Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tendou Satori is well aware of the reputation that precedes him. He tries to not think about it for the most part. Even here, sitting next to Ushijima on a bus heading to nationals, he was keenly aware of how abnormal he was compared to everyone else. His mother apparently knew how weird he was from the day he was born since she named him Satori, like the monster. Satori, like the yokai that can read minds. Satori the guess monster. It was almost poetic.

Ya know what? Props to him mom for being so on the nose with it. Maybe she was a bit of a Satori herself if she was able to see enough into the future to say ‘yeah, my boy’s a freak and I’m gonna give him the name to prove it.’ He wondered what kind of stuff she was up to at the moment. What exactly do stay-at-home moms do when they are particularly set on not acknowledging they are a mother beyond providing basic necessities? Not that Satori cares. He lives in the dorms now pretty much full-time. Ok maybe he cares a little, but only in the dark of night. Or long bus rides, evidently.

Unlike the others on his team, Tendou’s personality had been developed by years of bullying and building up walls of indifference to the taunts, eventually leaning into them when all else failed. He spikes his bright red hair up, if for no one else but himself, as if to say ‘so what? I can embrace and enhance the parts of me that no one else likes!’ A veil of indifference. That’s not to say that he hates himself, no, but it does become a little painful after such a long time of no one giving you the time of day.

Tendou expected Ushijima to be much like the rest of people he had problems with when he first met him. He was tall, even for a first year, but not in the way that Tendou was. He had the bulk to match the height rather than abnormally long and lanky limbs. He also had a face lacking in eye bags or acne scars. It made Tendou jealous when he met him. And a little skeptical of everyone who believed he was human.

He nonetheless treated him like everyone else and was astonished when Ushijima turned out to be a wonderful friend. Pretty much everything Tendou does he takes in stride, which is a miracle on its own because Ushijima is very strict with his routines. They frequently hang out together to watch anime and read manga. There wasn’t a lot of talking on Ushijima’s end, but he had never shown any implications that Tendou was too much or a bother, which was always nice.

Ushijima only ever give him shit for eating so little (on many occasions), but always in a way that seems so gentle and caring that Tendou is willing to scarf down a few extra bites of that disgusting cafeteria food. Even if it doesn’t do much to help with the fact he can’t seem to get much meat on his bones no matter what. That’s not really the point though. The point is that Ushijima is the first friend Tendou has ever made completely by himself and he has found himself opening up to Ushijima in ways he never really had to anyone else before.

On the plus side, the whole can’t-gain-weight-for-shit thing makes him an excellent bus buddy for Ushijima, whose broad shoulders spill over into his seat space. Semi would hate sitting next to their captain, but Tendou has always made sure he’s never had the opportunity to either way. He has had his spot next to Ushijima reserved for nearly as long as he had been playing at Shiritorizawa (to be fair, the first time they actually sat together was because Ushijima was the last one on the bus and there wasn’t much room at all and no one else was willing to sit with Satori).

He could hear some of the second years in the back of the bus talking about girls and crushes and the like. Always an interesting topic of conversation to listen to, but Tendou never participated. People picked up on his aversion to putting his two cents into such conversations back when he was a first year and the team was courteous enough to never ask for his input about romance again.

It wasn’t that he had an aversion to romance as a whole, but he didn’t quite experience it the way other people did. Back in elementary school, he asked a classmate what it was like to have a crush and their response of ‘of course you don’t know, monsters don’t feel love!’ kinda cemented the fact that it was probably something he would never experience and therefore was something he shouldn’t bother thinking too much about.

He’s also noticed that Ushijima never had anything to say during those conversations, but he had always chalked it up to him being too respectful to talk about anyone in that capacity. Truthfully, though, it was another something Tendou never bothered to dwelled on. Actually, it seemed like a lot of social conversations and relationships were things Tendou could never really be bothered with.

And so life goes on. The wheels on the bus continue to roll as Tendou sways slightly in his seat, humming an original tune that he’s never hummed before, nor will he ever hum it again.

Next to him, Ushijima also seems to be lost in thought. His face isn’t all that different from its usual stoic expression, but his eyes are less present than usual, so he must be off in la-la land too. Tendou wonders what he’s thinking about. He can’t imagine much goes on in his buddy’s head other than volleyballs bouncing around and hitting off the walls of his skull.

When the bus finally comes to a stop in front of their hotel, Tendou actually has to shake Ushijima to get him moving (Tendou always snags the window seat so he can draw shapes and faces into the condensation on morning rides). He receives an apology nod, but it was quickly forgotten when he gets swept up in the excitement of getting rooms all set up and making sure all bags are off the bus.

Unlike some other schools, Shiritorizawa is a wealthy enough academy that they got placed into rooms with western-style beds rather than one large room with multiple futons. Perks of being a top school with top athletes, he supposes. Tendou lucked out getting a room with Ushijima, Reon, and Semi. Semi was already his roommate back at the dorms anyways, and both Ushijima and Reon were chill, so he wouldn’t be dealing with any rowdy first-years (not that he would mind that. If anything, it might be more convenient for the others to put someone as loud as Tendou with the other loud members of the team).

It’s Goshiki’s first tournament and if Tendou wasn’t more confident in him, he would actually offer to share a dorm with him. But he recently got a bit of a scolding from Semi about babying his favorite little first year, so he makes sure he’s all comfy in his room with the boys his age before skipping off to find his own room.

Apparently his other temporary roommates also had matters to attend to (probably a bit more important that what Tendou was doing, but whatever}, because they were also just arriving at their room when Satori managed to find it. And so he rocked on the balls of his feet, bags in hand, waiting for Reon to unlock the door, but his anticipation to see the inside of the room was interrupted when a call had four heads turning down the hallway.

“Hey, hey, hey, Ushiwaka! Looks like we’ll be neighbors for a few days!” Wowie, Tendou might have a worthy rival for craziest hairdo on the planet. This guy, whoever he is, has hair sticking up like Tendou’s own, but his looks more like horns where Tendou was personally going for a look that would make people think he was dangling upside down if they saw a picture of just his upper body. The guy also had a body more like Ushijima- lots of muscles that should probably intimidate Tendou more than it actually does.

