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“And then Tsutomu was totally crying and then the earth kind of just cracked open and it was all like-” Tendou gestured with his hands at the air before giving up and letting them drop back down to his sides. “God. I can’t even explain it. It was a wicked cool dream though, Wakatoshi.”
The middle blocker lifted his head up from the bed to look at Ushijima’s back where the captain sat at his dorm room’s desk studying, and Tendou waited for the ace to hum in acknowledgement before he flopped his head back onto his pillow and giggled. “Like, wicked cool.” He paused, considering. “Well, except for the whole Tsutomu crying part. Even I can’t get myself to enjoy watching Tsutomu cry. It’s just one of those things that seems- I don’t know, like it would go against the laws of the universe, you know?”
Staring up at the bottom of the top bunk, Tendou listened to the sound of Ushijima’s pencil continue to scratch against his paper. Normally, Reon would be in the bed above him, but the vice captain had left to do his homework with Semi, which left Ushijima alone in the dorm he and Reon shared. Which, of course, meant Tendou practically had no choice but to burst open the door and insert himself into the ace’s room.
To be completely honest, Tendou would probably have still come even if Reon was there, but this way was nicer: this way, after all, he could sprawl across the captain’s mattress and pretend that this was the room he and Ushijima shared, that this was the bed he and Ushijima shared.
Oh my god. Him. And Ushijima. Sharing a bed. Tendou almost grabbed the ace’s pillow to shove it over his face and scream at the thought. (He could probably do it, actually, if he wanted to. He was pretty sure Ushijima wouldn’t even look over.)
Instead, however, Tendou turned his head to the side to raise his eyebrows at the taller boy’s back and grin. “So,” he drawled, “what about you? Any dreams last night, Wakatoshi-kun?”
“Yes.” Ushijima didn’t even glance away from his homework.
“Really?” Tendou’s finger began to trace imaginary patterns over Ushijima’s uncrinckled blue blankets. It really was ridiculous how smooth the ace kept his sheets. A bit obnoxious, actually. Like a big oh-hi-my-name-is-Ushijima-Wakatoshi-and-I-am-so-competent-here-take-a-look-at-my-ironed-neat-bed. Tendou didn’t mind though, not as long as he was still allowed to sit on them. “Was I in it?”
“Yes,” Ushijima replied, his pencil’s movements still steady. “You were.”
Tendou’s finger paused its tracing. “Oh?” He swallowed hard. “Well that’s exciting.” Him. In Ushijima’s dream. Ushijima Wakatoshi. Dreaming about him. Tendou Satori. And Ushijima Wakatoshi. Dreaming. Sleeping. Thinking about Tendou.
Exciting?
Please.
The middle blocker was literally this close to grabbing the ace’s pillow and shoving it over his face and shrieking and doing god-knows-what-else (and who knows? Maybe, maybe Ushijima would actually notice because apparently he had dreamed about him, Ushijima Wakatoshi had dreamed about him, holy-) but somehow, Tendou managed to keep his tone (somewhat, at least) in check. “Well what was the dream about?” he asked oh-so-casually, biting his lip.
Ushijima’s voice remained neutral, and Tendou could still hear his writing continue on in its consistent pace. “That I was washing your hair,” the ace answered, still not turning around.
The middle blocker looked up to narrow his eyes at the taller boy’s back. “What?”
“I said I dreamt that I was washing your hair, Tendou,” Ushijima repeated.
Tendou just blinked at him for a long moment, silent. “Um?” Lifting a hand to his hair, he raised his eyebrows. “Was that supposed to be some sort of pointed message or something?”
“No, it was not. I have no issues with your hygiene habits.”
“Oh.” Tendou continued staring at the back of the ace’s shirt. “Why were you, uh, why were you dreaming about washing my hair then?”
“I am not sure.”
“Oh. Okay.” Tendou sat up in the bed, smiling a little. He paused. Screw it. Let’s jump. “So do you wanna try?”
Ushijima’s pencil finally slowed. “Try what?” the ace asked, his voice still deep.
Tendou gestured towards his head. “Washing my hair.” He paused, giggling to himself. “In real life, I mean.”
Ushijima didn’t respond for a long moment. Then, however, after a prolonged pause, the captain set his pencil down on the desk to turn around and fully face Tendou. “Is that an offer?”
Tendou rolled his eyes, laughing. “Of course it is, Wakatoshi-kun.” When Ushijima just continued to stare at him though, the middle blocker arched his eyebrows and shot him a wider grin. “Well? Whaddaya say?”
