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It is Tendou’s first training camp with Shiratorizawa and he had been thoroughly enjoying himself. The more he practices with the other teams the better he can calculate how to crush them in a real game. His new coach is the first person to truly believe in him, to not care that he’s a bit odd, weirder than most of the other straight laces that attend the prestigious Academy.
It was the last night of the training camp when most of the teams gathered in an empty classroom. It was crowded and there was no doubt the coaches knew what they were doing and would punish them the next day by having them run suicides or flying falls but they were all impulsive teenagers. Consequences were to be dealt with at a later date, right now they were all gathered in a rough circle with a bottle in the middle. Tendou had been left out of most games and gatherings when he had been younger and while his instinct had been to get rest in the room assigned to Shiratorizawa, back where Ushijima was sleeping peacefully, he was glad he came.
Or he was until the bottle landed on a first year middle blocker from Aoba Johsai. He wasn’t anything impressive, his height probably helped him a lot in middle school where things that that could win or lose a game but high school was a completely different playing field. His thick eyebrows and heavy lids made him look perpetually sleepy though Tendou had seen the flashes of intelligence beneath that. Unlike many of the other first years he didn’t seem nervous or stressed in the least and he always seemed to be around a guy with cotton candy pink hair and an ever present smirk.
“You-” Tendou’s senior grinned, probably remembering how that same middle blocker had knocked down several of his spikes. Tendou could see the bruises that lined thin arms, the ring and pinky finger on his left hand taped together while his pointer finger on the same hand was swollen. Tendou’s own arms and fingers looked about the same.
“Matsukawa.” The first year spoke up without fear, nudged by his pink haired friend. The look on the seniors face turned almost feral as his eyes light on Tendou and he then knew that he should always go with his instincts. He should have gone to bed early like Ushijima had done.
“I dare you to kiss our monster.” The senior jerked his chin in Tendou’s direction. Tendou kept his face blank even as his heart beat faster, especially with the growing snickers and snorts coming from around him.
Tendou had never been kissed before, no one had even ever confessed to him. Ushijima was always getting confessed to, Semi always had a bag full of homemade chocolates after whites day, Oohira even had a girlfriend. But no one, female or male, had ever shown an interest in Tendou. He had even let Semi start spiking his hair, messing it out of the bowl cut his mother had said made him look like a little angel.
Tendou met dark eyes across the circle, his fingernails digging into the skin of his palms as the laughter grew around him, the taunts blending together. He had thought he had moved past this when he had graduated middle school but apparently not.
He should have gone to bed early.
“Pass.” Matsukawa stated, eyes looking away from Tendou and that probably hurt more than the jeers and laughter around him as his seniors pushed and prodded him. No one wanted to kiss him, even on a dare is what they said. Tendou smiled and nodded because he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do. Yamagata, the tall libero for their team, looked distinctly uncomfortable and Semi’s face had morphed into a deep frown that looked as if it might stay that way but no one else spoke up.
The next day while they were downing water after the grueling punishments dulled out by their coach for staying up late and getting close to no sleep, Semi stepped up to Tendou and used the bottom of the water bottle to poke Tendou’s temple. Tendou reached up to take the bottle.
“Fuck them.” Semi grumbled in a low voice, surprising Tendou.
“Oh my Semi-Semi, what language.” Tendou crooned out, earning a heated glare from the thin server.
“Last night-” Semi started then stopped, looking uncomfortable. His pinch face was hilarious to Tendou. “We’re going to replace all of them and they know it. The team will be built around Ushijima’s strength and you work better with him than anyone else. As for everyone else, let’s see if they are laughing when we stop them from ever going to nationals.” Tendou blinked at Semi in surprise before a slow grin covered his face. Semi was awkward, bad with feelings and worse at words but he seemed to know exactly what to say to make Tendou feel better.
Tendou would make it his personal goal in life to never allow Aoba Johsai any victory over Shiratorizawa, especially that middle blocker Matsukawa.
Tendou kept that promise for three years until some plucky upstarts in black uniforms decided to throw a wrench in everyone's plans. Honestly Tendou couldn’t even really be all that upset, though he wished for more time to play. He knew this was where his volleyball career ended, he didn’t want to be one of those people who hung onto something until all good memories were tainted and turned to ash.
It didn’t mean Tendou didn’t need a few minutes to pull himself together away from his team. Which is why he was hiding out behind some vending machines while the arena slowly emptied out. He knew he would have to get up soon but he thought he was allowed a couple more minutes to wallow.
How had that inexperienced little middle blocker read his moves? Tendou couldn’t even remember his name, though Ushijima had acted like he knew both him and the scowling server.
