Chapter Text
A boy sat at his desk, arms laying on the surface as his head rested on top. The desks within his close vicinity stuck as close as possible to the others to stay as far away from his as possible, which left you with a clear view of the top of his olive-brown hair. Sunlight poured in from the window and caressed his sleeping face. As the light emphasized his thick, long eyelashes, you couldn’t help but think he looked peaceful sleeping there, contrary to the rumors you had heard being whispered about him.
It was hard to imagine this boy would beat anyone up who annoyed him or work for the mafia. While your eyes remained trained on his sleeping form, the bell rang to signal the next class, chemistry. Your class had to move to another room, and the other students rushed to leave to save themselves from being forced to wake the sleeping boy. Before you could even blink, most of the class abandoned the room.
“You better hurry up yourself, Y/N-chan, or you’ll get locked out!” your friend, Tendou Satori, said as he stood at the door with his head tilted to look back at you. His eyes squinted as he spotted the still-sleeping boy at his desk. “You should probably wake him or the teacher won’t be very happy.” He waved at you over his shoulder before he stepped into the hall and walked to the chemistry lab. “Toodles!”
With that, you were left all alone with the boy at his desk. You didn’t want to wake him from his peaceful slumber, but at the same time, the teacher would get mad at you if you let him sleep here. You couldn’t let the teachers down who put their trust in you for helping out the students. Your hands clutched your head as you squatted on the floor and messed up your hair. Wake him or let him sleep… The decision was weighing on your mind as you crouched on the ground in front of his desk.
A soft groan came from his desk and made you jump. Your eyes pulled up from the floor to the top of his desk to see his face turned towards you and bathed in the golden glow of sunlight, the slope of his nose and the sharpness of his jaw prominent. It wasn’t every day one got to get a close look at him like this, and you took the chance to duck walk closer to his desk. Though you didn’t talk to him, something about him kept you curious. He was a good looking boy, but he never talked to anyone or had any friends with those in the class. You couldn’t help but think he looked lonely with all the desks nearby cleared from him, leaving him to sit alone next to the window.
He looked like a kid as he slept, and a fond smile spread across your face as you watched his body move up and down with each deep breath he took. Without thinking, you brought your hand out to brush a strand of hair out of his eyes to get a better look at you. You froze as he groaned and pulled away from your touch. Your heart pounded as you waited in silence for what he would do.
His eyes fluttered open, and you came eye to eye with olive eyes. As he blinked at you, you pulled away and stood up to hide your now-red face. You dusted your skirt off and cleared your throat while he straightened up and stretched.
“The bell rang. The rest of the class already moved to the chemistry room, so let’s catch up to them.” You gave him a smile, and he pushed himself out of his desk without a word. Your eyes trailed after him as he trudged to the door. He paused at the threshold and peered back at you.
“Are you coming, pres?” he asked, and you jumped at the raspiness in his voice that sent shivers rushing down your spine.
“Y-yes! We better hurry, or we’ll be marked late.”
He hummed, and you rushed to catch up to him. As he walked down the hall, you struggled to keep up with his long legs. With his attention focused on the end of the hall, you took the chance to scan him from head to toe. You had known he was tall, but standing next to him put it into perspective. He was at least a head taller than you, and his broad shoulders made your petite body even smaller in comparison. While you walked, you saw him veer of to the side a few times before he’d shake his head and correct himself.
“I’m sorry for waking you up,” you said as you walked near him in the hallway, realizing he was staggering from sleepiness.
He yawned and covered his mouth with his hand. “Don’t worry about it. We have class, so it was only natural.”
You wanted to say more to him, but words failed to form in your mind, and you pursed your lips until you reached the chemistry lab with him. He opened the door with a loud thud, which you knew was from his tiredness, and the other students jumped at the sound. They were setting up beakers and flasks for an experiment, and a few almost dropped them from the scare they received thanks to the boy.
“Ushijima-san, could you try to arrive on time and not slam the door open when you do arrive? We’re handling glass and chemicals in here, you know,” the chemistry told him, and he scratched his head as his eyes drooped.
“Sorry,” was all he said, and the teacher rolled their eyes before they focused on
“Sato Y/N, since you and Ushijima Wakatashi were both later to my class than the others, you can be partners and clean up after everyone is finished. No complaints!”
You bowed to the chemistry teacher while Ushijima grunted in acknowledgement. Together you walked to the back of the room, the other students avoiding Ushijima as much as possible. Beakers and flasks sat on the counter top, different colored liquids filling each one. An object prodded at your shoulder, and you turned to see Ushijima holding a pair of goggles out for you. You thanked him in a quiet voice as you took them from his and put them on after tying your hair back.