Ushijima only studied the redhead’s expression for another second before nodding. “Okay.” Standing up, he started towards the door. “Let’s go then.”
Tendou stared as Ushijima twisted the doorknob and pushed it open. Hold up. Was this actually happening? He pinched his arm quickly. Okay, so yeah. This was actually happening.
Ushijima paused in the doorway to look back at where the middle blocker was still sitting on the bed, gaping up at him with wide eyes. “Tendou?” The ace’s eyebrows furrowed, and his tone was still unreadable. “Are you rescinding your offer?”
“I- no! Absolutely not!” Tendou immediately sprung up off of the bed and quickly walked out of the room. ”I am so not res- the offer is very much there; my offer is- yes. Just- yes.”
Ushijima narrowed his eyes slightly. “If it makes you uncomfortable-“
“Uncomfortable? Me?” The middle blocker almost wanted to laugh. This was absolutely going to be the most uncomfortable experience of his entire life, hands-down, no contest, and Tendou Satori was fully intent upon relishing every single moment of it.
So, shooting the taller boy a smile, Tendou started down the hallway towards the bathroom. “Come on, Wakatoshi,” he called out over his shoulder.
After another pause, Tendou could hear some footsteps begin to pad behind him, and the middle blocker felt the inexplicable need to pinch himself again.
Ouch. Tendou winced as he pulled back his hand. So this was actually, seriously, honest-to-goodness happening then. Okay. Yeah, okay. Tendou could adapt to this new development. Right, yeah. He could totally, certainly, one-hundred-percent adapt to this. This new development. Yeah. He took a deep breath. I can so adapt to this.
Tendou Satori could absolutely not adapt to this.
He was standing in the bathroom, across from Ushijima - Ushijima Wakatoshi, may he add, because that needed to be re-iterated, even only in his mind, seeing as he was standing across from goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi - and Tendou was trying very, very hard not to look at the shower stalls.
Tendou had clearly not thought this through. He had not thought this through at all. What had even meant? That Ushijima Wakatoshi - and again, this was goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi he was talking about here - should take a shower with him?
The middle blocker’s eyes widened. Oh my god. Is that what he had meant? Is that what Ushijima Wakatoshi - goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi - had (oh my god) thought was implied? Had goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi actually agreed - actually wanted, even - to do this? Oh my god.
“So.” Tendou turned his lips upwards into what he hoped was a very casual, not-at-all-expecting-or-overthinking-or-anything-remotely-close-to-an-emotion-that-would-scare-goddamn-Ushijima-Wakatoshi-away smile. “Where did you, uh,” he paused to wince at the unfortunate wording, “do it in the dream?”
“I’m not sure.” Ushijima’s answer was blunt, his face still as expressionless as ever. “I wasn’t paying attention to the setting.”
“Right. Of course. Well.” Tendou gestured at the air - and not at the shower stalls, god, not anywhere even remotely near the shower stalls - vaguely. “Do we need shampoo or something?”
Nodding, Ushijima turned around. “I’ll go get a chair too,” he said, and then the bathroom door was swinging shut behind him.
Tendou’s eyebrows furrowed. A chair? Did they need a chair? Was there some sort of seating arrangement he still didn’t know about? Who was going to be sitting in this chair? Ushijima? Him? Wait. Tendou’s eyes quickly darted around the bathroom. There wasn’t anybody else in here, was there?
After confirming that the restroom stalls were indeed empty, Tendou let out a breath of relief, his shoulders relaxing as he leaned his weight onto where his arms rested on the sink. God. He was overthinking. He should stop. He knew he should: the moment he started overthinking was the moment he’d know he’d already lost, after all. It was no use.
Laughing, Tendou shook his head. That was right. He was Tendou Satori: he was a monster, and a monster was not made for thinking. He was made for taking a chance and jumping and adapting to whatever came next, and he had taken a chance and jumped and now he just had to adapt to whatever came next.
His eyes darted over to the shower stalls. Yeah. He’d just have to adapt. Even if that was what came next.
Especially if that was what came next.
The redhead’s mouth went dry.
And there he went overthinking again. Tendou wanted to slam his head against the mirror.
“Here.” The middle blocker’s eyes shot up to find that Ushijima had re-entered the restroom carrying his desk’s chair in front of his chest, a bottle of shampoo in his hand. After setting the chair down so that the top of its back rested against the sink right next to the one Tendou was leaning on, the ace placed the shampoo on the counter and turned to look at the redhead. “Are you ready?”
