Chapter Text
Semi wakes up to the annoying shrill of their phone blowing up on their nightstand. They could have sworn that they’d only rolled into bed approximately three minutes ago but when they peered at the clock, it was 5am, or, four hours after rolling in from Daichi's party.
Their head felt like it was pounding against their skull and the churning in their stomach didn't exactly spell a good time.
They wanted so desperately to ignore the constant ringing and notifications that wouldn't shut up but they knew they'd never be able to get back to sleep with the constant noise and they'd have to look at their screen anyway to put it on silent so they may as well face whatever fire was constantly going off somewhere.
Tendou: SEMI SEMI WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
Shirabu: I'm going to enjoy watching this downfall so much!!!!!
Ushijima: Semi, I think we need to have a talk at practice
Suga: EITA THAT WAS BRAVE
Suga: I'M PROUD OF YOU BABE LOOK AT US
Semi was sure that that their stomach dropped so far that it wasn't coming back.
They were scared to look, that much they knew.
The other notifications around the endless text messages and missed calls from both Suga and Tendou pointed them towards their Instagram.
"It can't be that bad, surely." They whispered to themself before opening the app.
How wrong they were.
"Oh fuck," they shouted, immediately regretting the way it rang around their pounding head.
On their homepage, staring at them, taunting them was a post from them. Time stamped at 01:01am.
A picture that they'd insisted Suga take with them, the two of them kissing against Daichi's kitchen counter. Captioned with "who cares about the haters"
"I'm going to die. I'm going to actually die."
That's when their stomach finally gave in, not letting them roll back into their cocoon of despair until an hour before they had to be up again for practice.
Semi couldn't even count the amount of days they had dreaded getting up and going to school, there had been so many. When they wanted to sign up for the volleyball team, when they knew that Shirabu was going to replace them as first choice setter, when they came out to the team and when they got outed to the school via somebody who had overheard their conversation about being non-binary and what that means with Tendou but that feeling never got easier and the amount of anxiety coiling around their stomach made them sure they were going to vomit again.
As soon as they walked out of the dorm building and onto campus, they could already feel the stares of students around them, students who didn't even know who they were but gossip was something that was constantly spread around Shiratorizawa. A lot of the students thrived on it. Semi had been their victim more than once so of course, they were anxious to sink their teeth into them yet again.
At least the coolness in the air was helping settle their hangover, they guessed.
The sound of volleyballs hitting the hardwood floors of the gym made Semi want to just turn around and crawl back into the hole that was their bed but they knew there was no getting away from this. They didn't want their coach to find out what was going on - definitely nervous about the consequences of that and they knew at least half of the team would stake them out later anyway, so, they may as well get this shit show over with.
As soon as they entered the room, the noise stopped and their stomach bolted.
Everyone was staring at them.
There was a mix of emotions across the team, some looked amused, some looked furious and some just looked overall confused.
Semi gave them, what they hoped was a nervous smile before slipping into the gym, trying to pretend that this wasn't happening. Because it wasn't. Everything was fine. Everything was going to be just fine. So what if he was dating one of the setters of the team that had just beaten them so they weren't going to Nationals like they were meant to be.
Suga understood them in a way they didn't think anybody else did. Suga knew how it felt to be suddenly replaced as the main setter of the team, knew how it felt to be glad your team was doing well but also hating that you're not part of the main action. Semi could barely recall how they even started dating, they'd started talking when they were both in second year, had found each other at a stupid high school party because they were both friends with the host and it had sparked from there.
Until suddenly, Semi was calling him to tell him that they were non-binary and didn't know how to tell anyone.
Until two weeks later when Suga was asking them out.
And since then, almost six months ago, the two of them had been sneaking around as much as possible. Sure, some people knew they were friends and Daichi knew of their relationship but the two of them tried to keep as low a profile as possible, only openly being seen together when it was at a Karasuno only party, mostly the ones Daichi hosts but apart from that, they just sneak around each other's houses, if it had done one thing for Semi it was that they were now excellent at sneaking in and out of the Shiratorizawa dorms without being seen.
It had been hard but it had definitely been worth it and that's what Semi tried to focus on the most apart from at this moment, where they sort of wished it had never happened.
"Semi Semi!" Tendou shouted from where he was stood, practising with Goshiki. "Isn't it a good job us third years agreed to carry on with training, hey?" He winked and Semi wanted to die.
"Yeah, I'm so glad," Semi muttered under their breath, going to grab a jersey even though their head felt like it was going to actually fall off.
"Honestly, this is too good." Semi's face turned to a thunder cloud at the sound of Shirabu standing next to them. Without looking, they could tell the smirk that Shirabu obviously had across his face, he'd been waiting for this, for Semi's downfall as if taking their place on the first team line up wasn't enough. "The infamous Semi Eita has fallen from grace."
