Chapter Text
If Tendou Satori received a fresh new copy of any of his favorite volumes of manga for every time a student asked him to attend an event of theirs, he’d be practically swimming in manga.
Well, not that he isn’t already.
His apartment is full to the brim of books bought on a whim during weekly stops at the local manga shop. It’s not so much of an addiction as it is an escape; a way to take a break from the hustle and bustle of being a high school art teacher.
He loves his job, loves the smiles on his students’ faces every time he compliments their work and tells them how much they’ve improved. He loves the high-fives he receives as he walks through the hallways, the grins and the enthusiastic “Tendou-sensei!” that accompany those high-fives. He loves waking up every morning knowing that he’s going to a job that gives him a sense of completeness, a feeling that he’s doing something right and good.
But really, he would be lying if he said it wasn’t extremely tiring sometimes.
Especially now, this season, with all the sports teams starting official games. He has a surprising amount of students who play on the school teams as well, and after nearly every single class he receives an invitation to attend a game after school or during the weekend.
Tendou Satori is much too soft in the presence of a hopeful high schooler, nervously declaring that they’d love for one of their favorite teachers to come watch them play. And now, on a regular Monday, he’s run into that very same problem once again.
“Sensei?” Keiko, one of his second-year students, a quiet girl with short hair and a real talent for painting, approaches him after class for what he assumes will be a question about the homework.
Tendou looks up from his laptop, offering Keiko a warm smile and a curious expression.
“I was wondering,” she continues, fiddling nervously with the strap of her messenger bag, “I have a practice match tonight, and coach said he was going to put me in the lineup to play, do you… think you could come?”
Tendou, as much as he would like to stay home for the night and binge watch a new anime series, cracks once again under the pressure of a student’s hopeful request.
“I’d love to come, what do you play?” he asks, closing his laptop.
“Volleyball!” she answers quickly, now rummaging in her bag before pulling out a piece of paper with the time and place of the game scribbled messily on it.
Volleyball? Tendou doesn’t recall the school having a volleyball team. He’s been teaching here for about five years now, and he’s attended track meets, basketball games, baseball games, swimming events even, but never volleyball.
“I wasn’t aware that the school had a team,” he takes the paper and studies it before looking back up, one eyebrow raised.
“Oh! Well... we didn’t. Not until this year! The coach is new and he’s really good… he used to play for a nationals-level team. So he proposed the idea and a lot of people were interested.”
That would explain it.
“Ah!” Tendou grins, “well guess who used to play volleyball in high school too?”
Keiko’s expression lights up, “You played volleyball?”
“I did, though it really wasn’t my calling in life I don’t think. Art always seemed like the right choice for me,” he tucks the paper in his dress shirt pocket, “anyway, count on me being there! I’m excited to see you play.”
“Thank you, sensei!” Keiko smiles wide and Tendou’s reminded why he always agrees to these things; seeing his students so happy is what makes him love his job so much.
-----
Tendou, as loyal as ever, keeps his promise, and shows up to one of the school’s large gymnasiums for the first practice match of the season for the girl’s volleyball team. He watches from the second floor, leaning over the railing and hoping he’s not intruding. The match hasn’t started and the opposing team isn’t here just yet but the team is practicing anyway.
He spots Keiko, setting the ball for the other players as they take turns hitting it across the net. She must be the setter then, which Tendou feels a sense of pride for. He always thought the role of setter would be one that he never could have mastered. Middle blocking was the only role he ever felt confidence in.
Tendou hasn’t spotted the coach yet. He’s interested to see this new face, especially since he’s become fairly close with most of the other teachers in the building. Meeting new people has always been one of his favorite things. People are interesting, complex, and he loves trying to figure out what makes them tick. And to know that someone else in the building shares his love for volleyball, well, that’s definitely something he’s excited about.
He busies himself with his phone, checking emails and social media until finally the opposing team arrives and greets the home team. It’s a small team from a school nearby, probably a good match for the home team since this will be their first game. It brings back memories of junior high, when he played his very first match. It was hard, devising his own method for blocking and being told it wasn’t practical, but he never was interested in practicality, more so just in having a good time.
