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Kawanishi sighs as he changes into his school uniform. He knows he doesn’t have to, considering he’ll go straight to his dorm after this anyway, but either way he changes because he just got showered and there’s no way he’s changing back into his sweaty practice kit right now.
From behind him he can hear shuffling, but other than that there’s not any noise in the clubroom, he notes. But he guesses it’s to be expected considering practice has been long over and this is just extra training for him and Goshiki - well more so Goshiki than himself if he’s being completely honest.
He’s a third year now (he shudders at the thought, damn he’s getting old) and the new vice captain of their team even if it’s only been a month since the new year started - either way he’s been helping Goshiki improve his serve and blocks while also learning a bit himself. It’s a nice little system they have going on, though Shirabu likes to think otherwise.
Kawanishi’s ninety percent sure he’s just pissy because his absolutely favorite senpai, Semi, just graduated.
“Are you going back to your dorm room, Kawanishi-senpai?” Goshiki asks conversely from behind him.
Kawanishi turns around as he buttons up his shirt, facing the black haired boy, who’s fumbling with his belt. “Yeah, I am, I have a quiz to study for,” Kawanishi answers, “why?” He inquires, because the past couple of weeks, he and Goshiki have gotten close and he thinks he can call them friends rather than acquaintances by now. Plus he's realized that maybe he gives into everything Goshiki wants. Just maybe. Actually it was Shirabu who pointed it out, but he'd rather not go into details about that.
Goshiki looks up from his belt, up at Kawanishi with an embarrassed smile, a slight blush dusting his cheeks. “Oh nothing,” he mumbles, waving his hand dismissively.
“You sure?” Kawanishi asks, raising an eyebrow. Something about the way Goshiki's acting tells him that the other does in fact have something he wants to say, or well ask more like, but he's refraining for some weird reason.
“Yes, yes. Don’t worry about it, senpai,” Goshiki insists, despite Kawanishi still not being convinced. He’ll let it slide though, after all it is Goshiki - even if Goshiki and he started talking due to unfortunate circumstances and quite recently, Kawanishi likes to think he knows the other fairly well. So if the ever so blunt Goshiki isn’t willing to say something, maybe it’s for the best.
“Okay,” Kawanishi murmurs softly. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to text me,” he says seriously. Maybe just maybe he’s a little soft on his kouhai.
“Yes of course, Kawanishi-senpai,” Goshiki says, offering him a smile and he can't help but give one back.
Kawanishi nods, not bothering with tying his tie, instead just packing up his things, putting them in his bag, along with his wet towel, just as Goshiki slams his locker shut. Kawanishi hums some song that's been stuck in his head for the past week, as he slips on his shoes, tossing his hairbrush in his bag too and shoving his phone in his back pocket.
The ginger grabs his bag, putting it over his shoulder, as he walks towards the front door along with Goshiki. They’re both silent as they walk out the club room.
“I’ll see you later, Goshiki-kun,” Kawanishi says over his shoulder, waving at Goshiki, going in the direction of his dorm room.
“Yeah, goodbye, Kawanishi-senpai, good luck with your quiz!” Goshiki yells, waving back at him.
Later when Kawanishi returns to his dorm room, he tries not to dwell too much about what was bothering Goshiki.
Kawanishi and Goshiki eat their lunch outside in the gazebo, the nice spring breeze hitting their faces as cherry blossom leaves fall inside the gazebo (the rest of their friends - namely Shirabu being busy with school stuff). So instead of going to the cafeteria, they decided to walk around, which leads them to the gazebo where no one is sitting and they decide to settle there. Goshiki rants about his day and Kawanishi listens intently, occasionally commenting, while eating his lunch - which are some snacks, since he didn't get anything from the cafeteria. The snacks in questions are not healthy in the slightest and he knows his volleyball coach will eat him up for this, but right now he doesn't care because he's certain he deserves these right now.
Call it self care or whatever. He's treating himself for doing good on his quiz and surviving morning practice that consisted of a hundred serves because they lost a practice much the day prior - their coach is a demon. A demon with no sense of preservation.
They're sitting there contently, chatting about, when suddenly a group of students walk by - by the looks of things, they look like second years. They don't spare them any glances and instead continue walking on. Kawanishi wouldn't have wasted his time and energy to give them his attention under normal circumstances, but he decides that these are in fact not normal circumstances.
"Did you see the new volleyball team line up? Especially our ace?"
Kawanishi prides himself on keeping himself composed and calm. He really does, so he isn't sure why his fist curls up in a fist, just by the mention of Goshiki - maybe it's because by the looks of the guys' faces, whatever they're about to say is going to be anything but kind. Goshiki on the other hand seems to have overheard as well, and stares at them, intrigued, but also visibly swallows.
"Yeah I did, he's really shit isn't he? I don't understand why they made him the ace in the first place,"
"I know right! He's so full of it, I'm in his class actually, he thinks he's better than everyone else, like oh my god, shut the fuck up, you're not,"
"He's a total loser isn't he? He doesn't deserve to be at this school,"
"He really is! He makes me wanna punch him in the face,"
Kawanishi is a calm person. He rarely ever gets angry. So he isn't sure why is blood is absolutely boiling right now, or why he's standing up, his jaw clenched. Maybe it's the fact that those guys just talked absolute bullshit about his dear kouhai, Goshiki or maybe the pained expression on Goshiki's face, desperately trying to hold back from crying - Kawanishi can tell. But it doesn't really matter, because he's already going after them, with full intent to show them their place.
