Chapter Text
Satori knew it made sense for people to assume he was excited, what with his personality and all. It made sense, with his mean streak, that he would love practice matches, or really any opportunity to see other teams because every one of his friends knew he loved picking on their opponents. So what would make him happier than to pick on Shiratorizawa’s eternal rival, Seijoh?
Not seeing Seijoh ever, that would make him happier, because of their brunet bitch of a captain and star setter, Oikawa Toru. More specifically, Satori would sell his soul if he never had to witness his own captain’s infatuation with the man.
Every stupid ‘you should have come to Shiratorizawa’ stung a little too much, and every glance of respect at every infuriatingly good play made him want to puke. He honestly didn’t understand what Wakatoshi saw in him. Oikawa was conceited and rude and arrogant and so egotistical that Satori is genuinely surprised when Oikawa continues to be strong enough to hold up that gigantic head of his. Oikawa is so horrible and Wakatoshi is so… not.
Wakatoshi is kind, despite how often people seem to think he is rude or disrespectful just because he is very forward. Wakatoshi doesn’t beat around the bush or waste his time with bullshit pleasantries and pretty lies to make people more comfortable in social situations even if they’re being an asshole. But that's part of his charm. People say he’s is upfront and robotic but despite all of those jeers he is still so kind. So considerate of his teammates, pushing them to do their best but making sure they don’t go too far and hurt themselves. He seems so serious but refuses to stop reading manga with Satori and always indulges his kohai when they ask him to help them practice. He was genuine and sweet and beautiful and none of that mattered for Satori. No, he never thought about that or stayed awake at night daydreaming or lamenting what will never be. And it really will never be, because of the aforementioned Captain’s aforementioned obsession with the aforementioned annoying enemy setter.
And Satori certainly didn’t hate the idea of getting to pick on and beat Seijoh, something everyone assumed he would love, because he did not have a massive crush on Wakatoshi, and Wakatoshi only ever seemed to have eyes for Oikawa. Nope, that was completely out of his head, because at least this wasn’t a practice game, so Wakatoshi will have other things to focus on than his insane crush on a maniac. So Satori resigned himself to try and enjoy this training camp. How bad could it be really? He was with his friends, he got to take on all sorts of awesome opponents, and hell it had to be cool if some teams were driving all the way from different prefectures for it. So he decided he would be happy this week, and hang out with his team.
“Satori, stop daydreaming!” Semi hollered, tugging his arm to get him to stand up.
“Okay! Okay!” Tendo shrieked, pulling his arm back and grabbing his bag, rushing off the bus before Semi could hit him. “You’re so mean to me, Eita-kun! Is that any way to treat your favorite person?” Semi snorted.
“You are on top of a lot of lists, most annoying, loudest, highest maintenance, but favorite people is not one of them.” Tendo threw a hand over his heart dramatically and faked a gasp. Pretending to be offended when he wasn’t was a good way to hide the fact that that hit uncomfortably close to home, after all, Semi was only teasing, he didn’t mean any harm (right?). Yamagata cackled as he walked by.
“Come on, now,” he said, “We have a training camp to attend, we can’t keep Ushijima away from his precious Oikawa any longer.” Tendo and Semi both burst out laughing, and Tendo ignored the pang in his heart. The team was ushered inside Aoba Johsei by Coach Saito and greeted by several other teams gathered in the gym. Several high-level teams. Tendo was shocked, some of these schools were really far away, and this would be an interesting week.
“Damn,” Apparently Semi was as surprised as he was, “Inarizaki, Itachiyama, how long were these poor kids on the bus for?”
“Don’t you think it’ll be fun to play all these good teams?” Reon was wearing an endearing smile and it sickened Tendo, and he groaned.
“Would you please stop being optimistic and mentally stable Reon?” Tendo sighed, “Complain, feel an abundant sense of dread, believe you can already feel the ache in your feet, be normal!” Reon just chuckled and patted his back, dragging the rest of them along with his light enough-of-this-we-have-to-get-going vibe.
After what felt like hours, though Reon reminded him it was only 30 minutes, of listening to coaches and staff and god-knows-who explain god-knows-what, Satori and the rest of the team actually got to put their stuff down and start playing. As the team walked to one of the gyms, the first and second years were buzzing with excitement, even Shirabu seemed a little pumped. Goshiki was blabbering excitedly about crushing their opponents with Kawanishi. Well, more like blabbering excitedly at Kawanishi, as the older boy just smiled and nodded, seeming content to let the first-year talk.
“Don’t forget,” Semi cut in while Goshiki was in the middle of ranting about some annoying libero he was still better than, “Seijoh isn’t the only school to worry about for once. These are top-level schools from across the country. Hell, this is like a faux version of Nationals.” Goshiki audibly gulped and glanced behind him at the other third years.