“Woah! Nice hair dude! Is it natural? The red must look SO SICK with your purple uniform! Wait, you are on the same team as Ushy, right?” He turned to somebody behind him for some sort of confirmation. He must’ve gotten it because he turns back with a bright smile.

Tendou’s face split into a wide grin. He likes this guy. “Au natural, baby. What about you?” Tendou snuck a peak at the guy standing close behind the loud one. He didn’t even realize he was there until the first guy turned to him earlier.

Crazy-hair nodded vigorously and Tendou’s attention snapped back to him. “Mine’s natural too! Other than the hair stuff I use to keep it up that is. Me and Akaashi go to Fukurodani. Doesn’t my hair kinda remind you of our owl mascot? At least that’s what ‘Kaashi says!”

“You don’t just look like an owl, you look like a beast!” Tendou exclaimed. Crazy-hair must be the most personable person to ever person on the planet. Who knows? Maybe by the end of their hotel-neighbor situation, he could even double his friend count (going from one to two doesn’t really sound impressive, but Tendou thought it would be cool to have a phone number from someone NOT involved in Shiratorizawa’s volleyball club. A variety in life is always good.

Tendou nearly jumped out of his skin when Ushijima put his hand on his shoulder. After a split second of flailing and convincing himself not to have a heart attack, he looked up at his friend.

“What’s up, big guy?” Seriously, what was up with him? Spacing off on the bus ride here and initiating physical contact? Was he going through some sort of crisis? There was no way he was nervous for nationals, right? This is their third year and they’d been plenty of times before.

“You should put your stuff in the room so we can head to dinner. Reon and Semi claimed the bed next to the window.” While he was addressing Tendou, his eyes were on the two they had run into. “Bokuto Koutarou. I look forward to playing against you in a few days.”

Ah, Bokuto was his name. Tendou had some vague memories of Ushijima coming back from youth camp last year, speaking of him. He admired his skills, but thought he was too emotional to be particularly competent on the court. This Akaashi guy must be his keeper, Tendou mused, as he was sticking close while keeping an observant eye on Tendou and Ushijima. If he were to guess, Tendou would bet this kid is a setter. Satori is a good guesser.

Tendou ignored Ushijima’s conversation with Bokuto (it was more like Bokuto yapping and Ushijima nodding along, but that’s not really a surprise. It was clear, at least to Tendou, that Ushijima was a little antsy to be settled before getting on with their day) to instead focus his attention on Akaashi. He was relatively tan and tall, with a head of thick-looking curls. Pretty. Similar to Wakatoshi, he maintained a blank expression and kept his eyes trained on Bokuto. Unlike Wakatoshi, he had to look slightly up to do so and had stars in his eyes.

A smirk crept onto Tendou’s face and it broke into a full grin when Akaashi’s attention snapped onto him for the first time since the beginning of the conversation. Rather than the looks of mild disgust Tendou was used to receiving, Akaashi gave him nothing more than a curt nod before turning to the door to the room next to theirs and unlocking it. Tendou almost never got a response of indifference. People always made some sort of opinion on him from the first look.

For the first time, Tendou realized that Akaashi had had his hands clasped together behind his back the entire time he had been in their vicinity. While he was unlocking the door, he was able to get a good look at them.

Tendou believes you can tell a lot about a person based on their hands. He had kinda expected Akaashi’s hands to be as proper-looking as the rest of him, but was surprised to see that there were graphite smears along his knuckles and splotches of red around the beds of his fingernails, most likely from stress-picking at hangnails. The nails themselves were short too, but unlike the jagged result of biting them off like what Tendou had, Akaashi’s nails were finely filed down. An interesting combination of meticulous care and careless fiddling, it seemed. His hands were also pretty large for a body of his size.

Unlike the first time Akaashi caught him staring, this time he had a more normal reaction. Well, he just hid his hands behind his back again, which would be more of an insecurity thing than a creeped-out-by-Tendou thing. Still closer to what Tendou is used to.

Apparently Wakatoshi and Bokuto were done with their conversation because Bokuto picked up both his stuff and Akaashi’s and sent a glare (he really isn’t as intimidating as he was probably hoping) to Tendou before ushering his teammate into their room. Those two seemed to have quite an interesting dynamic. Quite interesting in general, seeing as Bokuto openly had a conversation with two strangers without issue and Akaashi only communicated to him the entire time. Tendou wondered if the glare was caused by him looking at Akaashi’s hands. Was he self-conscious? That would mean that Bokuto knew him well enough to know about the insecurity AND to act rudely towards people who stared. Or maybe it had nothing to do with his hands at all and Bokuto was telling Satori that his teammate was off limits. Interesting, indeed. But both those were just guesses. Satori is a good guesser, so it was probably a combination of the two.

Whatever the reason for the glare, it definitely had to do with his teammate. Bokuto seemed to like him well enough based on their hair interaction. Maybe Akaashi wasn’t just Bokuto’s keeper like he originally guessed. Tendou snorted. After all that, there was no maybe about it. Their door closed and Tendou really hoped he’d get the chance to play against them soon.

“Is there something you find particularly funny, Satori?” Ushijima asked, startling Tendou once more.

“They’re kinda like us in a way, don’t you think?” Tendou answered the question with a question of his own.

“I think the only thing I have in common with Bokuto-kun would be that we are both aces and captains of our respective volleyball teams,” Ushijima took a pause before continuing, “his hair reminds me of yours, Satori. Although I like yours a lot better.”

“And what about Akaashi? What do you think of him?” Tendou prodded. Akaashi seemed to be just as stoic as Ushijima, but probably far easier to fluster. Hell, just looking at his hands caused him to crack.

