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Tendou looked at himself in the mirror. He was going to do it today, he promised himself. He promised Wakatoshi.
Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy though. He thought to himself.
Tendou knew it was right, Wakatoshi was just too nice to call him a monster. And he didn’t want anyone who wouldn’t tell him to his face what they thought of him.
Plus, this was going to be good, no? Wakatoshi would’ve been held down by him sticking to him.
Right?
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“I’m sorry Wakatoshi-Kun, I just don’t think we should be together anymore.”
Ushijima didn’t know what to say - what to do. “Oh,” was all he said, before adding, “I’m sorry.”
“What?” Tendou asked, confused.
Ushijima repeated himself, “I’m sorry.”
“But, why? I’m breaking up with you.”
“I don’t know what I did wrong is why,” Ushijima said, his usually straight face taking on a tinge of sadness, “but it was enough to make you not want me anymore. So I’m sorry.”
Tendou sighed, “no that’s not-” tendou grabbed Ushijima’s face, “you’re perfect the way you are Wakatoshi.”
Ushijima looked at Tendou, staring at him in the eyes, quietly asking, “then why?”
“I-” Tendou grumbled, sighed, and took his hands from Ushijima’s face, missing the way his face got even sadder, and his eyes brimmed with tears. “I just can’t explain it to you.”
Tendou wouldn’t face Ushijima, stuck in his own head and his own worries. There was a few minutes of tense silence before Tendou got up with a huff, going to the door. He took a pause to look at Ushijima, who wasn’t looking at him but down at where Tendou had been sitting. Tendou sighed again, opened his mouth to say something, but shut it, shook his head, and left, closing the door behind him.
A soft, quiet, sad voice whispered in the empty room moments later, “what did I do wrong?”
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It was hard to tell, but Ushijima was a little… off during practice. He still had the same intensity and skill as he usually did, but Tendou out of everybody knew he was different.
“Hey Tendou, do you know what happened with Ushijima?”
Tendou let his eyes slide to Semi, the only other person who could really tell if something was off - besides Shirabu, probably. Tendou got up with an exaggerated huff, using large, vague motions as he spoke.
“I have no clue, why don’t you ask him yourself?”
Semi looked thoughtful for a moment, “You know, that might not be a bad idea.”
Tendou stopped, looking confused, “What do you mean?”
Semi looked at Tendou with confusion, “He may be a little confused sometimes but he’s not overly complicated. He’ll probably answer whatever questions you have with as much honesty as he can muster.”
“Huh,” Tendou said, dropping his arms from the form they were held up in, “I, uh, I guess you’re right.”
“Tendou?” Semi asked, a tad concerned as he watched Tendou turn his gaze to Ushijima. But Tendou wasn’t listening, watching Ushijima instead, a pit forming in his stomach. Did he mess the only good thing in his life up?
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Ushijima finished with everything a little late, not feeling a need to rush back to his dorm. Becoming the last one out for the night.
Or so he thought.
Standing there was Semi, staring at him like he was worried. Semi slowly approached him, not out of hesitation, just because his pace was already set from the particularly grueling practice. Ushijima being off messed up the whole team a couple times, incurring the wrath of the coach.
“Hey, Ushijima, what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
Semi shifted on his feet before sitting next to Ushijima, “It was just, you were off today at practice. Did anything happen?”
Semi didn’t anticipate the sad look that washed over Ushijima’s face. His eyes widened as Ushijima frowned a bit and looked ready to cry.
“I messed up somehow.”
“Wait, somehow?”
Ushijima just nodded, squirming a bit, “I was broken up with today. But I don’t know what I did wrong.”
Semi watched, stunned and saddened by the tone of his voice, gasping audibly when Ushijima turned to him with tears falling.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
Semi floundered before sputtering out, “No- no! There’s nothing wrong with you Ushijima.”
Ushijima stared at Semi’s face before looking back down, as if not convinced. His voice was almost too soft to hear, “Then why did he break up with me?”
“Who?”
Ushijima shook his head, instead saying, “I know I’m not normal and that I seem… scary to people, but I thought he didn’t mind. Is that why?”
The tears were faster, fatter as Ushijima spoke. Semi could hear the sniffling, “did he leave me because I’m scary? Or that I’m not emotional? Or-”
“Ushijima!” Semi yelled, catching the ace’s attention, grabi=bing his face and making him look at only him, “I don’t know who made you feel like you’ve done something wrong, or that something is wrong with you, but they’re wrong! There’s nothing wrong with you. Yeah people think you’re a bit scary and you’re not the most well-versed in social cues or stupid stuff like that, but there’s nothing wrong with you! You’re a strong and wonderful ace for our crazy team, and you’re trying to understand people, even if it’s hard for you.”
Semi let go of Ushijima’s face and backed away. “Now who?”
“Who?”
“Who’s the asshole that made you feel like this?”
Ushijima looked down at the ground again, mumbling out something intelligible. Semi had a confused face on before saying, “I can’t hear you.”
Ushijima’s mouth twisted before he sighed and said a bit louder, “Tendou isn’t an asshole.”
Semi stopped, sighed, and put his hand on the bridge of his nose and pinched.
“What’s wrong?” Ushijima asked.
Semi sighed and pinched harder, “I know what this is about and we are fixing this tonight.”
Ushijima’s confused face lasted the entire walk back to his dorm, being dragged by Semi who was just grumbling.
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“Tendou Satori I am going to beat your ass.”
Ushijima, still confused, watched as Semi yelled at Tendou. Who, in turn, was so surprised by Semi that he fell off the bed in a tangled blanket.
“What did I do-” Tendou stopped from his struggle, seeing Ushijima standing there, confused. Tendou looked surprised, then a little confused, then he slowly got up and walked over.
“Waka-” he cleared his throat, “Ushijima, were you crying?”
“Thanks to you he was!” Semi would not be forgotten in this. He was pissed. “How dare you do this again. And, not only did you do this to yourself, you also did it to Ushijima!”
The poor, confused, Ushijima tried to speak up, “What did he do?” He was ignored.
“Well sorry Semi, I forgot that I had to run my personal life by you! Plus, you know why I did it!”
“Yeah, because you were being an idiot again! And, at this point, if these are the decisions you make, then I am going to require you to tell me before you make them!”
The yelling went back and forth until Ushijima stepped between the two, asking quietly, “Can someone please explain? I’m,” he sighed, looking exhausted, “I want to get to bed soon.”
Semi glared at Tendou, who sighed and looked at Ushijima, “I broke up with you because I was worried that you didn’t like me.”
“But I do.”
“Well I didn’t know!”
Ushijima just stared at him, looking like a kicked puppy, “I’m sorry, I know I’m not good at that.”
“No- it’s- I-” Tendou huffed, biting his lip and looking away before looking at Ushijima, “I have bad experiences with people, and I’m always worried that they’re not honest with me. So I get scared and I, well, I break things off so they can’t hurt me.”
There was silence before Ushijima grabbed Tendou’s arm, “I would never lie to you, about anything. I know I’m not good at feelings but you mean so much to me. I’m sorry I made you feel like this.”
Tendou looked at Ushijima and sighed, before bringing him into a hug, squeezing him tight and saying, “I’m sorry for not talking about it.”
They hugged for a minute before Semi said, “Alright, good night you two, don’t fuck too loud.”
“Semi-Semi! How else would you know how well the conversation went?”
“God I could kill you.”
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