Work Text:
saccharine | tsukishima kei
word count: 1251
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Your boyfriend, Tsukishima Kei, was not described by most people as sweet or kind or nice. Those were not necessarily the first words that came to mind when you thought of him either.
More often than not, Tsukishima was mean, pestering and apathetic. You knew that well, because you were around him a majority of your day and often, you were subject to his cold-stone nature.
Sometimes, though, Tsukishima’s incessant asshole persona could be overwhelming and today was just exactly that.
You arrived to school fifteen minutes late, rushed to your first period math class covered in the morning's early reign of unpleasant showers because of course , you'd forgotten your umbrella and were notified as you arrived to your math class that there was yet another pop quiz.
You were sure it would be a shitty ass day, and you knew Tsukishima’s crude remarks would only add fuel to the fire.
Not to mention, it felt as though the Third World War was being executed in your uterus, and you didn’t bring enough tampons.
The open stares of your classmates as you walked in irked you, so much that you felt a strong inclination to yell something along the lines of, “ Take a goddamn picture, then! ” but of course , as if the day couldn’t start off any worse, you were forced to bite your lip to keep from cursing at your throbbing ankle that slammed against the leg of your chair upon descent.
You glanced at your boyfriend, Tsukishima whose eyes were glued to his quiz everyone knew he’d ace. His study ethics were far more advanced and effective than yours, and he made that very clear when he often couldn’t wipe the smirk off his face when he compared your graded quizzes and tests.
Glancing down at the paper on your desk, you let out a string of vulgarities under your breath.
You had NO idea what you were looking at.
You couldn't recall learning combinatorics and using matrices to solve systems of equations. It was all foreign to your eyes, though you knew at one point or another, your teacher mentioned it.
You spent the next agonizing 40 minutes of class guessing on the 20 question quiz. And when your teacher walked up to you, mortification washed your features as you handed him your destined fate.
Glancing at your boyfriend's initial seat, you immediately felt your heart drop.
He wasn’t there.
On occasion, Tsukishima could be and was sweet, or at least, sweet enough to do things like wait for you after class so you could walk together or offer to buy you lunch and blush and roll his eyes when you gush in appreciation.
But apparently, today, the day you needed it the most, just wasn’t that type of day.
Exiting the classroom, you started strategizing all the ways you could possibly sneak out of school and go home.
Unfortunately, your blueprint brainstorm was interrupted by the unsettling rush of students trying to get their next class.
Your feet dragged under you.
It was maybe the worst morning you’d had in quite a while, and it was only fair to venture to your next class as slowly as possible to kill time.
Although you heard the annoyed remarks of your fellow classmates behind you, you still dragged on, ignoring them.
At one point or another, they all understood you had no intention of speeding up and the chatter and chaos of classroom ceased.
You were left only with the sound of your steps echoing through the seemingly endless halls.
"Hey, idiot. You’re going to be late.”
You glanced up from your saddened state to meet a clearly annoyed Tsukishima. His eyes were fixated on your smaller frame as he leaned against your locker.
Another sharp pain shot through your pelvis and your tolerance to his insults reach their ultimate low.
"Fuck off." You steered away from his path and began walking quicker to your next class.
His eyes widened in confusion as he spun to reciprocate your harsh words.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Fuck. Off."
His long arms reached out to grab one of your arms, much to your dismay. You instinctively began to struggle.
"Let me go."
"No.”
“Tsukishima, let me go . ”
“No. What’s up your ass today?”
At that point, from the struggling and another stabbing pain through your lower body, and the terrifying fact that it was your fourth quiz you were going to fail this semester, an after school detention awaited you just for being late to your next class, it was, in fact, still raining, and your socks were undeniably wet from the morning’s stretch, and still, no signs of purchasing or finding an umbrella in the next couple of hours presented themselves, and Tsukishima was definitely adding fuel to the fire, this was the moment in which it all became too much.
You burst into tears.
The struggle ceased.
Tsukishima froze.
The tears refused to stop and you couldn't do anything but weep helplessly in his arms.
"Hey...." He murmured. “What happened?”
Another loud sob echoed as you turned and buried your head into his chest while your smaller hands moved to grip tightly around him.
"I-I-I...I've just been h-having the worst d-d-day of my l-life and I-I know I f-f-failed that q-quiz and I-I've been c-cramping since morning. I-I'm gonna get detention, I h-have no umbrella and my s-socks are just so fucking w-wet....and today is just the w-worst."
It seemed as if you were about to burst into tears again, because it was quite possible that it was one of those days were he decided to be more asshole than boyfriend, or more salty than sweet, but instead, to your surprise, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in closer.
One of his hands gripped your side while the other moved behind your head and onto your dampened hair.
He blushed and looked away from you when he opened his mouth to speak.
"I'm sorry."
You stopped sniffling for a moment to appreciate Tsukishima. The scent of faint cologne mixed with body wash, his skin-and-bone frame that still radiated so much warmth, the slow rise and fall of his chest. It all made you feel secure, and your breathing eventually matched his calmer one.
The passing bell rang and Kei cleared his throat.
"Hey. We can study together after school. Or after detention. I don’t have practice today so we can walk home together. I brought my umbrella. And if you want, we can go to Ukai’s and get chocolate....or something...for your cramps.”
You looked up at him but only met the blushing cheeks of the tall middle blocker you called your boyfriend.
"Really, Kei?"
His blush deepened and his hand moved to push his glasses up and you couldn't bite back the smile you kept for him any longer.
"Yeah."
Not always considered sweet or nice or saccharine, sometimes more asshole than anything else, sometimes salty enough to leave a bitter taste in your mouth, but still, you had no doubt in your mind that Kei cared a lot about you.
Far more than any wall he’d built around his emotions.
You were always the person who always managed to bring out the saccharine taste of friend and best friend and tutor and lover and many, many other things.
And that was always enough for the both of you.
Funnily enough, the sun came out right before the two of you left detention.