“Don’t scare our poor baby like that Eita-kun!” Tendo cried, bringing an arm around Goshiki’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about that Tsutomu.”
“But Semi-senpai is right! There’s a bunch of great teams here and-”
“And that is why we are here, my dear Tsutomu.” Tendo cut him off before the boy could spiral into self-doubt. “Shiratorizawa was invited here because we are a very strong team. Eita-kun was simply reminding you not to get overconfident, he’s just too mean to say it nicely.” Goshiki simled up at him.
“Wow, you’re right senpai!” Then Tendo felt a hand on his shoulder and he could swear the temperature dropped.
“Yes, Satori,” Semi grinned at him, “Very wise words.” Tendo yelped and ran behind Reon as Semi dived for him, and had to keep dodging around teammates until someone grabbed him. For a horrible second, he thought Semi had caught him, but he turned around and realized Wakatoshi had grabbed both him and Semi.
“Please calm down Eita, and Satori you should know not to antagonize Eita right before our first practice game,” Semi grumbled something, but Tendo just chirped an apology and freed himself of the man’s grip, surprisingly gentle for such a huge person, and strode toward the gym, attempting to put some distance between himself and the heat rising up his face. Flinging the doors open, he immediately lost his vigor as his team flowed in around him. Because of course with all the teams here from far away, they were playing Seijoh first.
“Yo Satori, you good man?” Goddamit, you show your true feelings for one second, and the mom friend notices.
“Of course, Eita-kun~, why wouldn’t I be? Oh! Are you trying to show you care about how brutally you assaulted me a minute ago? How kind Eita-kun!”
“Oh fuck off, Satori!” Another friendly attempt at making him deal with his mental health in a safe and healthy way successfully avoided. Tendo had actually gotten quite good at dodging his teammates’ well-meaning and kind questions. He would rather stay up till dawn reading manga or crying himself to sleep on bad days than be forced to face his fears and insecurities in a loving environment. So once the coach finished talking, he dragged himself onto the court, faking his usually playful and mocking demeanor, and prepared himself for suffering. Except maybe the universe didn’t hate him after all, because instead of putting Oikawa in, Seijoh started with a second-year setter (Yahaba?) and nobody really seemed to question why Oikawa was on the bench.
But not questioning wasn’t the same as not being curious though, and by the fifth time Wakatoshi glanced at the bench in the first 20 points, Tendo had enough. He was just so tired of it, of all of it. Of putting on this brave face every day and enjoying his life to the best of his ability when Oikawa and Wakatoshi and the whole freakin’ universe were doing their best to make it impossible for him. Of only letting himself feel when nobody was around when he was in the bathroom in the dead of night holding himself and trying not to sob too loudly for fear of waking Semi.
So maybe he was a little out of it and jumped for the block a little early, but he realized the second-year setter was off on the set, and Iwaizumi, the spiker running up, had to hit it at a really weird angle. Tendo was preparing to land when he realized where the angle of the block was aimed. So he was totally unprepared when the ball slammed into his face full force.
He plummeted to the floor and landed on his back, and an ache exploded all along his spine, but it was nothing compared to the feeling in his nose. Involuntary tears were welling up in his eyes and when he opened his mouth he tasted a bit of copper. Blood? Hopefully a nosebleed and not a tooth or something. But what he was most surprised by was the person he saw when his vision cleared. Not one of his teammates but… Iwaizumi. I guess he was the closest, Tendo mused distractedly.
“Oh shit! Are you okay? Shit, my bad.” Honestly, the level of concern in the voice of someone who was kind of a stranger warmed Tendo. But it was only for a second before Iwaizumi's face was blocked out by Wakatoshi as he and Semi crowded around him.
“Holy crap, Satori, are you alright? Oh, your nose, okay, um-” Semi, ever the worrier, immediately started panicking, but Tendo finally regained some sense and spoke up.
“I’m, ugh-” He winced as he tried to sit up, head spinning, and decided it was not the time to mockingly add 'kun' every time he said Eita's name. “I’m okay, Eita.” A hand was placed on his back, holding him up, and Wakatoshi’s deep, rumbling voice filled up his ears.
“Hold on, Satori, you were hit very hard.” Tendo would’ve gladly stayed there in pain because Wakatoshi was so close to him, but both Coaches pushed to the front of the crowd of players.
“You are certainly not fine, Tendo.” Coach Washijo chided, “You need to see the nurse. Your bleeding!” He added when Tendo opened his mouth to protest. Seijoh’s coach nodded in agreement. Then a voice piped up for the second time.
