Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You woke up to the sun shining in your room. Your room was pretty much bare other than the bed, even the curtains were gone making it difficult to sleep with the suns bright light. You rolled over trying to savor your last few minutes of sleep before your alarm clock would go off telling you to go to school.

Scrap that, the last few seconds. You groaned as you heard the sound of your alarm. You turned it off, lazily dragging yourself out of bed. You walked down the empty hall to the kitchen. There was almost nothing remaining in the big house. You quickly grabbed a cereal box that was still left. But realized that the bowls were already gone.

You saw a few disposable cups sitting on the counter, so you decided to eat your cereal from a cup instead of a bowl. Your eyes wandered around the room you were sitting in. Your house was quite big, empty now but huge.

Everything had been packed up since you would be leaving Miyagi on the weekend. You were sad to leave, you loved it here. All your friends were here. You had begged your father to let you stay in Miyagi with your cousins family, but he insisted you moved with him. You weren't sure why it mattered though. He was always so busy with work he barely even saw you, and you lived alone with him. You would of course miss him, but you would have chosen staying at your aunt and uncles over moving. Plus your cousin was only a year younger and the two of you always had fun when you hung out.

You sighed quickly finishing up your cup of cereal and walking out the door. You felt particularly lazy today. You stopped in front of your best friends house, waiting for him. You didn't have to wait long as the door instantly opened at your arrival. The boy made his way towards you. He had clearly been waiting at the door for you to arrive. It was almost annoying how on time he always was. You were constantly waiting for one day when he would slip up, but it never happened.

"Hey Kenjiro," you greeted him, not even using the slightest bit of enthusiasm in your voice. You and Kenjiro Shirabu had been close friends pretty much since you were born. Your mothers had been best friends throughout high school and never stopped talking to each other. So of course you and Kenjiro became close friends.

"Hi y/n, you look tired," he stated. While it was true that you were tired, his bluntness was still a little irritating. Sometimes it would do him good to just pretend to not notice things like that. The last thing you wanted to worry about were the eyebags that were surely present on your face.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't believe how weird it is to sleep in a completely empty room," you stated.

"I would assume it is the same as sleeping in a room filled with things," he responded in a simple tone.

"Shut up smartass," you said shoving him a little. He grinned at your reaction only making you want to push him more. Shirabu knew exactly how to step on your nerves. He knew how to get under anyone's skin though.

"Are you coming to practice today or do you have to pack some more?" Shirabu questioned. He was talking about volleyball practice, being his best friend you had somehow managed to get roped into becoming the manager of the Shiratorizawa boys volleyball team.

"No I'm all packed, my dad insisted that we packed like a month ago. Which only took about a day to pack everything, so we really could've waited," you said laughing.

"Yeah your dad seems to like things organized," he responded. You figured he was thinking about your insanely tidy house.

"Tell me about it," you sighed. Shirabu glanced over at you for a minute before quickly averting his eyes.

"You want to ask me something," you stated. He was pretty easy to read in that sense, you could tell what he wanted by his actions rather than words.

"Oh. Well...yeah." Shirabu responded.

"Alright, what's up?" you asked.

"Well, are you sure you can't just stay here? Why don't you just stay with Goshiki? I mean you already spend more time at his house than yours anyway," Shirabu asked, almost begging you to stay.

"I've already tried that, but my dad doesn't really get along with his sister so he doesn't want me staying there," you said sighing.

"That's really too bad," he said sadly. You knew he would miss you... probably more than anyone else. Aside from his teammates Shirabu didn't have an abundance of friends.

"Yeah, but I'll come back to visit. I'll be allowed to stay at Tsutomu's for weekends sometimes. I mean my dads not going to stop me from seeing my cousin," you said.

"Yeah at least you can visit sometimes," Shirabu said. You followed him to your class. The two of you sat together, but Shirabu was very serious about his grades so he hardly ever spoke to you during class. Unfortunately the lack of conversation made the class drag on even more.

At lunch you and Shirabu made your way to your normal table with the rest of the team. You sat between Tendou and Shirabu and across from your cousin who was seated between Ushijima and Semi. You couldn't help but laugh at your cousin's straight posture trying a little too hard to impress Ushijima.

"Oh y/n! I found these at the store and thought you might like them!" Tendou said holding up some napkins with little ducks on them. You laughed accepting his gift. Ever since you told Tendou about your love for the animal he would consistently find you duck themed things. It was rare to even go more than three days without getting some odd trinket from Tendou as a gift. You had an entire drawer in your dresser filled with gifts from the boy. You appreciated it though.

"Hey! Is our beautiful manager coming to the practice today?" Tendou asked. He said it so casually but you couldn't help but smile at his words. He was constantly throwing little compliments your way. Tendou was definitely someone you were going to miss a ton.

If you were being honest with yourself, there was more than one time where the thought crossed your mind on how fun it would be to date Tendou.

"I think you made her uncomfortable," Ushijima stated. He had to be the king of stating the obvious and also making situations more awkward than they needed to be.

"Oh no no. I'm not, I'm fine!" you said quickly. "And yes Tendou I will be there. I have to make sure you guys aren't slacking off on your training," you said.

"Oh and if I find out you guys start slacking off while I'm not here I won't be afraid to come back and beat your asses," you added.

"We won't slack!" Goshiki responded quickly.