Once every student was ready, the chemistry teacher explained the lab for today. The teacher always said the same thing, so you focused on Ushijima instead. Even with the goggles on, you could see how much he wanted to sleep as opposed to working on a lab. When the teacher finished talking, you tapped his shoulder to grab his attention and help him out. He followed your instructions without complaints or mistakes, and the lab went smoother than you could have hoped for.
Soon, the bell rang for the end of the school day, and the class ran out after the teacher gave them a few words. Ushijima went to grab the brooms from the closet while you cleaned the glass tools off the counters. While you worked, Satori popped up in front of you, a creepy smile on his pale face.
“Poor Y/N-chan is stuck cleaning the classroom with Ushijima-kun! This is why you don’t be late.” He tsked and shook a finger at you, a hand on his hip. His eyes flitted to Ushijima’s figure busy in the closet, and he leaned in close to you. “You two weren’t doing anything… inappropriate , were you?” He leaned back, and he wiggled his fiery eyebrows at you.
“S-shut up, Satori-chan! It-it wasn’t like that,” you said as you turned away from his prying eyes, face flushed as thoughts ran through your mind of what he could be thinking you and Ushijima did.
Satori hummed and rubbed his chin as he tilted his head back and peered down at you. “So you say, yet you stutter! Suspicious, isn’t it?”
You opened your mouth to retort back, but the deep voice of Ushijima interrupted you and sent your heart racing from the smoothness of it.
“If you aren’t here to do anything, would you please leave so that we can clean without interruptions?” he said, and Satori held in a snicker.
“So Ushijima-kun does know how to speak!” An expressionless face stared at him, and he held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave you two alone.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, stepped towards the door, and swiveled to look at you. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do , he mouthed, and your face burned at the implication of that statement. He disappeared before you could chase him off, and you were left alone with Ushijima. The room felt hot, and you jumped when you saw Ushijima in front of you.
He held a broom out for you, and you took it from his hand, scared of brushing against him for fear of what it would do to your nerves. You told him you’d sweep from the back of the room, and he nodded before he set off to work. You both worked in silence, and you had almost finished until the overhead speakers stopped you.
“Sato Y/N to the faculty office now. Sato Y/N to the faculty office now,” the speakers droned, and you stopped sweeping and sighed, wondering what they wanted.
You ran a hand through your hair and apologized to Ushijima, handing him your broom with a regretful look on your face. He nodded and told you he’d finish cleaning up, but you still were hesitant to leave him. His hands settled on your shoulders from behind as he pushed you towards the door. As he pushed you out of the classroom, he assured you he’d finish it up, so you should go see what you were needed for. Again, you apologized to him before thanking him for being understanding and walking towards the faculty office.
“Pardon the intrusion,” you said as you opened the faculty office door. Your homeroom teacher looked up from his computer and motioned for you to come to him. You bowed to the other teachers and stepped towards him, hands clasped in front of your skirt. He swiveled in his chair to look at you, legs crossed and eyes filled with boredom and a hint of annoyance. “You needed to see me?” you ask.
“You know, Sato-san,” your homeroom teacher said to you as he drummed his fingers across his desk. “You’re the class president, so it’s your job to make sure all the students are getting along and performing their best. I’ve been a little lax on making sure everyone’s all hunky dory, but I can tell that won’t slide anymore. Ushijima-san has clearly been making everyone uncomfortable with his presence.” He paused for a second, and you sucked in a breath.
“I don’t believe I understand what you mean, sir,” you said, and he sighed in exasperation, hands rubbing his temples.
He leaned forward in his office chair and pointed a finger at you. “It means I want you to help fix his attitude so that there isn’t so much tension in the classroom. God, I can’t even stand being in the classroom while he’s in it because of how thick the air is with fear of him. And he is almost always sleeping or looking out the window. I don’t care how long it takes, but it’s been a month since school started, and the students have yet to adjust to him. I don’t want to wait until graduation for the students to finally be comfortable in this classroom, so do something about it, will you?”
You gritted your teeth at the dismissive tone in his words. He was pushing his work off onto you, using the excuse that you’re the class president to validate his actions, and it irritated you. You did want to see Ushijima smiling and laughing along with the other students in class, and your wish of hearing his laughter was enough to help you ignore your annoying homeroom teacher’s tone.
“Of course, sir. I’ll do my best to help the students feel more comfortable around him.”
He hummed in acknowledgement and waved a dismissive hand at you. You bowed to him before you left the faculty office, bowing to the other teachers as well and closing the door. Your teeth clutched your bottom lip between them as you held a smile in. Now you had a chance to get to know Ushijima and become friends with him. You couldn’t keep your heart from fluttering, and giddiness filled you up with determination. Mission: Get Ushijima to Open Up to You was a go!