“I don’t think I have nteracted with him enough to form a real opinion. He seems well-composed and it makes me wonder what his playing is like. Fukurodani had a different starting setter last year, so videos of their matches from previous national games didn’t give me a very clear idea of his playing style.”

“Ah, volleyball-brain Wakatoshi is back at it again.” Tendou sang, but dropped the subject. He did, however, smugly note that his original guess that Akaashi was a setter was correct.

“I suppose he is. You should go put your belongings in the room now, though. We have a busy day ahead of us.”

Satori entered the room and did as Ushijima told him, plopping his stuff on the right side of the bed furthest away from the window. The room itself had no astounding differences from the other hotels he’d been in: plain walls with sparse pictures hanging up. Cream colored sheets tucked neatly into western-style beds. Mysterious stains on the carpeting. It was all pretty par for the course. Tendou always found the bathrooms to be the most interesting parts of being away from the dorms. Some of them had fancy showers while others had cracked tiles. Tendou thought it added character, but if he ever brought it up to Ushijima, he was guaranteed a lecture on how as long as the facilities worked and were clean, they shouldn’t be rude when they are guests. Tendou used to argue that they are customers and are allowed to critique and have opinions on their services, but Ushijima never really listened.

By the time his third year had rolled around, Satori had basically become a pro at the routine he and Wakatoshi had for overnight stays. No matter where the competition was or what the sleeping situation looked like, he always was sleeping directly to the right of Wakatoshi. Even when he tried not to when he was going through a particularly rough time back in their second year, Wakatoski pulled his futon all the way to the side of the room that Satori was stationed.

Satori chuckled thinking of the memory. While his stoic friend hadn’t uttered a single word about why Satori didn’t follow their ritual, he still made sure it happened. The man was very set with his routines. It was also nice from the standpoint of sharing a bed with another man over six feet tall was the closest he really got to physical affection. Wakatoshi’s radiating body heat and even breathing next to him always did wonders to help Tendou calm down. It was a little odd when that first started to happen considering he rooms with Semi and his isn’t comforted by his breathing, but much like everything else, satori didn’t dwell on it or bother looking into the causes behind it.

In that case, Tendou was very thankful that Wakatoshi was so set in his routines. Wanting to be alone and needing to be alone are two very different things. He kinda wondered if Akaashi ever felt that way. He couldn’t really verbalize it, but he felt a bit of a pull towards the guy. He had this weird desire to get to know him better, and who was he to deny his weird instincts? They had gotten him this far anyways.

“Seriously, though. You kinda remind me of Akaashi. All seriousness and stoic and all. And you gotta admit I’m a little like Bokuto, too! With the weird hair, y’know? Though he does seem like the type to be popular at school.”

“I suppose I’ll have to trust your assumptions, Satori. But please try to focus more on their playing styles than their personalities when we see them again.” Ushijima clearly didn’t get as invested in the pair as Tendou did, but that’s ok. He’s never turned down listening to the middle blocker’s rambles about anything before, no matter how mundane the topic was.

“Isn’t that the beauty of it? The two often go hand in hand.”

* * * * *

Akaashi let out a long sigh and dropped his stuff on his side of the bed. They were the only two in the room because the team wasn’t perfectly divisible by four and no one else really wanted to bunk with Bokuto (everyone told bokuto he could get the extra space because he was a great leader and senior and he obviously chose his vice to be the second room occupant for ‘strategy discussions’). There were two beds in the room, but Akaashi knew they’d be sharing no matter what he did, not that he would ever do much to prevent it, so he decided to spare himself the struggle later and just push Bokuto’s stuff to one half of the bed and claim the rest for himself.

While Bokuto was in the bathroom, Akaashi listened to the faint noise of the Shiratorizawa third years shuffle out of their dorm and head down the hall. He checked the schedule beforehand, and it seemed like they had a bit more time to chill out than their neighbors before getting ready for a match. Akaashi was pretty sure they came here earlier than necessary because coach was hoping Bokuto would be able to blow off some excess energy before having to prepare for their first match.

Bokuto came back from the bathroom wiping his hands on his pants. “There’s no hand towel or anything in there, Akaashi- hey, I claimed that bed!”

“I know. I also know that it’s gonna storm tonight and you don’t like the thunder, Bokuto-san.”

“I’m not that spooked by it! It just surprises me!” He defended, his shoulders rising to his ears.

Akaashi hid his chuckle behind a sigh, “Alright then, I guess I’ll move my stuff and you’ll sleep all by yourself in a cold, empty bed.”

“Akaashi, I’m starting to get the impression that you just wanna cuddle. You could’ve just said so! Best friends double as teddy bears when needed, ya know.”

Ah, he was caught. Akaashi didn’t typically like addressing that he was just a little touch starved, especially if he could turn it into an ‘I’m just doing it for Bokuto-san’ thing but he should’ve known that Bokuto would see right through him eventually. Akaashi ignored the ‘best friends’ part of Bokuto’s words and the little hole it made in his chest. The funny thing was that if he had just waited, Bokuto would have come to him in the middle of the night. Now Akaashi had to worry about his ego being too big going into the first day of the competition. And worry about how obvious he had been.

They organized their things in a relatively peaceful silence. Akaashi had prepared everything in an orderly fashion the previous night (and unpacked it all and repacked it for good measure) so he was mostly just sitting around on his phone while Bokuto scrounged around in his duffel bag to find his Fukurodani jacket.

Eventually, Bokuto did pull the jacket out of his bag with a triumphant, “AHA!” Much to Akaashi’s relief. Last year there was this really stupid setter dog tee shirt that he had wanted to buy at one of the stalls, but he hadn’t brought enough cash and refused to let Bokuto pay for it. This year, he was definitely going to get it, so he wanted to go as soon as possible to make sure there was still plenty in stock.

When he told this to Bokuto, he was very disappointed to hear a hearty laugh followed by, “Akaashi the only reason you possibly wouldn’t be getting one is if they don’t have them this year since almost no one bought that shirt last year!” It made Akaashi hope that when Bokuto gets his ‘Back of the Ace’ tee shirt that he would grow out of it too fast to replace it.