“Oh.” Tendou looked up, and up into familiar dark eyes. How many times had he looked into those heavily hooded eyes across the net? How many times had he purposely tried to provoke any type of reaction out of this very particular middle blocker?
“Come to laugh at me?” Tendou asked, his lips curling up into a familiar grin that Semi had politely dubbed his ‘psycho murderer grin’. Tendou thought that was a bit rude but then again, Semi was incredibly rude and it wasn’t the meanest thing he had said to Tendou.
“I was beat by the same team.” Matsukawa stated, looking behind him before turning back around to step over Tendou’s long legs and sit down next to him on the dirty floor. Matsukawa was wearing a turtleneck under a long jacket and jeans that stretched on his long legs. Tendou found it a bit frustrating. They were teenagers after all, how come Matsukawa never seemed to have gone through an awkward phase? Why did he continue to look like a model? At least during training camps and during matches he was covered in sweat and smelled just as bad as the rest of the plebeians but to have him show up looking like he did? It was downright insulting.
“They deserved it.” Tendou crossed his legs at the ankle, resisting the urge to shift and move around more. “And if the tricky little upstarts have their bus fall off the side of a mountain then they deserve that too.” Matsukawa’s laugh was a deep, echoing thing that did unfair things to Tendou’s stomach.
“I’m surprised you even let me sit next to you, usually you leave the room when I walk into it.” Matsukawa said, face showing absolutely no sign of what he was actually thinking.
“I just played five sets.” Tendou grabbed his thigh and flopped it uselessly against the ground. “Like limp noodles.” Matsukawa laughed again. His top lip was thicker than his bottom and Tendou kind of hated himself for noting that. “Plus it’s you who has never liked me.”
“Says who?” Matsukawa asked, thick eyebrows raising slightly. Tendou wondered if he styled his hair or if it just fell artfully tousled naturally. Probably the latter the asshole.
“You did.” Tendou wished he had kept his big fat mouth closed but now that it’s out there he thinks he’ll just go all the way. It wasn’t like he had any dignity to begin with, plus he would most likely never see Matsukawa again and he had always wondered what exactly made him so repulsive to the other middle blocker. “You said pass.”
“You didn’t want to kiss me.” Tendou turned to Matsukawa in surprise, his mouth was curled upwards just slightly. “I saw it on your face, you didn’t want to do it. I didn’t really want my first kiss to be on a dare surrounded by sweaty, smelly teenage boys anyways.” Tendou stared straight ahead because Matsukawa wasn’t lying. Tendou hadn’t wanted to kiss Matsukawa that night, he had just wanted to be apart of the game instead of watching from the outside like he had when he was a kid.
“Well don’t I look foolish.” Tendou muttered, though he didn’t feel all that embarrassed. Perhaps he was too tired for true shame, maybe that would come later.
“I would.” Tendou turned back to Matsukawa. “Kiss you, if you wanted.” Not much had changed in three years. Tendou still had never kissed anyone, never been confessed to and the only handmade chocolates he got were those Oohira stuffed into his locker. Oohira thought he was being secretive about it, but Tendou knew the other teens heart was far too big for most teenage boys.
“Oh?” Tendou asked before clearing his throat. “I don’t kiss until the third date.” He was an absolute disaster. Somewhere Semi was rolling his eyes without knowing why except that he knew, somewhere in the world, Tendou was making an ass of himself.
“Are you busy on Sunday? There’s a new arcade that opened up or there’s a sci-fi movie that just came out that’s supposed to be pretty good.” Matsukawa scratched his cheek and Tendou realized for the first time that the other teen was actually nervous.
“Are you confessing to me?” Tendou asked, turning his entire body to Matsukawa even though his sore muscles protested the sudden movement.
“Trying to ask you out on a first date, so we can eventually get to a third one.” Matsukawa smiled, his cheeks a little pinker than they had been a moment ago. Tendou’s heart beat faster but it was excitement rushing through his veins, not the fear he had felt three years ago.
They exchanged numbers, Tendou’s sore and swollen fingers having a difficult time hitting the right buttons but they got there eventually. They stood up, Tendou’s name being called from down the hall and Matsukawa’s phone ringing with an incoming call. They had a date planned for Sunday and Tendou couldn’t wait.
Tendou took a step towards Matsukawa, pressed a closed mouth kiss to the highpoint of Matsukawa’s cheek before taking a couple skipping steps backwards. Matsukawa’s own swollen and twisted fingers touching the spot before smiling.
Tendou turned and ran towards his team before Matsukawa could say anything else, though Tendou knew it would most likely be the first thing they talked about when they met up again on Sunday.