"You don't get to use my first name." Semi snapped back at him, their brain being unable to come up with any kind of insult to throw back in his face. "This has absolutely nothing to do with you so why don't you stay out of it."
"Shouldn't have posted something so public then, should you?" Shirabu sneered.
"Please, just leave me alone." Semi sighed, turning to see the thunderous look splashed around Washijo's face and they quickly wished for the entire ground to swallow them whole. This was a disaster. "Oh shit," they hissed.
"Oh shit indeed," Shirabu's laugh echoed around the gym and Semi wanted to punch him, surely punching him wouldn't get them into anymore trouble than they already were with their coach, surely. "Off you go Semi Semi," Shirabu winked before joining back up with Ushijima who was currently in conversation with Tendou, probably about what was happening but Semi didn't care enough to find out before they faced their Coach.
"Morning Coach," they tried to laugh awkwardly, scratching the back of their neck.
"Semi from the look on your face, I know you know what this is about."
"Coach I'm sorry honestly."
"Sorry doesn't really help us in this situation." Semi didn't have many positive feelings towards their Coach, sure, he had done a good job maintaining constant brilliance at the school with the volleyball team but he was also borderline abusive of them all, pushing they way harder than was necessary plus he had replaced Semi as starting setter in their final year of high school, knowing they probably would have won against Karasuno if he hadn't and now, now they were going to punish them for some stupid mistake and they didn't have the energy for it. "Everyone else, carry on with practice as normal!"
Semi knew they wouldn't but they hoped still.
"So, not only have you snuck out of the dorms on a school night none the less, you've been drinking and you have also embarrassed yourself and this entire team by kissing that boy." Semi could tell they weren't finished and was too scared to interrupt. "So, you better find a way to sort this and yourself out otherwise, there will be dire consequences for you and your college applications." Semi knew a threat when they heard one and the tone of voice didn't help the amount of anxiety that was swirling around their stomach, they could have thrown up again there and then but they didn't think that would help the situation.
"Sorry Coach."
"Sort it out. And soon, Eita." Semi nodded quickly and turned away, they didn't dare look at any of their teammates as they joined Tendou and Goshiki in their practice.
At least the rest of practice went by without much of a hitch.
"What am I going to do?" Semi groaned as most of the team sat around for lunch.
Something Semi genuinely enjoyed about the team was that they were like a family. Sure, all of them had friends outside of the team and they didn't hang out all of the time, but, they spent most lunch times together and often squeezed into someone's dorm room for movie night. Plus, all of them, even Shirabu, had been more than supportive when they came out as non-binary, everyone quickly shut down anyone who thought that they could have an opinion on Semi's gender identity and they loved them for that.
"You could break up with Suga," Taichi mentioned from where he was sat between Shirabu and Goshiki.
"Not happening." If there was one thing Semi was sure of, it was that they didn't want to break up with Suga, they loved Suga and even though this was going to be a huge shit show, they knew that it was worth it for Suga. "I love him too much."
"I just want to understand how none of us knew," Goshiki whispered to himself and Semi quickly glared at him.
"Because I didn't want you to, obviously," they snapped, glaring down at their rice.
"You could pretend to date one of us," Tendou suggested, a massive grin on his face.
Semi almost spit out their food.
"What?"
"You know like in a book? Two people fake date to cover up the mess they've created and Eita, this is definitely a mess."
"That's never, ever going to work. For one thing, in books, that never works out, the two of them always fall for each other and two, I don't want to make Suga uncomfortable."
"So ask him first, idiot." Shirabu muttered and Semi glared.
Semi could have cried when they got the text confirmation from Suga that they had his blessing to go for it. That he might have to do it himself because apparently, the two of them couldn't be happy together without being heavily judged by others.
"Nobody is going to want to fake date me anyway," Semi said, ignoring the triumphant look on Tendou's face.
"I'll do it." Semi was sure the entire world had stopped turning in that moment as they looked down the line to Shirabu. If it wasn't for the look on Shirabu's face, they would be sure that they had imagined that he had even made the suggestion.
"You Shirabu Kenjirou is going to agree to this?"
"Sure, why not?" Shirabu looked so amused that Semi wanted to immediately say no, they knew that the look on Shirabu's face didn't mean good things but, they weighed up in their brain, they were desperate enough.
"Nobody will believe it, we hate each other."
"Woah sugar," Shirabu said, his smirk telling Semi everything they needed to know. "Hate is such a strong word, is it not?"
"Fine, fine but as soon as this seems like it's not going to work, I'm breaking it off."
"Deal."