Akaashi did, in fact, get his shirt. Bokuto actually bought it for him as an apology cause he could tell Akaashi was a little upset about him thinking the shirt was stupid. The apology was accepted easily just so Akaashi could be on the receiving end of Bokuto’s beaming smile. Akaashi ended up buying Bokuto another pair of those ridiculous legging-kneepads (?) as a thank you, despite the insistence that it wasn’t necessary to get a thank you gift for someone who gave him an apology gift.

Once they had spent enough money that they could reasonably get away with without causing their parents’ alarm, the duo wandered their way into the stands of one of the games of the main arena. As luck would have it, the match was Shiratorizawa vs some school from a prefecture further north that Akaashi never really heard much about.

They made sure to get seats towards the back so they could make a quick escape when it was time to leave to get ready for their own game. Akaashi watched Bokuto’s face morph from one of curiosity to excitement to the familiar hunger he saw fixed in the captain’s eyes whenever he deemed someone a worthy opponent.

Akaashi turned his attention from Bokuto to the match to see just what caught his eyes. He was sure it was Ushijima because aces were always the players Bokuto focused on, but he found himself more drawn to the head of red hair they had ran into earlier. Of course he did his research and knew all about Tendou Satori, but seeing it in real time really impressed Akaashi.

“So this is the guess monster in action, huh.” Akaashi muttered, watching Tendou completely shut down the ace from the opposing school for the umpteenth time. It made him worry about their match against Shiratorizawa that was sure to happen. Tendou seemed like he would enjoy targeting Bokuto, especially because he’s easy to get a reaction out of.

Bokuto hummed and Akaashi turned back to him so he could watch in slight amusement as his golden eyes bounced back and forth, following the movement of the ball. “He was staring at you when we ran into him earlier. You seemed uncomfortable, especially when he was looking at your hands. Why do you think he was doing that?” Oh? That wasn’t at all what he expected Bokuto to say.

Akaashi shrugged, not really seeing the big deal, “You don’t get good at guess blocking by instinct alone, although I’m sure that’s part of it. The larger part of it is keen and attentive observation. I’m sure he didn’t mean to be rude. It’s not like he knew I’m self conscious about my hands.”

“Oh. That makes sense. Now I feel kinda bad,”

“Bad?” Oh lord what did he do this time?

“I, like, totally glared at him when we were going into the room. I didn’t want him to make you sad!”

Akaashi slapped his forehead, “Bokuto-san, please tell me you didn’t actually do that.” He dragged his hand down his face and, yep, Bokuto was giving him a sheepish grin.

“It’s not my fault, if you really think about it,” Bokuto justified, which almost never actually helped his case, “I know what I think about whenever I stare at you but I’m allowed to do that because I’m your captain. He can’t look at you for longer than, like, three seconds I would say, because you’re not allowed to be interested in people from the other team. That’s definitely in the rulebook somewhere. I was just looking out for you.”

None of that made any sense to Akaashi and he was about to say as much when Bokuto let out a gasp as he was staring out onto the court. Two middle blockers crashed into each other when going up against Ushijima’s spike and they knocked one another to the ground. It was enough of a commotion to let Akaashi know that Bokuto would be too invested in the game to return to their conversation, but Akaashi was desperate to know what he meant when he said that he stared at him. He dwelled on it the rest of the time they were able to watch Shiratorizawa’s match before needing to get ready for their own.

Eventually he did have to herd Bokuto back to their hotel, a little later than they had initially planned because at match point the setter on the other team pulled a dump, but on time nonetheless. On their walk back, Akaashi tried to bring up what Bokuto had said earlier, but it didn’t really go well. He asked what rules prohibited people from other teams from taking an interest in him and what Bokuto would do if that did happen. Apparently it was a very very bad question to ask because Bokuto stopped dead in his tracks and asked Akaashi who was bothering him and if he needed to beat anyone up.

It was sweet. Akaashi’s known to be a little stupid when it comes to social interactions, but he knows Bokuto better than any other subject in the world. He knows that Bokuto is protective of him and sometimes he likes to poke at him just enough for that side of him to flash for a second. There are multiple plausible causes of that behavior: Bokuto’s protectiveness of his sisters rubbing into his relationship with Akaashi (implying a familial relationship), his knowledge on Akaashi’s lonely home life (likely platonic), or his desire to keep Akaashi to himself (possibly romantic ). In his weak moments, Akaashi likes to imagine that it’s that third option.

Once Bokuto was sufficiently reassured that Akaashi was not being threatened by anybody, they moved on and prepared for their game. Although Akaashi would have preferred to have a mindset entirely locked onto the team they were about to face, he couldn’t help but wonder about their foes from Miyagi instead. Although he would never say it aloud, he felt like Tendou was a bit of a kindred spirit in a way. Akaashi was well aware of Tendou’s reputation so he knew he was a weird one. It made him a little jealous, knowing someone could be so open about themselves and completely ignore what people thought of him for it.

He also wondered if maybe he could become friends with Tendou and still like him then maybe he would learn to like himself too.

* * * * *

Satori saw Bokuto and Akaashi again just before he went to bed that night. He went to the vending machine to get himself some pudding as a late-night snack considering he wasn’t all that hungry during dinner. He went unnoticed by the Fukurodani duo, who were speaking to each other in hushed voices next to the ice machine, one sitting on a folding chair and the other kneeling in front of it. Akaashi had his foot in a bucket of ice and he was arguing with Bokuto about how well the ice would work. A little pang of jealousy zipped through him.

Now, Tendou is by no means a strategist. He does 99% of his work based on instinct alone. Should both teams make it through the next two days, they will be facing off against one another. And a damaged ankle will not likely be completely healed by then. While Tendou did have a strange desire to get to know Akaashi, his desire to win was much stronger. Tendou won’t say anything to anybody, but he’ll look out for a setter favoring one foot over the other. Anything that happens beyond that will be a result of his guessing abilities and skill.

