit.
“Hey y/n!”
A bright voice snaps you out of your trance and you turn, trying to register where it came from.
It was a classmate, some boy who you’d talked to only once or twice before. He was standing in front of an art class wooden cart, one hand on the handle and the other arm struggling to hold up three other bottles of paint.
He chuckles awkwardly. “Do ya think you could do me a favour?” the boy asks helplessly, two of the bottles already slipping from his grip.
“Yeah, sure.” You backtrack a few steps to take the three bottles of paint off his hands, or well- hand. You take them carefully, heedful of the fact that the paint will stain if it comes in contact with your uniform. You slot the bottles between your arms, crossing them over your abdomen and securing the bottles.
Gotta hurry or I’ll be late.
Again.
But really, the year three art classes are right next to the science ones so it's honestly that big of a deal, it's just that you absolutely despise being late to things- anything, It just stresses you out.
Right now though, you're more concerned about the paint residue left on the bottles getting on your clothes.
Hopefully the lids don’t pop off.
Unbeknownst to you, in about twenty-seven seconds, you’ll have much more to worry about.
You round a corner, keeping yourself flush to the wall.
That was the mistake.
A blindspot.
You then walk straight into what feels like a block of concrete, stopping you in your tracks and turning the pristine hallway into a loud burst of colour. One bottle bursts on impact from the pressure while you drop the two others which pop off and explode on the ground, sending splatters of paint rocketing upwards.
The world goes still for a moment.
No no no.
This cannot be happening right now.
You step back and slip a little, mid-fall, questioning your life purpose, and think:
Why is it always me?
You always get caught up in the worst, most embarrassing situations, especially lately.
This must be my fate.
Whatever thing you crashed into grows a hand that shoots out to grip you by the forearm and stops you from hitting the ground.
Ushijima yanks you back upward with a little too much force, smearing more bright orange paint on your sky blue sleeve.
You stare up at the boy for a moment, dumbfounded, and then divert your eyes away from him, embarrassed about more than just the paint.
The conversation you were having only a few minutes ago pops into your head.
Great. Just the person I wanted to see.
Your face turns crimson.
You look at your paint-covered hands, your splattered uniform and feet and then Ushiima, who has an assortment of orange, pink and lime green paint dripping from his blouse to his shoes. You repeat this process a couple times. You think your brain has exploded and dripped out of your ears.
Crap. My Uniform.
You accept defeat. A bit grumpily. But what could you do, y’know?
Ushijima bends his head down slightly to come eye-level with you. “My apologies. Are you alright?”
Do I look alright?
You make a show of looking at your uniform and then his. “Yeah I’m great actually.”
“Really?”
“No.”
He just looks at you for a minute, then his eyebrows furrow a little. “Why did you say you were then? You're covered in paint.”
You keep eye contact with him, you feel like your eyes could burn straight through his skull right now. “Am I?” You deadpan, frustrated with the state of your uniform and most likely your hair too.
“Yes.” The ace looks down at his hands, moving to trail his eyes over his blouse and trousers. “I am too.”
I don’t think he understands sarcasm.
You shake your hand cuttingly through the air which sends a splotch of paint splattering to the ground and let your lips split apart into a smile. “You look like an oompa loompa.”
He doesn’t, actually, but his torso is covered with orange and you thought you should at least try and make light out of such a shitty situation. You flail your arms outwards once and huff. “What do we do about our uniforms? And the floor?” you peer down to see the eyesore splattered across the ground and the lower part of the wall.
Ushijima pinches a piece of his shirt between two fingers, trying to smear the paint off of it. He wonders if it will stain. If it does he knows he can just buy a new one. “There are paper towels and mops in the art room.”
“Alright. We’ll leave the rest to the dorm washing machines I guess.”
The classmate with the cart stands about a metre away, stuck in place.
You forgot he was there.
“..Am I like, interrupting something ooor what?” He asks quietly.
“No.”
That's Ushijima. His eyes are still focused on you. His jaw twitches.
Weird.
You turn to the other boy. “Can you tell Miss Hiraoka that I'll be late to class please?”
“Cannn do.” Your classmate turns to Ushijima. “And what about y-” he pauses, clears his throat and narrows his eyes slightly.
Maybe he’s a little intimidated or something?
“Yep. Okay. I’ll go tell Miss.” He spins around and marches away stone-faced.
You swear you saw him shiver.
You rub your neck. “The mops then?”
(Ushijima googled what an ‘oompa loompa’ was later that afternoon. Tendou teased him and forced him to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after training. PS. He enjoyed it.)
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All works are owned by @ lintobln - please do not copy, edit or plagiarize ♡
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Babo-chan Soup chapter 16 moodboard!! Think I might start making these for the other individual chapters and linking them to it
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