Philophobia 2.0

Realizations in the Nurse's Office

"That's even worse! You saw it happen and didn't do anything? Did you get off on watching someone try to hurt yer manager? I don't care how much you don't like Ai, Ass-umu, that's positively fucked. Yer fucked. In the head! How in the hell do you have so many fangir—"

"It wasn't like that!" Atsumu yells at Yuki, trying to get her to stop—she was almost as bad as Ai when she was on a tangent. Then he locks eyes with Ai and repeats himself, absentmindedly scared she'd believe what Yuki was accusing him of. "It wasn't like that, Kimura. I-I may be an ass, but I don't usually jus' sit there when people are fighting. Or get wrongfully attacked."

"Then what were ya doin'?" Aiko asks when she turns up beside him, a tube of ointment in one hand and a handful of Q-tips in the other. She's frowning at Atsumu, clearly disappointed that he let her precious Ai-chan get hurt, but she isn't hostile like Yuki. Just curious.

"It's none of yer goddamn—" Atsumu begins to say harshly, but then he stops and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He just wanted to make sure Ai was okay, that was all, but getting questioned to the third degree made him want—no, need—to defend himself. "Everything happened so fast, alright? Every time I wanted to step in, those two moved like the Flash."

Evidently, that was the right answer, because Chiyo, the one girl who hadn't said a single thing, beamed at Atsumu and said, "I knew you weren't a total jerk. Why don't ya sit down? As soon as we apply some medicine on Mura-chan's lip, we're done."

—

"It's just a busted lip." Ai comments for the umpteenth time. Her lip had already been medicated with a thick layer of ointment for a while now, but for some reason, Ai's three friends wanted her to rest longer, as if she hurt her leg instead of her lip.

To be honest, she'd been over all the fawning and fretting back when they first saw her injury.

She was practically pouting—or whatever her version of a pout fest was, considering she wasn't the type to show her emotions visibly. However, it was clear to Atsumu and the girls that Ai wasn't happy. She kept repeating how good she was, occasionally sighing, refusing to look at anyone, and crossing her arms tight against her chest.

A simple (and incredibly small) injury and they were acting like it was the end of the world. Ai didn't understand it. All of her past friends would look at her busted lip and shrug it off—but then again, they were all fellow volleyball players, each accustomed to an occasional injury like this.

However, Chiyo, Yuki, and Aiko were not used to seeing a friend hurt, and when Ai realized that, her heart melted.

Meanwhile, Atsumu had been quiet ever since Aiko and Yuki got him to spill, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He had no mind to speak, lest Yuki call him Ass-amu again, but his amusement was growing with every passing second. Sure enough, he didn't dislike Ai when he wasn't starting a fight with her, and when she wasn't embarrassing him with her clever insults.

"Oh, right." Ai murmurs, remembering something, and then she looks at Atsumu. "Shouldn't you be at practice by now?"

'How th'hell did I completely forget about practice?' Atsumu internally wonders as a hefty wave of terror forms in his gut. Just what would Kita think—no, what will Kita do?

Still, once he looks back at Ai who stares at him expectantly, Atsumu can't find it in him to leave. He couldn't place it, place why, but he wanted to stay in the nurse's office. With Ai.

'Weird.'

"I'll text 'Samu," Atsumu declares, already taking his cell phone out of his pants pocket when Ai stops him.