Chapter Text

Bump, set, spike, block. Bump, set, spike, block. Tendou breezed his way through their warm-up routine. His limbs had blood flowing through them just right and he was all ready to go. There’s no real way to warm up with the blocking style he’s developed, so he always kinda half-asses his warmups. He’d found the nice in-between where his body has loosened up and worked up a bit of a sweat without overdoing it and messing up his blocking. It took quite a lot of trial and error to do so, but he was basically a pro at it now that he was a third year. Tendou always preferred to watch the other team warm up anyways. And that just so happens to be his excuse every time Ushijima tells him his form is all wrong during stretches.

Similar to him not eating all his vegetables, it was a bit of an ongoing fight with Ushijima, but he was always left alone after giving his buddy and captain plenty of reassurances.

As he watched Akaashi jump to set to one of his teammates on the opposite side of the net, Tendou made note that he either had only twisted his ankle and was fine now or he was excellent at hiding it and would eventually begin to favor one leg over the other further into the match when people would begin to lose stamina. Though it would be more convenient for Satori if the latter was true, he also wanted to be able to beat the other team when everyone was at their best, so he kinda hoped Akaashi’s foot was alright.

“You seem particularly invested in Akaashi Keiji, Satori. Typically you aren’t one to focus on setters when sizing up a team.” Jeez! For a man of his size, Ushijima sure does have a way of sneaking up on a person. Or maybe Tendou has been a little too lost in thought these last couple days.

Either way, he waved his hand dismissively, “I can’t help it, Wakatoshi. Y’know when you’re in an ice cream shop and you go for one of your normal flavors but then you see they have a weird one like peanut butter olive oil and you just have to try it? It’s kinda like that.”

Ushijima opens his mouth to reply, probably to retort something about how Tendou shouldn’t be eating so much ice cream (and how he should be eating more greens), but Semi also pops up out of nowhere with the apparent desperate need to add his two cents as well.

Whatever Ushijima was about to say was completely lost to the pinch setter directing a negative tone to Tendou, “he is real easy on the eyes, but I wouldn’t get too hopeful, Tendou. You should be focusing more on getting ready for the match. They’re gonna be a tough group to best.” He took a beat to scowl, “Also if you’re gonna compare him to a dessert, don’t make it some random disgusting ice cream flavor.” Semi rolled his eyes and wandered back over to Shirabu, where they were doing some secret specific setter-finger stretches together and applying tape. Tendou should probably put some on too. He’s seen some clips of how absolutely brutal Bokuto’s spikes can be.

“Well, yes,” Tendou said mockingly, “He is quite fetching, isn’t he?” He rolled his eyes and redirected his attention to Ushijima, who seemed to be waiting patiently for his turn to speak, “What were you gonna say, big guy?” Satori asked, wandering over to Semi to snag his tape once he was done with Wakatoshi on his tail.

“I suppose I wasn’t going to address anything that Semi didn’t already point out. Please focus on the match and refrain from using ice cream flavors as figures of speech.”

Tendou threw his head back and laughed. No matter what anyone says, he will always be of the opinion that Ushijima is one of the funniest people out there. Especially now that they’re working on his delivery a bit more.

“You know I can’t argue with that, Wakatoshi. Let’s tear their hearts and souls into pieces.”

“Maybe not that, but we will definitely try our best to score as many points as possible.”

Pretty soon, both teams were called to line up on opposite sides of the court and the captains met next to the net to shake hands. Tendou watched as Bokuto sheepishly said something to Ushijima, pointed to Satori, and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. Even though he couldn’t hear his words or his own captain’s response, he had an inkling as to what exactly Bokuto was saying.

And that inkling was correct. Ushijima trotted back to Tendou and asked him if he intended to rile Bokuto up yesterday or if it was simply one of his weird moods. Tendou responded that it was neither and you didn’t need to be in a mood to be protective of someone, even if it’s unnecessary. Ushijima raised an eyebrow and (kinda rudely) told him to just focus on the game.

The first 15 or so points of Set One were actually pretty dull, but that was the case for most matches in Tendou’s opinion. People getting into a groove and developing a feel for the opposition.

When Shiratorizawa found themselves down by four points, Tendou decided it was time to start talking. And lucky him, the rotation was set up so he and Bokuto were facing each other across the net while Akaashi was in the back row. What method would get Bokuto riled up the most? Hmm…

“Don’t you think their setter’s got weird hands, Goshiki?” He asked, loud enough for Bokuto to hear (not enough for Akaashi, though, he doesn’t want to point out anyone’s insecurities directly to their face, even for a match). He lazily drew his eyes from his kouhai’s confused face to Bokuto’s, where his jaw was set tight. Perfect.

The next time Tendou went to block one of Bokuto’s spikes, he found himself incredibly thankful for his past self taking the few seconds to wrap up his fingers in tape. He giddily hummed as the ball ricocheted off his fingers and out of bounds. Yeah, they lost the point, but an aggressive spiker meant a clumsy one. He’d just have to do a bit more poking.

As one of the Fukurodani members went to serve again, Tendou spoke up once more, “Truthfully, I expected the sets from this school to be a little less textbook,” he lied. Although they have a powerful ace they can rely on as well, there was a large difference between the two setters on the court. Akaashi, unlike Shirabu, seems to have complete confidence in everyone on the court and it was apparent he knew how to take advantage of their skills. Shirabu had been taught to focus solely on making way for their ace.

This time when Tendou went to block Bokuto, the ball went right back into the opposite side of the court. Tendou stood tall and smirked as a few players dived for the ball to no avail but he kept his eyes on Bokuto. The guy looked like he was just itching to say or do something to Tendou, but Akaashi called him over and he begrudgingly moved to his next place in rotation.

Several rallies later, the two teams found themselves all tied up with Bokuto going up to serve and Tendou sitting comfy in the back row. The hit was aimed directly at him and Tendou had to dodge it hitting him directly in the face. It was still in, too. Damn. Maybe he shouldn’t have purposely picked on someone who apparently is known for intense mood swings.

