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Tendou had been crying.
He wasn’t sure why he’d started crying, he thought he’d gotten over all of it. The people calling him “monster”, “misfit”, “outcast”, “crazy” and a whole bunch of negative nicknames. He thought he’d gotten over it, he thought he’d gotten over the pain that came with all of the bullying since he was a kid. Here he was, hiding in the bathroom stall of the gymnasium, wiping away at his tears. Something he hadn’t done in just about three years. He’d been so distraught he hadn’t realized his phone going off, ringtone playing his favorite song. After finally gaining back his composure, he finally took notice of his phone vibrating. He looked down at the screen, seeing notifications of missed calls and texts from Ushijima.
He was thirty minutes late for practice. He’d never been late to practice, ever.
Tendou came out of the stall, slipping his phone back into his pocket. He splashed water in his face before drying it off with the towel in his bag, hoping to god it would help. He didn’t want to walk into the gym with puffy, red eyes.
As he made his way to the gym, Tendou thought of possible excuses he could use as to why he’d been late. After a while of thinking, he decided to just leave. He didn’t think he could face any of the others at the moment, especially Ushijima. So, Tendou did exactly that and made his way home. When he came through the door and his parents asked why he was home early from practice. Tendou told them he wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth, either.
He trotted to his room, plopping his backpack and volleyball bag down on the floor next to his desk. It wasn’t long before he found himself curled up in bed, re-reading all of the messages Ushijima had sent. He’d ignored his best friend. He left Ushijima on read.
Tendou could feel the tears in his eyes begin to well up once more. Moments before he broke down once more, he could hear the doorbell ring and faint voices coming from the front door of his house. It sounded like Ushijima and his father.
“Thank you, sir.”
Tendou could hear footsteps getting closer and closer to his door, before there was a soft knock and a small “Satori?” Tendou didn’t reply. He just turned away from his bedroom door, holding his covers close pretending to be asleep. After a few minutes or so, the door opened and Ushijima walked through the door.
“Satori? Is everything okay? I heard from your father that you weren’t feeling well. I assume that’s why you weren’t at practice, yes?”
Silence.
“I saw that you have read my texts. I really hope you are feeling okay. Typically you would reply, but today you haven’t. You were even quiet during lunch today. Whatever it is, if you feel like talking about it later then we can. I’ll leave you be for now and let you rest.”
Tendou could hear Ushijima begin to walk away. He quickly turned around, finally looking at the male.
“Ushi, wait.”
Tendou’s voice was incredibly shaky, his eyes puffy and red, and he looked incredibly tired. Maybe Tendou did feel sick, but whatever was wrong was way beyond him feeling ill. “I’m sorry for not replying and ditching practice. I should’ve told you I was going to go home. I just… didn’t want you guys to see me like this. Cause if I’m sad then you’ll be sad and I don’t want you to be sad.”
“Satori… you can tell me what’s wrong. I’ll try to help the best that I can. You know that.” Ushijima made his way to sit next to Tendou, to try his best to bring some sort of comfort to the other male.
“R...remember how I told you about the kids who used to pick on me when I was younger? Well… I saw them this morning on my way to school. They remembered exactly who I was and remembered how my way of getting them to shut up was through ‘showing off’. I thought I had gotten over all of the past memories of the way they’d make fun of me and the anxiety of it happening again, but… seeing them reminded me of how hard it was back before I met you. It reminded me of a nightmare I had a while back, that you… you joined in with them. The first person who accepted me for who I am…”
Tendou was shaking. Remembering it all was like reliving it all again. He didn’t want it, he didn’t want it at all. He didn’t want to remember the terrible bullies who’d given him such a hard time. He didn’t want to remember their faces, their names, the way they’d point their finger at him and call him a monster. Why couldn’t it all be some distant memory he could easily forget? And why’d it all come tumbling down on him now? Years after it had ended and when he finally thought he’d gotten over all the name calling and hurtful phrases.
“I would never do that to you, Satori. I remember exactly what you said, but now I’m here, and so are the others. We accept you for who you are. The quirky, fun-loving, talented volleyball player you are. We are here for you, Satori. I may not be good at expressing my feelings, but I mean this.”
That was all it took for Tendou to break down once more. Ushijima was the reminder that those stupid bullies didn’t matter anymore. Tendou had friends now, and people who cared about him for who he was. The outgoing, talented volleyball player, who was actually capable of making Ushijima express some sort of emotion and even talk.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No, Wakatoshi. You said all the right words.” Tendou rushed in to give Ushijima a hug, catching the male off guard. For the first time ever, in the almost three years that they had known each other, Ushijima hugged back.
And Tendou couldn’t have been any happier.