You laughed. "Well I know that you won't," you said then turned "but Semi over there has been pretty quiet," you teased.

"What? I would never!" Semi responded quickly to your accusation, sounding slightly offended.

"~If you say so~" you said in a higher pitch, laughing. Tendou also chuckled at Semi's expense. Semi rolled his eyes, returning his attention to his lunch.

"Y/n, we should go back to class. The bell is gonna ring soon," Shirabu said as he began to pack up. It was always right on time with this guy.

"Come on Shirabu, it's her last day here. Stay and talk for a little longer," Tendou insisted, draping an arm over your shoulder. You smiled triumphantly when Shirabu agreed to wait.

The closer it got to the bell the more antsy he seemed to get, continuously glancing at his watch. "Are you okay?" Ushijima questioned, pointing out Shirabu's distress.

"Alright we'll go before we ruin your perfect attendance record," you finally got up teasing the boy slightly. You earned a snicker from Semi due to your poking fun at Shirabu. Shirabu didn't seem to care though, just happy to be on his way to class before the bell could ring.

The two of you waved to the others before finding your classroom. The rest of the day was usual. You didn't get bad grades, but you also didn't get good grades. You were happy being average. Shirabu however, did get good grades. But he also put in the effort to deserve them.

Finally the bell rang, signaling your freedom from the class. You said your final goodbyes to a few of your class friends, the type you knew you wouldn't stay in contact with. Shirabu waited for you at the door so you two could walk to the volleyball gym together.

The walk was always a little annoying, the school campus was huge. Shiratorizawa - the school for the rich.

Shirabu split to go change as you arrived at your destination. You began to set the net up on your own. "Y/n, let me help you with that!" Goshiki said as he ran over to give you some assistance. He was almost always the first ready for practice. Both wanting to get an early start and hoping for praise from Ushijima.

When the two of you finished you moved to the bench to sit and watch. You were sat beside the one person you weren't going to miss. Coach Washijo. He never bothered you directly, he was actually quite polite to you, but that didn't stop you from being very intimidated by him.

The practice unfortunately went by really fast. You didn't want it to end. You didn't want to leave. Even if you found a spot as manager of the Inarizaki volleyball team, it would never be the same.

After coach Washijo was done lecturing the boys on their practice and critiquing them he stepped aside leaving everyone standing around you.

"Alright guys, I didn't really have anything planned to say but here goes anyway. This past year and a half have been such a fun time. Seriously, being here was my favourite part of everyday. So you guys keep working hard, not too much goofing off. Tendou I'm looking at you. Not too serious though, that's for everyone else," you said, gaining a confused look from Ushijima. Did he really not know he was serious?

"I'm going to come see you guys at Nationals. Between us, no matter how good Inarizaki ends up being, I'll be cheering for you guys," you said. "I'm gonna miss every single one of you," you added, quickly finishing your speech now very aware of just how many eyes were on you.

"Aww y/n!" Tendou was the first to cry out. He quite literally picked you up to swing you around a little before placing you back on your feet. Semi was quick to grab your arm and steady you from falling from the dizziness.

"Thanks Semi," you said when you were stable again. He simply nodded stepping away as Ushijima stepped toward you and pat your head.

"We'll miss you y/n," he said, although his voice was still pretty monotone, you could tell he was displaying more emotion than usual.

"I'll call you every week," Goshiki said, lightly punching your arm. You smiled and nodded to him. You were now afraid to speak. It was all too much and the last thing you wanted to do was cry.

Shirabu walked you home. "I'll see you again soon," you said as you two stood on your step. This was going to be the first time you two were really apart. He nodded in response.

As you turned to open the door he grabbed your wrist. When you turned back around to face him he was already wrapping you in a hug. It caught you by surprise. Shirabu wasn't a physical touch type person. You two had been best friends pretty much since birth and you couldn't remember the two of you ever hugging.

"Call me when you get there safe," Shirabu said when he pulled away, completely diverting the attention away from the hug.

"Of course," you replied. With that he left and you entered your empty house. The next morning you would be leaving Miyagi.

Finally you arrived at your new house. It was quite large, but you expected that. Your dad worked long hours, but brought home the cash as a result. Plus, you were his only kid and never really asked for much. There wasn't a lot you wanted.

One of the unfortunate parts of having a large house was the distance between your house and the next. It wasn't insane, just they weren't right beside each other. More isolation for you. You couldn't complain though, your dad worked hard for the house.

You moved through the hallways until you found a room you wanted to claim as your own. The walls were so plain you couldn't wait to fill them with posters and paintings and anything you had collected over the years. While most people got the impression that you were quite plain, you actually liked littering your walls with whatever obsession you currently had. It felt more like a home to have things on the walls.

Your whole room looked like an empty canvas and you were actually quite excited to get started. Decorating would at least keep your mind off of all the commotion of being in a new city with new people.

The movers took the entire afternoon to take boxes into the house. As evening arrived it was finally just you and your dad in the house. He was currently upstairs unboxing some things when you heard a knock at the door.

You were wearing an old tee shirt with paint stains on it and a simple pair of sweet pants and you knew your hair was a mess. But you didn't give it much thought as you answered the door.

On your step stood a boy with a small plant and a container of cookies in hand. You were suddenly very conscious of how you looked as you examined the boy who seemed to be about your age.