Tendou nearly collapsed forward when he got numerous ‘don’t mind’’s and pats on the back, but he was too invested in the way Bokuto was bouncing around Akaashi to do much more than get ready for another crazy serve that was probably gonna go towards his face once more.

Either his attempt on Tendou’s life cheered him up or there was some sort of divine intervention happening that fine day because Bokuto’s next serve was received by Ushijima instead, much to Satori’s relief. They gained the next point without much trouble and moved in their rotation once more, Tendou eventually finding himself facing Akaashi after a couple more points for both teams. He was planning on finding a way to egg him on too, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the way Bokuto was looking at him and decided that maybe the best course of action was to wait for a little bit.

Shiratorizawa found themselves losing the first set and that really lit a fire under Tendou’s ass. He was gonna kick it into high gear for the next one. During his own team huddle, he looked over to Akaashi, where he was calmly speaking to Bokuto. He really wanted to see the kid’s composure crack, if only just a little.

“You really should be focusing on the strategy of your own team before trying to figure out theirs,” ushijima whispered to him from his left, discreet enough to not alarm Washijo.

“Shh, Wakatoshi, I’m thinking,” Tendou muttered back. He still took heed of the warning, though, not wanting to have to do punishment drills later for not paying attention. If he could do something to bother Akaashi, it would also bother Bokuto. Two birds one stone. The issue was, however, that he still really did want to try being friends with Akaashi and he needed to figure out the best way to totally crush them without doing the same thing to his chances of getting a new buddy. Tendou personally never wanted to make friends with someone who was insulting him.

But there was not a chance he was going to not give it his all. Ushijima already seemed aware that something was going on and he owed it to his friend to try his hardest. He had the beginnings of a plan forming in his brain on how to handle Akaashi by the time he was back out on the court, which was good enough for him. Instinct guy can easily go with the flow once he has blueprints.

Soon enough, he found the opportunity to strike. Shiratorizawa had gotten the point and while Ushijima was getting ready to serve the ball, Tendou wiped the sweat off his head and turned to Akaashi, who was conveniently standing on the opposite side of the net from him. Akaashi was sweating too, but he made no effort to wipe it from his head. Tendou wasn’t sure it would’ve done much anyways by the way his curls were sticking to his skin. Instead, he watch as Akaashi ran his palms on his shorts. Probably smart. Once, Semi let the ball slip right through his fingers when he went to set because he was so sweaty he couldn’t get a grip (Washijo nearly smacked him into the sun for that one). It made Tendou widely grin.

“You know,” he drawled, getting Akaashi’s attention on him instead of the ball, “You’re a lot more of an oddball than you let on, Akaashi-kun. Are you a monster too?” Akaashi didn’t dignify him with a response, but Tendou could tell from the way he looked at him that he wanted to ask how he knew, maybe what gave him away. He put his hands on the back of his head and hummed as the whistle signaled Ushijima could serve, “Just a guess,” he answered the unasked question anyways.

* * * * *

It took Akaashi too long to shake out of it and by the time he did, all he could do was watch in despair as a ball he should have easily received hit the floor. It wasn’t a crucial point or anything, but he felt foolish for letting words get to him so easily. Konoha and Komi easily pat his back and ruffled his hair to tell him not to worry about it, but all he could think about was the weird look he got from Bokuto. It wasn’t an expression he had really seen on his face before, not one in any of his many lists and catalogues in his brain, and it put him even more on edge.

Tendou’s ability to read people wasn’t just amazing, it was terrifying. Akaashi’s fingers found their way to his nail beds, digging into the red skin around his fingernails. His mind raced, trying and failing to get back into the game. From what he had seen and heard of Shiratorizawa’s previous games, Tendou mostly kept his taunts to skills and playing abilities, so why was he taking a new approach with Fukurodani?

Whatever he was doing, he hadn’t realized how much it affected his own team, apparently. Specifically Ushijima, who despite his consistent facial expressions and body language, seemed to be increasingly annoyed. The only way Akaashi could even tell was the way his hits were slightly sloppier and his breathing heavier. Much like Bokuto when he gets one too many spikes out but not as loud.

The only real difference was that up to this point, Ushijima had been excelling in the match. He obviously wasn’t one to break during stressful situations, so the only logical explanation that Akaashi could come up with was that his mood had to be coming from something on the volleyball court that he hasn’t experienced before (like his teammate changing up taunting tactics and perhaps unknowingly pressing some buttons for the people on his side of the net).

Akaashi shifted his weight to his right and gently rolled the ankle of his left foot, which was starting to ache again while he thought it over. He didn’t really need to get into the why of Ushijima’s new behavior, just what to do with it. They were currently losing their set and he needed to do something to switch the momentum; Shiratorizawa was real close to breaking 20 points.

In the next rally, Akaashi called for Bokuto to spike the ball, but pulled a setter dump instead, the ball just barely out of the libero’s reach. The cheers he got from Bokuto made him internally preen, but he felt a twist in his gut when he heard a low whistle coming from the other side of the net. He hesitated to look ever, but did so anyways. Tendou was giving him a double thumbs up. He felt like he was being mocked.

Despite breaking the momentum and getting some points back for Fukurodani, they lost the second set, forcing a third. When they were called together to strategize with the coaches, his heart dropped when it was decided that Konoha would start as the setter for the beginning of the set and they would let a first year spiker take his place. Bokuto huffed and puffed about it, but he was promised that it was purely strategic and that Akaashi would be back in as soon as he had time to cool off and when they were in a good place to do so. It quieted his qualms about it as well, even though he didn’t do anything to show that.

“You know, Akaashi-kun,” the coach began while they were sitting next to each other on the bench, the next set starting up in front of them. Akaashi watched Bokuto hit a powerful serve across the net and thought stubbornly that he should be on the court with him. “I know you were aware of their number five’s reputation before going into this. I won’t say you shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve also seen videos of his games and I know just as well as you do that you had no reason to expect he would target you. That being said, you do know the basis of how he works. Try not to let the taunts get to you too much. They are hollow.”

