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“We’re classmates with Ushijima? Ugh. He’s weird.”
“I’d rather not involve myself with him.”
“The upperclassmen hate him.”
“Me too!”
Tendou Satori narrowed his eyes on the humans lacking humanity beside him. One thing he hated about high school was the bunch of gossipers, boys who knew nothing but torment other people, and girls who blabbered nonsense about the lives of other people.
He stood and walked outside, hearing Semi shouting at him. “Hey? Where are you going?”
He tucked his hands into his pockets and walked around the hallways. It’s the first day, and his second year at school. He just wanted peace. He was pretty popular among the students, probably because he played volleyball and he wore black studs that most of their teachers hated (not that he was trying to please everyone with it, they just kind of looked cool).
He heard a loud thud.
Curiosity brewed inside him so he peeked at the dim classroom and saw a group of upperclassmen grabbing the collar of another student. He kept mum while the students mocked him. Tendou’s fists were now clenched as his blood was boiling. When one of the monkeys threw the student’s bag away and smacked him in the forehead, Tendou entered the room and flicked the switch open.
He perused on the sea of faces and noticed the fragile one on the floor, panting. Two of the upperclassmen looked furious, the remaining five were panic-stricken.
“I was just roaming around but here I am, looking at a bunch of pathetic losers picking on the vulnerable ones.” He chided. The student looked at him, eyes filled with gratitude. He picked up the bag and held it out for him.
Tendou grinned, eyes narrowed into crinkled slits before looking at them again, this time raked with disdain. “One more shit I see from you and I’m not going to fucking let it slide .”
-
It’s been weeks ever since he saved Ushijima Wakatoshi from the known bullies in school.
“Remember, I stands for current, V stands for voltage, and R stands for resistance. Pick up your books and turn to page forty to learn about circuits.”
Tendou lazily browsed through the book and doodled on the page, he heaved a sigh before resting his head on his left hand. Ushijima Wakatoshi was definitely unique . He wasn’t like the weirdo that everyone told him he was. He was just a big softie hidden in 187 cm height.
Ushijima barely talked to anyone, Tendou had never seen him smile even when the whole class was sent into fits of laughter after a stupid joke of Hayato. He ate lunch alone, and would rather submerge himself in a pile of books than socialize with other people, and though it’s nasty that it’s the reason why people picked at him, Tendou had this greatest urge to protect him.
He doodled further, the blots of ink spreading on the textbook. He tried to dig into reasons why he wanted to take care of a person he barely knew. The first time he defended him, it was primarily because they had the same experience. But he went on and secretly sheltered him from any harm.
Like when he overheard a couple of students gossipping about an evil ploy by the upperclassmen to give him a gift box as a “peace offering” when in reality it’s a bunch of frogs, just to see how Ushijima would react. Tendou clicked his tongue upon hearing this. When morning came and the students cornered Ushijima on the school’s alleyway, Tendou forcefully pressed inside the cramped space and draped his arms on the tall male,
“Hey, what’s this? Cake? Nice. Let me have some.”
He tore the box and threw the captured reptiles on the faces of the scourges. He hid his smirk, his face schooled into annoyance, glaring daggers at them.
“Damn. I thought it was a cake.”
He left before they could say another word.
Or on another day, his several classmates who were up to no good replaced Ushijima’s chair with the broken one. It wasn’t noticeable so it seemed like you can still sit on it. When one of the boys went back to their chairs (one of them sits in front of Tendou) as Ushijima quietly entered the classroom, Tendou vehemently kicked the seat in front of him. His classmate screamed as he landed squarely on his buttocks.
His male classmates feared him because he wasn’t one to back down in a fight, a complete opposite to who he was before in elementary school. His eyes were blinking with feigned innocence, “My legs were cramping.” He faked a smile. “Sorry.”
His glance flickered on Ushijima who was checking his chair upon seeing him kick Takahashi’s seat. When Ushijima replaced his chair with an undamaged one, Tendou finally focused on the skies on his background.
-
There’s a mobile phone on his desk.
Tendou blinked his eyes and looked at it with curiosity. It looked like the latest model of the fruit brand (his brother only bought him cheap ones because he never liked using a phone anyway). He picked up and put it down again.
“H-hi. I think there’s something wrong with my phone.”
He raised his head and saw Ushijima standing in front of him. His dark, olive orbs hidden underneath the wide glasses were staring at him with gravity. Tendou thought he was cute with his specs on, it added something into his personality, like Clark Kent waiting for the chance to fly up in the sky in shades of blue and red.
“Uh okay,” Tendou replied and picked up the phone. “Do you want me to check it for you?”
Ushjima cleared his throat. “I think there’s something wrong with my phone. It doesn’t have your number in it.”
Tendou’s eyes widened. “What?”
He probably turned paler because of the extreme shock. He closed his mouth, and swallowed once. He shook his head and gaped at him again. His heart was beating rapidly, his questions that were as murkier as the lake near their house became clearer today.
“Anyway,” Ushijima looked at him shyly, “Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?”
-
“Man, Ushijima has a big fat crush on you.” Semi chirped, giving him a consoling pat on the back. “Oh no. It isn’t a crush! He’s in love with you!”