The game starts, and from this angle he still hasn’t seen the coach. Really, he knows that’s not the reason he’s here anyway, so he’s annoyed that his brain keeps nagging him to search for this person he’s never met before. Instead he fixes his attention on Keiko, watches her nervously set the ball and, admittedly, mess up a few times, but for being a beginner she seems to understand the game extremely well.
They play three sets, and the opposing team wins two of them by only a couple points. By this time, a few more students have joined Tendou on the upper level, and they all give both teams polite applause once the game is done.
And finally, that’s when he catches who he assumes is the coach.
He’s tall, though not really taller than Tendou, but he appears bigger considering how built he is. Warm brown hair with choppy bangs frame his face and when Tendou catches the gentle smile on his face as he approaches his team…
Oh no. Coach is cute. Coach is really cute.
Coach pulls the team into a huddle, and Tendou can’t hear a word he’s saying but if the expression on the students’ faces are any indication, coach just gave the most encouraging speech in the entire universe. Tendou grips the railing, internally cursing his brain for continuing to stare at this man he’s never met in his entire life. It’s been years since he’s seen someone so ridiculously and stupidly beautiful, and he’s not even close to him, he’s several feet away.
By some sort of miracle, coach leaves the huddle to go speak with the opposing coach outside. Tendou breathes a sigh of relief and makes eye contact with Keiko, who waves enthusiastically in his direction. He waves back, grinning before shouting, “Good game!”
She shouts back a quick thank you before starting to stretch. Tendou takes this as his opportunity to finally go home, hoping that he’ll be able to free his mind of the most beautiful man he’s even seen in his entire life.
He should have known this was wishful thinking.
-----
Ushijima Wakatoshi.
That’s the coach’s name. And he’s the new biology teacher on campus, so not only is he incredibly beautiful, he's also smart as hell.
Tendou can tell he’s completely doomed.
Keiko tells him this information the next day during class when Tendou curiously asks about who exactly the coach is. She even says where his office is, and Tendou definitely didn’t specifically ask for that information, absolutely not.
He tells himself, begs himself, not to go to that very office without a clear reason, but Tendou doesn’t typically think about things before he does them. He’s all impulse, and that certainly doesn’t change in this situation.
So, regrettably, he finds himself standing in the doorway of Ushijima Wakatoshi’s office, eyeing the nameplate on the door before turning his attention inside. Ushijima looks even more built up close like this, and it sends a shiver down Tendou’s spine. He can’t see his face; Ushijima’s desk is facing away from the doorway and he’s leaned over, grading papers while classic rock plays quietly on the radio in the corner of the room.
Tendou just watches for a moment, watches the way the fabric of Ushijima’s button-down molds so perfectly and flatteringly across his muscular back, watches the gentleness in his hand as he grades his students’ work. Finally he realizes how strange it is for him to just be standing here staring, and he certainly doesn’t want Ushijima to spot him before he says anything.
He coughs, louder than he had initially planned, and Ushijima immediately looks up and glances towards the doorway. His stare is soft but strong at the same time, rendering Tendou completely speechless as Ushijima looks back at him with a confused expression.
“Can I help you?” Ushijima asks after an incredibly awkward silence between the two of them.
Even his voice is gorgeous, deep and warm and threatening to make Tendou a complete, blushing mess.
“Ah, yeah!” Tendou nearly chokes on air, which he internally kicks himself for.
Ushijima blinks, waiting for an explanation, but Tendou’s voice appears to have stopped working. How convenient.
“I have a lot of work to get done,” the coach explains, gesturing slightly to the stack of papers on his desk.
“Yeah, sorry, I uh,” Tendou’s brain is in overdrive, his internal dialogue is all screaming at this point, and he’s grasping for any sort of statement to make to continue this conversation, “I heard you were new this year. I’m the art teacher - ”
“Tendou,” Ushijima completes his sentence for him, and Tendou jumps a bit at the sound of his own name being spoken by that heavenly voice.
“Right!” the redhead smiles nervously, “And you’re Ushijima, the new biology teacher, right?”
“Yes,” Ushijima answers bluntly and easily.
Clearly conversations aren’t really Ushijima’s forte. But that’s fine, because they’re definitely Tendou’s forte. Well, unless he’s been driven completely speechless by someone’s attractiveness.