Akaashi was really only half-listening, too focused on watching Konoha set a ball and the way his own fingers twitched because that should be him. He knew he should be listening to the advice of someone with so much more experience than he did, but he felt like the coach just didn’t get it. Akaashi’s head was always filled with words and it was just so alarming to hear those words verbalized from someone he’s never actually had a conversation with.

“I understand,” He responded anyways, because that’s what you do when your sensei gives you advice.

It took forever to get let back into the court (really, he was actually let back in pretty early in the set), but Akaashi could tell that taking that break might have been what was about to do him in. He was more focused and in a much better headspace, but his body cooling down and the adrenaline wearing off made him so much more aware that his ankle was not feeling right.

And when they were approaching the end of the set neck-and-neck, Shiratorizawa called for a time out. It wasn’t until a few rallies later that Akaashi was able to piece together what they had clearly talked about on the other side of the net. Every spike Ushijima made was targeted towards Akaashi’s left, forcing him to constantly put his body weight on his injured foot to keep it in the air. Someone on the other team figured out he was favoring his right side and decided to use it to their advantage.

Ushijima hit to his left once again. Akaashi tried to save the ball, he really did, but his ankle gave out from under him and he fell forward onto his knee, causing the ball to ricochet off his shoulder and hit the wall. He vaguely registered the sound of a ref whistle but was more focused on trying to stand up without crying.

He stumbled to his feet and lifted his left one off the ground once he found his balance. He couldn’t put any pressure on it at all without hissing and pulling it right back up. Once Akaashi finally looked up, he saw every single person both off and on the court staring directly at him. The situation made him flush in embarrassment. It was also only then that he realized Bokuto had been calling his name. He shook his head for no reason other than to try to dispel the growing lump in his throat while Bokuto pulled his arm around his broad shoulders and anchored a hand at his waist to help him off the court.

Yes, Akaashi was the one out of the match, but it also threw Bokuto off his game as well. Yukie wrapped up his ankle and slid a brace on it while Akaashi watched as Bokuto seemed to get increasingly more frustrated. He had always known that he relied quite a bit on his setter for keeping his spirits up, but he had never seen Bokuto’s resolve slip so quickly. It made him feel guilty.

The game ended quickly with Shiratorizawa completely dominating the third set. Akaashi felt a fresh wave of embarrassment that he wasn’t able to stand beside his teammates to bow and thank the crowd or to shake hands with their opponents. Bokuto easily distracted him, though. As soon as he was done with that stuff, he rushed over to the bench and took up every corner of Akaashi’s vision. He couldn’t think of a better way to help him calm down.

* * * * *

Tendou felt like he couldn’t really gloat over the victory. Ushijima agreed. He had said that while he was glad they could play more games, he really wanted a match where both teams were able to play at their 100% the entire time. He furrowed his eyebrows and recalled the way Shirabu totally called out Akaashi’s injury and was able to direct Wakatoshi to aim all his spikes at him. It was impressive, really, but felt a little cheap. They still won, so he couldn’t really complain. Besides, it could also be called cheap to use mind games to make your opponent slip up.

It was extraordinarily easy for Tendou to find Bokuto in the post-match crowd, but it seemed that the guy he was actually looking for was not attached to his captain for the first time. Huh.

He meandered over to Bokuto anyways. Tendou had the feeling that even if they weren’t together at the moment, Akaashi would probably find his way back to the ace sooner or later. Bokuto noticed him as soon as he started approaching, which was a little unnerving ‘cause now he was just watching Tendou awkwardly push through the crowd between them.

“That was quite the match, huh Bokuto-kun?” He asked. The other day he thought that Akaashi might be Bokuto’s keeper, but now he was starting to feel like it was the other way around based on the way this guy was frowning at him.

“You were pretty mean.” He said bluntly, his arms crossing over his - holy crap! - ginormous chest. Tendou wasn’t one to typically notice that kind of thing but it made him wonder if he even felt the impact of Wakatoshi’s spike with that much padding. It made him jealous. Tendou is all skin and bones so everything just hurts more. He scratched at his cheek and bit at the inside of it.

“Uh,” tendou blinked a couple times to figure out what exactly he was planning on saying because he just now realizrd he had no idea what his goal here even was, “it worked, didn’t it?” And yep, the frown is now a full-on scowl. Damn. He stumbled over the beginnings of a couple dead-end sentences before just blurting, “where’s your setter?”

It was almost funny, the way Bokuto’s expression had shifted so much from such a short conversation. At this point, the scowl was almost a snarl. When he respondsed, “Your own setter beat you to it.”

Huh?

“I’m waiting for Akaashi to get back from the bathroom,” Bokuto explained, his voice falling back to one that was a bit more casual, “before he even got in there your pinch server was asking for his number. You all should just leave him alone.” Tendou just sighed. So he was like Akaashi’s guard dog, huh? Also, Semi must be blind to think Akaashi had eyes for literally anyone other than Bokuto after that match (especially not for someone who spent 99% of the match warming the bench and watching from afar).

“It’s not- no.” Tendou let out a bit of a shrill laugh and violently shook his head from side to side, “I’m not looking for a date or anything. I get the feeling that he’s a bit more of a weirdo than he lets on. I’m wayyyy more than a bit of a weirdo. I guess I was just looking to make a new friend, is all.” He explains, suddenly feeling quite shy. Airing out his intentions was not something he had ever really liked. Just thinking about it made him wrinkle his nose.

It must pass Bokuto’s sincerity test, though. He thought it over for a minute before nodding, “sometimes I get a little worried for him, y’know? Me and Kenma are kinda his only friends.” Then he smiled, more to himself than to Tendou, “He’s the best, though. Even if he gets shy around people. Wait. You won’t try to set him up with anyone from your team, right?”