It's all a blur really. All he's seeing is red. One minute he's sitting with Goshiki, the other he's grabbing a second year by the front of their shirt, while their friends stare at the scene with shock and surprise, yelling at him, while the second year he's grabbing just seems to be completely bewildered.
"You wanna punch him, huh? What if I punched you instead?" Kawanishi practically growls, suddenly protective over Goshiki. There's many things Kawanishi prides himself on. One of them being him never getting in fights. Well, at least that was the case around two minutes ago.
The second year's expression changes from surprise to smug within seconds, apparently not buying the threat at all. "Huh? Do it then, I don't think you have the balls man,"
If he was in his right mind, he wouldn't have done what he does next, but he's not in his right mind, so he brings his fist up to the guys nose, hard and fast, letting go of his shirt, just as he punches the guy, making him fall down, blood running down his nose. He doesn't hear the guy screaming in agony, he doesn't hear his friends yelling is shock. What he does hear is a frantic, "Kawanishi-senpai!" and a tug on his shirt.
When Kawanishi looks over his shoulder, he sees a teary eyed Goshiki, looking at him terrified and worried and just like that all his anger disappears and instead he's left with guilt - not guilt for punching the guy, but instead for making Goshiki cry. "Senpai, are you okay?!"
Kawanishi takes a deep breath, before nodding. "Yeah, I am," he says, not too worried about himself right now, rather why on Earth is Goshiki on the verge of a breakdown.
Goshiki instantly looks down at his bloody fist and sucks in a deep breath. "Kawanishi-senpai I--please let me help you," he pleads, looking back up at him, their proximity close and it's strangely intimate. When Goshiki's looking at him so helpless and concerned, who is Kawanishi to say no?
So with that he nods, following Goshiki away from the scene, running as quickly as he can from the area - not just to get to his dorm room quicker, but also to get away from the guy in case some teacher comes. Of course he'll take full accountability, but he's certain Goshiki would try to put some of the blame on himself if they do get caught right now.
They walk to the dormitories, even though it's currently lunch and they can't go there, but fuck the rules, he's already broke one today already, another one can't really hurt. So with that, they walk up there, Kawanishi unlocking his dorm room door as soon as they get there. He sits down on the bed and Goshiki exits the room to go to the communal bathroom, he supposes.
When Goshiki comes back, it's in fact with a first aid kit with him. He closes the door behind him, looking downwards so Kawanishi can't really see his face, especially with those bangs (which Kawanishi has found himself saying are cute on multiple occasions, much to Shirabu's disgust). Goshiki is silent when he grabs Kawanishi's hand. The action shouldn't make his body react, but it does, sending jolts of electricity down his spine and he lets out a shake breath. Goshiki bites his bottom lip as he stares at the damage, cleaning his knuckles with a wet cloth. Kawanishi doesn't say anything, just watches Goshiki do what he's doing.
Goshiki cleans up all the blood using some wipes, before throwing them in the trashcan which isn't far and then puts on some ointment on his bruised knuckles at which Kawanishi hisses because of the burn, before Goshiki starts bandaging him up.
Bandaging his hand shouldn't be intimate. Somehow it still is. Kawanishi can't bring himself to not like it.
"Why would you do that?" Goshiki finally says, his voice barely audible as he asks Kawanishi the question, still not looking up.
"What?"
Goshiki looks up and Kawanishi can't help but blink, because Goshiki is on the verge of tears and he looks downright distraught. "Why would you get in that fight?! They were talking about me, not you!" Goshiki yells in frustration and Kawanishi is surprised to say the least. He would've thought Goshiki would be itching to punch those kids too. What?
"I care about you," Kawanishi answers truthfully, keeping his voice soft, trying his hardest to understand the situation.
"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt!" Goshiki shouts, tears now falling down his face. Kawanishi is taken aback. Never in his life has someone been worried about him for doing something as foolish as what he did, but still.
Kawanishi instantly wraps his arms around Goshiki, engulfing him into a hug. Kawanishi has never been good at comforting people. He knows that. So the other thing he can do is offer whatever he can and hope that's enough. Goshiki cries into his shirt and Kawanishi lets him. All he does is offer is warmth and feel his heart ache. It always physically pains him whenever Goshiki cries. All he wants is for the other to be happy, to be smiling, not be like this. He feels guilty for making him cry, he really does. It was never his intention, but it still doesn't excuse it.
"Please don't ever do that again," Goshiki sobs, his voice muffled.
"I won't, I'm sorry," Kawanishi murmurs in his shoulder, closing his eyes, holding Goshiki tighter, hoping that conveys whatever he wants to say but can't put into words.
Goshiki pulls away, his eyes puffy and red, his cheeks flushed, wiping his tears with his hands. "Do you have any idea how terrified I was?"
"I'm sorry," he says again, this time his hands reaching to wipe the tears off of Goshiki's face. "I'm sorry, I promise I won't ever do that again,"
Goshiki smiles and Kawanishi's heart does a flip. "I'm...still--thank you--I mean I care about you a lot, senpai, you really did scare me even though I know you had good intentions,"
I care about you a lot, senpai. Kawanishi's brain repeats that over and over again and he feels his face heating up and butterflies erupt in his stomach and one thought.
Oh. Oh.
"You're awfully affectionate towards Goshiki," Shirabu had scoffed earlier this week. Oh.
A realization dawns on him.
He likes Goshiki.
He instantly hugs Goshiki again, hiding his face in the other's shoulder. "I know sorry," he mumbles quickly, trying to hard the fact that he didn't just realize his feelings for the boy in front of him.
Goshiki laughs. It's light and breathy, but beautiful.
Fuck, Kawanishi's whole face heats up.
He likes Goshiki. Shit.