“Just thought I’d come by and introduce myself,” Tendou manages, but he’s starting to crack under that intense stare, “are you enjoying the school so far?”
“I am.”
It’s another short, basic answer. Tendou really isn’t used to this at all. Normally he can latch onto someone’s personality extremely quickly, he can understand them clearly within a few minutes, can really get into their head and know what makes them tick.
Ushijima Wakatoshi is different. And Tendou is incredibly intrigued.
“Was there anything else?” the question doesn’t sound mean, in fact it’s polite and gentle and it just makes Tendou feel bad for taking up Ushijima’s time.
But when will he muster up the courage to do this again?
“Yeah, actually! I had um… a question,” his mind races, trying to come up with any possible thing to say that won’t sound like he’s made it up on the spot.
Ushijima is a biology teacher. He knows a lot about animals. Surely he knows a lot about pets, probably has a lot of tips for several species of animals. A dog or cat would be too obvious, even a bunny wouldn’t seem right.
Lizards. For some reason, Tendou’s mind decides this is the key.
“I have a pet lizard,” Tendou blurts out.
Tendou does not have a pet lizard.
“A lizard?” Ushijima perks up, and Tendou internally congratulates himself; he’s obviously peaked his interest, “What breed?”
Shit.
“He’s… a gecko.”
“Crested gecko? Leopard gecko?”
“Crested,” Tendou answers, not even knowing the difference between the two breeds.
“I see,” Ushijima nods in understanding, “what did you have a question about?”
“Um, well, he’s new. I just got him recently. Wanted to know if you had any tips or references about owning one.”
“I do,” Ushijima stands, stretching for a moment (which Tendou thanks the gods for) before walking over to a bookshelf in the corner of his office.
He grabs a copy of the biology textbook, flipping through until he finally finds what he’s looking for and sets the book on the desk. He beckons Tendou over, and the redhead quickly walks towards him. He knows he should be looking at the textbook, but his eyes graze over Ushijima’s arms, his shoulders, and then back up to his face.
“Chapter 12 in the textbook has a section about lizards,” Ushijima explains, softly tapping the book in front of them, “which would do you some good to read over if you don’t have experience.”
“Okay,” Tendou answers weakly, finally bringing his attention to the textbook.
“I’ll mark the page for you and write it down,” Ushijima says, reaching for a post-it and writing the page numbers down on it before placing it in the textbook, “you can borrow this but I need it back by the end of the week.”
“Understood,” Tendou mumbles, taking the book and holding it against his chest.
“Also,” Ushijima continues, reaching for another post-it note and writing down a series of numbers -
Oh god he’s writing down his phone number.
Tendou Satori is getting Ushijima Wakatoshi’s phone number and he feels like he’s about to combust.
“I”ll give you my phone number, you can call me or text me if you have more specific questions. I interned at a shelter for reptiles while I was in college so I can give you more information. My office is always open too, but I would prefer you know what you’re going to ask before coming and standing in my doorway. It’s very distracting.”
Oops.
Tendou takes the second post-it with a slightly shaking hand, which he hopes Ushijima doesn’t happen to notice. He makes sure it makes it into his pocket before looking back at Ushijima again and nodding in understanding.
He’s not typically rendered speechless but this… this is definitely new.
“Now I should probably get back to grading. Was there anything else?”
“No,” Tendou answers quietly and then repeats himself just a bit louder, “no, that was it. I’ll… let you know if I have any other questions, and I’ll bring the textbook back too.”
“Thank you,” Ushijima smiles and god it’s such a warm smile that Tendou feels blessed to witness it, to have been the reason it exists.
“No, thank you!” Tendou laughs nervously, backing up to the doorway and tripping slightly on the corner of the door, “I’ll… see you around, Ushijima! Have a good night!”
Ushijima watches him leave with a slightly concerned expression.
As soon as Tendou leaves the room he walks quickly and shakily to his own office. He shuts the door behind him and and flops down in his desk chair. He closes his eyes and there’s a brief moment of peace, though it doesn't last long before Tendou opens his eyes again and immediately mutters under his breath.
“Shit.”
He’s in really deep this time.