Tendou smirked, “you’ve got nothing to worry about, Bokuto-kun. I know he’s all yours.” He sang, grinning when the flush quickly rose on his cheeks. He flailed for a little bit, but didn’t say much, so Tendou decided to fill in the space himself, “Even though I don’t got a lot of friends, I’m real good at sniffing people out. From the moment I saw you to outside of our rooms I could just tell that something romantic was in the air. Better act fast ‘cause if I start hanging out with him, I’ll only be able to fend off others for so long…”

He was hoping to get something out of Bokuto, but they just stood in silence with a completely blank look on his face until Akaashi limped out of the bathroom, making a beeline towards his captain and clearly not taking note of Tendou.

“Bokuto-san, that bathroom was fucking grotesque. I nearly hydroplaned off the toilet- oh.” Tendou snorted. Such pretty vocabulary for such a nasty thing being described, “I apologize, I did not realize you were keeping Bokuto-san company. Was there something you needed?” It made Satori raise his eyebrows, how quickly this kid slipped back behind a wall of etiquette when he realized he wasn’t only around Bokuto. He was beginning to get used to the odd feelings of jealousy that arose whenever these two interacted. It was sickening, the way these two were clearly so completely themselves around each other.

“Uh, yeah, I wanted to see you,” Tendou started, realizing facing Akaashi might be a little more intimidating than his bodyguard. The piercing stare really threw him off, “Sorry. About purposely ticking you off during the match, even though it worked. I kinda wanted to get your number?”

“No.” Was the immediate, very stern reply. Akaashi turned to Bokuto and muttered something along the lines of Shiratorizawa needing to reevaluate their flirting skills. Even if the comment was at his own expense, he remembered to save it for a perfect moment to make fun of Semi.

“Not like that!” Tendou immediately defended, “I just thought you kinda reminded me of myself when I was younger. You are weird! I got this gut feeling that I really need to get to know you. Not romantically. No, no, no.” His voice wavered in pitch there at the end, but he was pretty sure he got his point across. Akaashi eyes him skeptically and looked to Bokuto once more. His captain gave him an encouraging nod, so he begrudgingly pulled out his phone and handed it to Tendou to punch his number in.

Delighted by his success, Tendou hummed to himself as he carefully typed the digits, not wanting to risk fat-fingering anything.

It wasn’t actually until he was tucking himself into bed that night that Akaashi texted him. It was just a simple message to make sure Tendou had his number too, but it was still exciting. Tendou immediately began typing a response:

Me :
->thanks Akaashi-kun!!!!
->did u make it home safe?
->how is ur leg?

Akaashi-kun (≧∇≦) :
->Yes, thank you. My ankle is pretty swollen, my mother was planning on taking me to urgent care in the morning.
->Why did you want my number, if you don’t mind me asking?

Me :
->gut feeling >w<
->also I hope ur leg is ok I saw u had it in an ice bucket the other day
->im no strategist but our little setter is and he figured it out so don’t blame me for being targeted by Ushi
->he said he felt bad btw. like he felt like it was a ‘corrupt/ strategy and feels guilty about it

Akaashi-kun (≧∇≦) :
->And what exactly does ‘gut feeling’ mean in this context? Also, please tell Ushijima-san that he has nothing to apologize for. It was an effective strategy, even if I hate to admit it.
->You know, relationship are typically built off of having something in common. Something to talk about like a class, hobbies, etc. I’m not opposed to being friends or anything, but don’t you think it will be hard if the only reason why we are in contact is because you have a gut feeling?

Tendou squinted his eyes as he tried to come up with a response. Akaashi was right. He thought about maybe asking Semi for advice on how to get to know someone, but shot that idea down immediately. The last thing he wanted to do was subject Akaashi to those awful beginning-of-the-year icebreakers they did in classes. So he hummed and did what he should have just done from the beginning and typed out a response without taking the time to second guess himself. Also, he found himself amused at just how formally Akaashi texted. Like he was sending emails to his boss. It made him wonder if he was always like that or if he just needed some time to let his guard down with Tendou first.

Me :
->actually my gut feeling says we have a lot in common
->so tell me what kind of things are you into

Akaashi-kun (≧∇≦) :
->I understand that you rely on your instincts quite a bit, but you don’t need to say every impulse you have is a ‘gut feeling.’ You are allowed to do things for no reason other than simply wanting to. Pardon if that sounded rude, but I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to say that since you were being pretty chatty during the match. Now we’re even.
->Volleyball, reading/literature, movies.

It had taken Akaashi a whole half hour to respond to and that was what he had to say? He might as well have spit in Tendou’s face and called him a bitch. He leaned forward in his bed, ignoring the way Ushijima let out a singular loud snore next to him, already totally out cold. He slept like a vampire and it always made Tendou inwardly chuckle. Ushijima laid flat on his back with his arms crossed over his chest was surprisingly endearing. Not only did he sleep like a dead man because no matter what position Tendou finds himself contorted into in the morning, Wakatoshi always promises he slept well and with no interruption.

But wait, he was getting a little distracted. He turned back to his phone screen to read the second message Akaashi had sent and it took him longer than it should have to realized that it was a response to Satori’s own question and not some weird code. All three of the topics that Akaashi had given him were ones he could work with and rant about forever (which was something he had subjected Wakatoshi to), but he remembered his middle school moment of desperation where he checked out a book about how to build relationships. So instead of rambling about a manga he liked or whatever, he prompted Akaashi to keep talking about himself.

Me :
->What type of movies?

The typing icon appeared and disappeared a few times before he got an actual response.

Akaashi-kun (≧∇≦) :
->I think I enjoy the movie-watching experience more than the movies themselves
->Horror movies are always fun, but Bokuto-San doesn’t like jump scares so I haven’t actually seen one in a while.

And that really seemed to get the conversation going. From there, they were able to branch into a lot of topics (and Tendou was right, they did have a TON in common). They only ended the conversation when Semi groaned and begged him to either turn the brightness down or turn the damn phone off. They still had more games to play. Despite losing earlier in the day, Akaashi still wished him luck.