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There was a certain unpleasant feeling in the air when Washio walked into the gym for morning practice. Immediately the team could tell something was off, but not with Bokuto (the usual culprit) and instead it was Washio that was upset.
“Washio? What's wrong?” Konoha asked as he turned to Washio. He replied with a grunt before turning his face away from the group.
“You can tell us if something’s bothering ya!” Bokuto chimed in, drawing the attention of the rest of the team.
“We won’t judge,” Kaori assured with an easy smile.
“Do you… do you think I’m scary?” Washio finally muttered. A moment paused in silence as the team examined their middle blocker. Sure Washio was constantly wearing a frown, had a squinted gaze, and wore his hair incredibly spiky, but that wasn’t anything that would make him scary. Besides, they knew Washio was just a little bad at expressing himself and often communicate through grunts when talking was too hard. It wasn’t anything to be scared of, it was just how Washio was.
“Of course you aren’t. Why would you ask?” Yukie said, summing up the thoughts of the group.
“My little cousin cried at the sight of me,” Washio admitted. They winced once they heard the news, for Washio had been working on fixing his intimidating demeanor.
“Babies are weird! They’d cry at anything,” Komi waved off Washio’s concerns with a gentle smile, “like my niece. One time Saru booped her nose and she wailed for hours.”
“That was torture. I had to hold her the whole time since we were babysitting and Komiyan left to ‘go to the store’ for the whole time,” Sarukui added and shot a glare at Komi. The libero had the decency to look ashamed but broke into silent snickers as soon as Sarukui turned back to Washio.
“We could help you with relaxing your face! Right, Akaashi?” Bokuto offered with a glance to Akaashi.
“I’m not sure how useful my help would be, but yes I do offer it to you,” Akaashi agreed.
“Maybe we should have Onaga or Kaori help instead. No offense Akaashi, but we don’t want Washio to go from ‘Resting Thug Face’ to ‘Resting Bitch Face’,” Komi said.
“I understand that logic,” Akaashi said, his face still terrifyingly neutral.
“Well, then, let’s get to work!” Yukie clapped her hands together and everyone stepped off the court to surround Washio.
“Take a deep breath before you enter every new room just to look more calm,” Onaga offered.
“If you ever want to smile but aren’t feeling like it then just fake a smile. Eventually it’ll turn real,” Kaori said.
“Always have a few jokes on hand. It makes you look more relaxed and friendly if you make others laugh,” Komi advised with Sarukui nodding his head in agreement.
“Eye contact is nice for soothing people as well,” Sarukui said.
“Speak up! It’s scarier when someone is grumbling,” Bokuto yelled, proving his point in the process.
“Alright don’t overwhelm him,” Yukie chastised as she saw Washio’s mind go into overdrive trying to process all the new information. “Besides, classes are starting soon and it's not good to be tardy.”
“Fine,” the team sighed, all with varying degrees of annoyance. Just as they had cleaned up the gym, Washio stood in front of the door.
“Washio?” Sarukui asked. The player in question merely took a large ragged breath before looking up to glance at everyone in the eyes for at least a second.
“Thank you!” Washio boomed before turning his lips up in his form of a smile. It took the team by surprise to see him try and utilize all of their advice before they broke out in their own smiles.
“You’re welcome Washio,” they responded.
“Now go out there and get ‘em tiger! No one will call you scary anymore,” Komi slapped him on the back and everyone went to class with a spring in their steps.
Washio couldn’t stop himself from feeling warm and happy for the rest of the day as he thought about his team. They would do anything to help him and he would do the same.