"i mean, i would've said yes if i was her. but ushijima doesn't seem like the jealous type. what's more, ushijima has a lot on ando anyway."
"you think he likes her?"
"i don't know. i'll tell you what though, just last night i heard some of the volleyball team talking about how they wished one of their teammates would just confess already. and with how much those two hang out..."
"that's one of the most intimidating couples ever."
y/n had long since tuned out the conversations about her strangely nonexisting love life, but ushijima was more in tune with it since realizing his feelings than he ever was before.
when people speculated and expected a relationship that ushijima yearned for, it definitely gave him some confidence. nobody even thinks of "tenma and kawanishi." it's always been tenma and ushijima. ever since her first day at school. and it made ushijima feel so, so, good.
though ushijima refrained from commenting on any of it, he liked to walk slower in the halls to give people more time to talk.
however, time was running out. soon enough, ushijima wouldn't be able to chase after y/n like he had been anymore. at one point, ushijima had even considered throwing preliminaries in hopes that it would turn kawanishi away from confessing. but that loss wasn't worth it.
what was worth it, was allowing the teacher to pick the project partners. it sort of seemed like everybody wanted the two together because as the older woman announced ushijima's name following suit to y/n's, he swore that that was the moment where everything would go right.
the week that they worked on this project would be the week where ushijima could finally be honest with her. it would have to be. they were going to be busy over the next month, with practice matches and a training camp to attend, and tenma herself admitted that she wouldn't have time for anything other than volleyball. it irritated ushijima, naturally, but there was nothing he could do.
after their teacher finished reading off partnerships and assignment topics, she sat down behind her desk, giving the students the rest of the class to figure things out with their partner.
y/n turned to look at ushijima with a smile on her face.
"hey there, partner."
"hello," ushijima smiled back, almost unnoticeably.
"i'm really glad that you're my partner, ushijima. i think this project will be a breeze now." while she spoke, tenma pulled another green pen and a small planning notebook out of her bag. "i'm thinking that we can do the interview format..."
slowly, ushijima began to lose the sound of her voice as he could only watch her lips move with the important words that she must've been saying. he watched her eyelashes flutter when she blinked every time that she checked to see if he was paying attention, and he watched her perfectly manicured nails as she wrapped her hand around and twisted the pen between her fingers.
"... i'm thinking that the library here might work, because it's usually empty, but if you have any other ideas, i'm all ears."
like a lightbulb, ushijima blurted out the first thought that came to mind.
"we could always do it at my house," he shortly said.
"w-what?" tenma very lightly flushed at the idea of sitting in ushijima's home.
"my mother is on a business trip, so it's practically silent all the time, and it'd just be us for the week. we don't live that far from each other either."
tenma then darkened at the thought of being alone with ushijima.
"u-ushijima, i don't know if i-"
"call me wakatoshi."
tenma then shut her eyes at how easily ushijima moved them to first name basis.
"w-wakat-toshi, i don't want to intrude. i mean, i'd have to make sure that my sister would be alright without me for multiple hours after school every day. i have to go shopping sometime this week, too... there's just so much that i wouldn't be able to do."
ushijima tried his best to hide his defeat, though it slipped through anyway.
"library it is, then," he sighed.
-
"i mean, does he realize how unnatural that is? i can't just be at his house, no matter how much i want to be..."
y/n laid across kaori's bed with her face down in her younger sister's pillows.
"if you want to, then why can't you be?" kaori was doing her best to comfort her older sibling, though it was getting harder to continue. she sat at her desk with her laptop open, and her shined and manicured nails tapped against the lit keys. her leg was crossed over the other, and her hair was tied up into a messy bun.
"i have to be here! with you!"
kaori scoffed and rolled her eyes. "y/n, you've given your happiness up for this family for long enough. even when mom left, you still tried to keep us all together."
"what's your point?" the third year's words were muffled yet snappy.
"put yourself first for once. i get that i'm just a first year and all, but i know what groceries we need and how to lock doors and wash clothes, and all the other stuff you do around this place. not to mention that udai is here all of the time, so i wouldn't be alone like you might think."
y/n sighed and looked up at kaori.
"are you sure?
"of course. besides, you'll only be a five minute walk away."
-
ushijima, though doing wonders at hiding it, was over the moon after y/n returned to monday morning practice with a changed mind and an open schedule.
she had told him about how she jumped to conclusions too quickly when she rejected the offer. she mentioned that her brother would be home a lot more often to watch over her sister, and really, kaori didn't need much help anyway.
despite the well-formed explanation, all ushijima could do was watch her face move as the strange pounding sensation in his chest drowned out the rest of the noises, and it was like that for the rest of the day.
anywhere that he walked with her, ushijima would glance at her free hand like it called to him, and it was almost becoming annoying.
tendou thought it was strange that nobody noticed, but ushijima sat especially close to y/n at lunch. he was especially attentive when she spoke, and he was especially observant whenever she stood up or moved at all.
it was when tendou realized that he had completely underestimated the extent of his best friend's feelings.
ushijima didn't have a crush on her anymore. the big, dull, and silent ace was borderline in love with their manager. while he couldn't blame ushijima by any means, he wondered how ushijima's feelings would affect volleyball moving forward, because tendou knew that it would. it was ushijima's first love, and already the almost-eighteen-year-old was lovestruck by tenma.
tendou satori was so, so, so very happy for ushijima. he just wanted it to end the right way.
he didn't want anybody to get hurt.
