𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 - 𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘰 𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘰

10: do girls like candy?

Sunday morning had Tetsurō sleeping in and waking up with a headache. He'd been practicing almost all weekend, harder than usual. Volleyball was his favourite distraction.

He slowly fell out of bed and onto the tiny slit of sunlight that remained on the floor as the morning turned into afternoon.

He could see the corner of his journal as it taunted him from it's spot on his desk. He grumbled and closed his eyes as he lay flat on the floor.

After a while he finally stood up, feeling fuzzy from over-sleeping.

"Alright fine," He said aloud as he picked up his journal and plopped into his desk chair. He pulled one foot onto the chair, his leg up against his chest, and opened the journal.

His eyes skimmed over a page about Yamazaki and he grimaced, trying to recall when he'd written that.

He was just about to complain to his journal about the rough start to his day when a thought crossed his mind.

If Yamazaki didn't like him because he was shallow and one-dimensional, why shouldn't he work all the harder to prove her wrong?

Moreover, why should he let her make him miserable?

He scribbled these thoughts down before getting dressed and heading out the door. Today was the day Mrs. Ito, a neighbor and also a close friend of his grandmother, had him run errands for her. He greeted her with a smile as he picked up the list of groceries she'd need over the next few days.

She patted his arm and told him what a good god-grandson he was and promised to invite him for a game night sometime soon.

"Mrs. Ito, you always beat me at board games," He said with a chuckle.

"Well, why else would I invite you? So I have someone to school," She teased. "Go on now, I'm sure you have a girlfriend to spend time with so you'd better hurry with the groceries,"

Tetsurō internally flinched. "Unfortunately the ladies my age aren't all that fond of me,"

"Shame on them then. You just keep being yourself and you'll find a pretty girl who'll love everything about you."

Tetsurō smiled again. Mrs. Ito was just like his grandma in so many ways. That's probably why he got along with her so well.

A few minutes after arriving at the store, Tetsurō had found everything Mrs. Ito had asked for.

His eyes skimmed over the snacks isle as he thought about buying something to take over to Kenma. Kenma often forgot to have meals and Tetsurō often had to entice him with candy or chips before he'd eat any real food.

"Pardon me," A somewhat familiar voice interrupted his train of thought. He turned his head to see Keiji Akaashi, the starting setter from Nekoma's rival school, Fukurōdani.

"Sorry dude," Tetsurō smiled as he moved aside so Akaashi could get past him.

"No worries," Akaashi smiled politely back before reaching for a bag of candy, looking at it for a second before putting it back on the shelf. "Do girls like candy?" He asked unexpectedly.

"Most of the ones I know," Tetsurō responded. "What's the occasion?"

"I'm thinking of confessing to someone."

Tetsurō nodded. "Do you know if there's a candy she really likes?"

"No, I don't know her well."

"If you don't mind a bit of unsolicited advice, I'd recommend flowers instead."

"Oh?"

"In my experience, how well candy is received is heavily based on a girl's personal preference so it's better for when you know her well. Flowers are more universal." Tetsurō felt like a total douchebag for saying something like that out loud, as if he had so much experience with girls that he could give someone advice on them. Especially someone he barely knew. "But every girl is different." He added with a shrug as if that made it less douchy somehow.

Akaashi stared at the selection of candy for a moment longer. "I think I'll take your advice." He nodded towards Tetsurō. "Thank you,"

As Tetsurō headed towards the checkouts with his items, his mind wondered back to Yamazaki. He wished he knew what kind of candy she liked, or even if she liked candy at all.

Fucking hell, every time she crossed his mind he felt the need to do a reality check. He had too much respect for Yamazaki to just ignore her wishes and continue pursuing her, but that didn't mean he had to try and erase his feelings for her. He'd just take it slowly, maybe she'd warm up to him again soon. Maybe she just needed time to see he was more then his reputation.

He could work on himself until that day came.

♡

author's note

i can't believe how this keeps getting more and more reads omg i'm so grateful for each one because it keeps me from forgetting about this story. i've been going back and forth about whether or not to continue but i've finally decided that i need to. even if it's just to feel the satisfaction of actually writing something people enjoy! thank you so much again for reading and i hope you know how much i appreciate every one of your comments!