Tendou stared at Ushijima for a moment before dragging his gaze down to the chair, then to the sink, then to the chair again, and then back to Ushijima once more. Oh. The middle blocker’s shoulders relaxed. So this is what he meant. Okay. Yeah, okay. This was totally manageable. He was Tendou Satori, after all: he was a monster, and he could adapt to this, to a chair in front of a sink. Yeah. This would be a piece of cake.
“Yup,” Tendou chirped, sitting down and shooting a little smile at Ushijima’s inscrutable face. “Just try not to get my hair stuck in the drain, okay?”
Ushijima nodded, his expression serious. “Okay, Tendou,” he said. “I will not.”
His smile widening, Tendou closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Thanks, Wakatoshi,” he murmured, wiggling a little in the seat to get comfortable.
It was quiet in the restroom for a bit before Tendou could hear the sink’s handles being turned above him, and then there was the sound of water rushing up the spout of the faucet until suddenly it was pouring out onto the top of his head. Tendou could feel his hair grow heavier with every passing second as the strands grew more and more damp, but suddenly his head felt lighter, and the middle blocker had already sucked in a little breath when he realized that it was because something was lifting it up, something was lifting up his hair and that something was Ushijima Wakatoshi’s hand.
The ace was being gentle, careful not to pull too hard or let the hair drop down to brush against the bottom of the sink. The tips of Tendou’s lips turned upwards in a smile. Aw. So Ushijima was being thoughtful.
The captain’s fingers lightly sifted through Tendou’s hair, tilting the bundle Ushijima had gathered in the palm of his hand so that each part was hit by the steady flow of water streaming out of the faucet, and theoretically speaking, Tendou understood that this should be an uncomfortable position. His upper body was taller than most, which meant that he had to lean his head back farther without any support, and the middle blocker could feel the cold edge of the sink pressing into the back of his neck. He was almost positive that he would wake up with a sore neck, in fact, but still. There was something nice about the sensation of his hair’s weightlesness, the feeling of its strands being lightly tugged. There was simply something inexplicably nice about it all.
“I’m going to put in some shampoo,” said Ushijima from somewhere above him, and Tendou smiled, humming in assent.
“Okay, Wakatoshi-kun,” the redhead breathed, his eyes still closed. The hand that had gathered his hair remained, but the pulling sensation left, and Tendou could hear a bottle cap being popped open. Then a cool, thick liquid was being poured across the top of his head, and the middle blocker smiled. Why had he been so nervous before again? This was nice. This was really, really-
Oh my god. Tendou’s body stiffened as Ushijima’s fingers touched his scalp. Ushijima Wakatoshi’s fingers. Moving to touch - no, massage his scalp. Oh my god.
Sensing his tenseness, the ace paused. “Tendou?” he asked, and with his eyes closed, Tendou could almost imagine that Ushijima’s voice was but a low rumble coming from the Earth’s very core.
The middle blocker swallowed. Oh my god.
“Hm?” the redhead replied, firmly keeping his eyes shut. He somehow managed to force out a small laugh. “Oh, don’t worry about me, Wakatoshi. I’m fine.”
Tendou could feel Ushijima’s gaze remain focused on his face for another quiet moment before the captain’s fingers returned to his head. “Okay,” Ushijima said as he slowly began to lather the shampoo across his scalp. Tendou tried not to shiver. The ace’s movements started slow - hesitant, even - but when the middle blocker didn’t respond, they gradually began to pick up the pace until Ushijima was drawing small circles around and around and around again atop Tendou’s skin, like he was tracing the outline of whirlpools around and around and around again and the redhead’s shoulders relaxed, his head leaning back into Ushijima’s steady hands and never before had Tendou understood so fully why he was a monster, why he took chances and jumped and adapted to whatever came next because this was what came next, Ushijima’s fingertips gently pulsing the world into his head was what came next and holy crap, Ushijima’s fingertips-
And then they paused. “Hello, Semi,” Ushijima said, and Tendou turned his head to open his eyes and find the other third year standing in the bathroom door way, the setter’s gaze slowly dragging itself up to the ace and then back down to where Tendou’s head hovered in the sink.
“Hi?” Semi finally managed to choke out.
Tendou just blinked at him. Ushijima, however, didn’t miss a beat. “How are you?” he asked.
Semi’s eyes were wide. “Fine, I think. Um.” He shifted awkwardly.
One tip of Tendou’s lips turned upwards in a crooked smile. “I think Semi-Semi here feels awkward talking to us when he’s holding in his pee,” he stage-whispered to the ace loudly, his smirk growing when the setter shot him a glare.
