𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 // tsukishima kei

☾ - 𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 - ✧

the blonde boy stared down at her with folded arms and an unreadable expression on his face, eyes narrowed as he looked over her form. nova fidgeted as her hands clenched into fists under his intense gaze.

tsukishima met her eyes again as he finished his inspection. "do you realize," he started, stepping closer to her to make sure that no one else heard him. "how idiotic that was?" he finished in a hiss, eyes burning with anger.

nova nodded and looked down at their sneakers, only a few inches apart. she spoke to them instead of him, too afraid to face his anger.

"i am sorry. i just wanted to leave the gym for a bit. i felt like i would have a panic attack if i didn't get fresh air."

tsukishima sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, making his glasses slide down a bit. "why didn't you at least tell me? or yamaguchi."

nova shrugged and looked up at him for a moment before returning her gaze to their feet. "you were already training. by the time i walked outside, the team was too far ahead."

tsukishima shook his head slowly at her. "i can't believe you thought it was okay to walk alone in a city like this... do you even know how dangerous it is for girls like you to walk alone?"

nova tilted her head at him. "girls like me?"

tsukishima stared flatly at her for a few seconds before pushing his glasses up. they glinted in the sun coming through the gym windows, so that nova couldn't see his eyes. "from now on, walk with either me or yamaguchi. got it? i heard what coach said, you can't walk by yourself anyways." he tilted his head down towards her, and nova could see now that his eyes didn't look so angry. they almost looked like they showed concern, but tsukishima usually looked like he didn't care about anything. it was probably nothing, she wasn't good at determining what people were feeling anyway.

nova blinked slowly at him, before nodding her head. i was going to ask if you'd be okay with walking with me anyways...

apparently done talking, tsukishima turned and joined yamaguchi to stretch with the rest of the team. it looked like she'd gotten back when their training was almost done.

she caught yamaguchi's eyes and he sent her a relieved smile. "i'm glad you're okay," he mouthed. nova nodded to him before finally joining shimizu again.

"what was that all about?" the black-haired girl asked, eyeing tsukishima curiously, who looked as if he had never gotten upset in the first place. (it was starting to make nova uneasy how his face could go back to being blank so easily.)

nova sighed softly and leaned down to pick up a stray water bottle. "please do not make me explain."

☾ ✧

shimizu sat wearing a pair of disposable gloves as she squinted down at nova's hand, slowly painting her index finger with navy blue nail polish. this was one of the activities that nova had found out could happen at a 'slumber party,' and she'd told shimizu that she could paint her nails as long as she wore gloves to avoid skin-to-skin contact, and germs, of course.

shimizu happily agreed, seeming way too excited to nova, but the younger girl had no complaints so far. shimizu was very good at only painting her nails, and not getting any polish on her skin.