“Shut up. He must have misunderstood it because I saved him from the bullies last time.” Tendou hissed, not pissed off with Semi’s statement but on his way of talking about it.
Semi’s ears perked up. “You did?”
“Yeah,” He heaved a sigh. “I know how it feels to be treated like that. I may look like an asshole but I could never treat someone with animosity. I hate people like them. They disgust me.”
The other male smiled at him wistfully, “Sorry about that, man.” and grinned, “But seeing how you reply to his texts, doesn’t that mean you like him too?”
“By the way, did you have the balls to talk to Shirabu?” Tendou snickered. Semi threw him his notebook which he successfully dodged. “Geez man. We’re talking about your love life here.”
“Not telling!”
But as if by cue, his phone buzzed.
[9:05 am] Ushijima Wakatoshi: Hi Tendou. I thought Happiness starts with ‘H’ but it turns out it starts with ‘U’.
He glanced at the corner where Ushijima was seated, and saw him reading on his Atlas with pink cheeks.
Cute.
Semi peeked on his screen and snorted out loud. No, Tendou didn’t smack Semi’s head with the same strength as he would do in a volleyball serve.
Ushijima turned his head and their eyes met. Tendou flashed him a grin and waved his phone.
[9:07 am]: Tendou SatorI: That’s cute, Wakatoshi.
Ushijima followed, and swiped his cellular device open. He brought a hand to his mouth, his cheeks flushing with an even greater intensity.
So fucking cute.
-
“I heard you like Satori.”
“I also heard you used your weird pick-up lines to get his attention. What a freak.”
“Damn. You really think he’ll really like you?”
Tendou found a group of girls talking to Ushijima at lunch time. He excused himself to go to the comfort room but saw another spiteful event instead. He felt his blood boil and almost stormed at the scene when he heard Ushijima spoke,
“Don’t you think only Tendou can answer that question?”
The girls laughed, mocking him. The short-haired one rolled his eyes and hissed at him. “Why do we even need to ask Satori when there’s the obvious answer that no one will ever like you?”
And as the girl raised her hand to slap Ushijima, Tendou barged in and grabbed her arm tightly. He was breathing heavily, anger curled hot and unstoppable in his gut. There’s a vein bulging out of his head.
“I would never hit a girl, I don’t even plan to throw my fists into pathetic people who know nothing but torment other people.” Tendou gritted through his teeth, “But if I see more of these, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
The girl snatched her hand away from Tendou’s grip and looked at him with fear in her eyes, the others were now leaning on the wall, afraid of what might happen next. The red-haired male then grabbed Ushijima’s hand to pull him away from the place.
He stopped and glanced them, “And don’t fucking call me Satori.”
Ushijima was quiet when they arrived at the rooftop. Tendou still hadn’t calmed down from what happened but when the former held his hands, he felt his heart turn into a puddle of goo.
“Thank you for saving me.” Ushijima started, “You always do that. I never got to thank you.”
Tendou coughed nervously, eyes widening at him. “You knew it was me?”
Ushijima nodded, a faint blush crept on his cheeks. “You’re the only one who talks to me here in school.”
The warm breeze kissed their skin. Tendou leaned on the wall where the shade was, he tugged on the taller male’s hand and pulled him closer as he wrapped his arms around him.
“Do you like me because I save you from the bullies?” Tendou asked, silently hoping that Ushijima didn’t hear his heart that was pounding loudly when the latter leaned his head on his shoulder.
“I liked you even before you saved me from the bullies. You probably don’t remember it but during our first year in school, you saw me crying near the stairs and gave me a hanky.”
Tendou now remembered what Ushijima was talking about. “Oh. That was you. Why were you crying anyway? Did someone bully you on that day?”
“No.” Ushijima whispered. “My parents divorced on that day.”
Tendou breathed deeply, feeling a surge of loneliness swim inside him. He hugged him tightly and ruffled his hair. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more sensitive with what you feel now.”
Ushijima then raised his head and looked at him intently. “Are you in love with me?”
Tendou almost screamed, his thoughts were on a spin. “What?”
“If not,” Ushijima smiled, “Hurry up and fall in love with me.”
-
[1:14 pm] Tendou Satori: Hey Wakatoshi. If this class ends early are you free for coffee? :))
-
“Hey, Wakatoshi-kun. Did you pray for the classes to end early?”
Ushijima blushed. Tendou wondered how a person this tall and big could be so adorable. He chuckled and smiled at him. “You know, you don’t really have to do the pick-up lines anymore.”
“Oh.” Ushijima frowned, looking at him like a child that wasn’t able to get a new toy. “Are they not working?”
Tendou grinned this time. “Of course they worked. Isn’t this our first date?”
Lately, Ushijima smiled whenever something amused him. Their other classmates were surprised when the former slowly opened up, and found him endearing. Tendou was satisfied seeing him gaining friends, he also smiled in content when he saw Semi defending Ushijima from other bullies (who still never stopped, but only toned down their acts).
He held out his hand with the palm facing up. Ushijima looked at him confused, his face a bit redder than it was a while ago (he might have been too excited when he realized that Tendou said it was their first date). “What’s this?”
“Your hand looks heavy," Tendou said coolly. "Let me hold it for you.”