“Ah, I see.” Ushijima began to stroke his hands through Tendou’s hair once more. “All of the stalls are free,” he supplied helpfully.
“Right, well. I should- um.” Semi simply stared at them for a long moment in silence before taking a deep breath. “Okay so what did I just walk into?”
“We are acting out one of my fantasies,” Ushijima explained, his voice still neutral. Tendou bit back a laugh as he watched Semi’s eyes bulge.
“You- what?” Spinning around, Semi immediately pushed open the bathroom door once more. “Actually, no, please do not explain. I really do not want to know. Have fun, and uh. Be safe, I guess.“ Tendou watched the door quickly swung shut behind him before bursting out into laughter.
“Oh my god, Wakatoshi,” he choked out through his giggles. “Did you see how Semi just-“
Tendou’s cackling trailed off, however, when he turned his head back up and saw Ushijima’s expression. The ace’s hazel eyes were staring down into the redhead’s seriously, his eyebrows ever-so-slightly furrowed, as if he was considering an important problem. His uneven bangs hung down off of his face, almost like they were reaching for Tendou, and one of Ushijima’s hands was cupping the back of Tendou’s head, propping it up, the tugging the middle blocker could feel against his scalp disappearing as the captain’s other hand paused its stroking through Tendou’s hair. The middle blocker’s breath caught.
“Wakatoshi?” the redhead tried, giggling nervously.
Ushijima regarded him carefully for another moment, his face still unmoving. “You dreamed about Goshiki,” he said finally.
Tendou’s expression scrunched up. “Tsutomu? Oh, yeah, I guess.” He laughed a little. “Huh. I didn’t think you were listening.”
Ushijima’s forehead creased. “But I’m always listening to you, Tendou.”
The middle blocker’s eyes went round. “Really?” he said.
Ushijima nodded. “The earth split open, which made Goshiki start to cry, except Goshiki crying seems to go against the laws of the universe.“ He paused. “You dreamed about Goshiki, and I dreamed about you.” The taller boy continued to stare down straight into Tendou’s eyes, and Tendou stopped breathing.
No way. He was not going to think. He was not going to think and analyze and expect because as soon as he’d do that, he’d lose: it wouldn’t mean what he thought it did and Ushijima wouldn’t be standing here, holding up his head, and Tendou was not going to think. He was just going to sit here and stare up into the ace’s unwavering eyes and he was not going to take any chances.
“I didn’t tell you everything that happened in the dream,” Ushijima continued after a brief stretch of silence.
Tendou’s eyes widened. “You didn’t?” Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think.
“No. I didn’t.” Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think.
“Okay.” But Ushijima was still standing there, looking at him - goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi was looking at him, like he had all of the ace’s focus and attention and, again, this was goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi Tendou was talking about here - and Tendou took chances and jumped and he was right, damn it, Tendou was looking up into goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi’s hazel eyes and he just knew that he was damn right about this one, and so the middle blocker tilted the tips of his lips up into a smile and leaped. “Wanna show me?” he asked, and Ushijima nodded.
“Okay,” the ace said, and then he was leaning down and pulling Tendou’s head up and theoretically speaking, Tendou understood that this should be an uncomfortable position. Theoretically speaking, Tendou registered the cold edge of the sink pressing into the back of his neck, and theoretically speaking, he knew that he would wake up with a sore neck the next morning. But for now, with his eyes closed and Ushijima’s fingers in his hair, all Tendou knew was that Ushijima Wakatoshi - goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi - was brushing his lips up against Tendou Satori’s - goddamn Tendou Satori’s - and that he must really be a monster because there was no way a mere mortal got to experience this, got to know that Ushijima’s lips were chap and that kissing goddamn Ushijima Wakatoshi was less kissing than pressing and that it was slow and dry and Tendou would not change a single thing.
After a moment, Ushijima pulled back, and Tendou let his eyelashes flutter open as his lips spread into a lazy grin. “Well,” the middle blocker drawled, his hands hanging limply by his side, “that was quite a G-rated dream, Wakatoshi-kun.”
Ushijima’s expression, however, remained serious. “Your hair is very sensual, Tendou,” he pointed out, and the middle blocker laughed.
“So you gonna finish washing out the shampoo or what?”
Ushijima paused. “May I?” he asked.
Tendou’s smile widened. “Please,” he said, his eyes closing, and, as water began to rush down out of the faucet onto the top of his head once more, Tendou decided that he didn’t even need to pinch himself to know this wasn’t just another dream.