“I’ll take him, Coach. I feel bad.” Iwaizumi said sheepishly.
“Yes, show Tendo to the nurse's office please.” Seijoh’s coach ushered him to the front as Tendo finally stood, leaning a bit on Wakatoshi.
“Hold on!” Enter the devil himself, Oikawa Toru. “We can’t lose our best spiker mid-game!”
“You already took our best blocker off the board,” Semi sneered at him, then turned to the coaches, “But I agree that one of us should take him.” Coach Washijo just glared at him.
“And you know where in the nurse’s office in Aoba Johsei is, Semi?” He nodded to Iwaizumi. “This is a waste of time, please take him.” Iwaizumi slipped into the space between Satori and Wakatoshi, which seemed a little hard considering Wakatoshi didn’t let go for a moment, but his arm wound around Tendo’s back as Tendo threw an arm over Iwizumi’s shoulder. Once they had trudged outside the gym, Tendo was able to relax, released from the tension that had been building in the gym.
“Thanks for this man.” Iwaizumi seemed surprised that Tendo had spoken.
“Kinda the one who got you injured, I don’t think gratitude is required. Or expected.”
“Ehh,” Tendo shrugged a little, relieved that it barely stung, “I was distracted.” Iwaizumi snorted.
“Yeah, and I hit you in the face with a full-strength spike.”
“Then I guess we’ll consider your debt evened out, not that I don’t love the idea of a rival player owing me.” Iwaizumi laughed again and seemed to lose the tension in his body that Tendo hadn’t even realized he had noticed.
When they arrived at the nurse, she just seemed exasperated, mumbling about ‘irresponsible athletes’ and ‘high expectations pushing these dumb kids too far’. Tendo was a little offended at how well this random lady psychoanalyzed him immediately after meeting him.
“Sorry,” Iwaizumi leaned over and whispered, “Our team has a bit of a history with overuse injuries, I think she’s sick of us.” Tendo giggled at how nervous Iwaizumi seemed around her, remembering how he and Yamagata had tried to freak out the first years when Goshiki jammed his finger by saying that the nurse was very strict and always talked to the coaches at school, and that ‘so many kids are forced out of sports because of how overbearing she is’. It worked, and Semi had a hard time getting any of them to go to the nurse for a while after that, he was mad, it was worth it to see them squirming over seeing that nice lady. He reminisced for a while and lost track of time.
God he missed being carefree with his team, but it seemed like the universe wouldn’t let him rest. He realized now that he had been not-crushing on his best friend for ages, but he had only really realized it at the beginning of this year. And suddenly everything was triggering his anxiety. It was like he was back in elementary school or junior high, balancing on a tightrope a million feet off the ground, prying that he took the right steps so he didn’t fall. Except now he had something to lose, he didn’t already have a reputation as a freak. He had a decent life and friends and he had something to lose and it was terrifying. He hated the taunts and the disgusted looks, and the thought of the people he cared about, his teammates and friends, Yamagata and Reon and Semi and Wakatoshi wearing those looks haunted him at night.
“Okay,” the nurse’s voice startled Satori back to reality and he shook away the dark thoughts, “your nose finally stopped bleeding, but I don’t like how slow your responses are, I’m putting you on concussion watch.” The nurse, who seemed kind despite her obvious tiredness with athletes’ general bullshit, had just decided she hated Tendo.
“No!” He all but shrieked, “I’m honestly fine, I was just distracted, I can play-”
“Oh, you absolutely cannot. You are not going out on that court. Iwaizumi-san, I need to ask that you supervise him and make sure he doesn’t go back to the game.” Iwaizumi just shrugged and nodded, then started ushering Tendo out the door. A call of, “Just go to the dorms and rest!”, followed them.
“If you try and stop me from playing I’ll tell Coach you hit me on purpose to sabotage me and-” Tendo was already rambling, apparently not in the best place for thinking straight, but Iwaizumi interjected.
“Look, you can’t go out on the court, and I don’t really want to, and there’s this really good ramen place like a few blocks away and no one is going to wonder where we are.” Iwaizumi, Tendo realized, was not leading him toward the gyms or the place they had dropped their stuff.
“Are you,” Tendo started slowly, “Iwaizumi Hajime, ace and rule enforcer of Seijoh, suggesting we sneak out to get food?” He sounded almost giddy with excitement by the time he was done talking, picking up a little pep in his step.
“Yes, I am- wait, rule enforcer?”
“My nice way of calling you the team mom.”
“WOW, you know what you should go rest with that injury-”
“I take it back! I swear, let's go!”
They bickered all the way to the school gate, getting along surprisingly easy. Tendo found that Iwaizumi also read a lot of his mangas, and suddenly a lot of conversation topics opened up.