10 Stages of Me and You [Tsukishima Kei x Reader]

Stage 2: Her

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Maybe accepting the fact that she had feelings towards someone wasn't quite a good idea.

Since last night, [Name] has been constantly flooded with the thought of Kei. She couldn't stop thinking about how she wanted to know him more, watch him smile, hold his hand, and hug him. She even silently hoped that fate would be kind to her and let her bump with him on the way to school. She didn't though. At least, not yet. She was half-way there already in her walk to school though.

'Come on. He's bound to be living nearby since we often go home together. This is annoying. Why am I even like this? I wasn't acting like this yesterday.'

[Name] groaned, annoyed. Now that she acknowledged her feelings, she didn't know how to act towards the tall blond. She felt like her every move would make him suspicious and that the whole world had its eyes on her and a simple mistake would risk her secret getting out.

She bit her lip as she planned how she'd approach Kei.

'Do I say hi to him? Wait. When have I ever said hi to him as a greeting? I should tease him. What do I tease him with though? Ah, crap. I wasn't able to think of an insult towards him before I left the house. If I don't think of an insult now, he'll definitely know something's up.'

[Name] kept looking down as she tried to think of a good nickname and line to say when she finally sees the blond. Or maybe she could just ignore him for the day. He wouldn't notice it anyway, right? But then again, they'd have to see each other during club time. Maybe she could skip that as well. She'd feel horrible to skip out on it though. Plus, she might come off as unreliable towards the team if she didn't come. The last thing they'd want is a manager they can't even count on.

"Ah shit. I don't have an escape, do I?" [Name] chuckled in defeat as she brought her hand to her face. 

"An escape for what?"

[Name]'s head immediately went towards the source of the voice. Her eyes widened as she realized that fate indeed heard her prayer earlier, but at a very bad timing for her.

'Ah, the fate manager has blessed me, but right when I wanted to avoid him, he shows up.'

"Hi," [Name] said, regretting it afterwards as soon as the words left her lips.

'Hi?! GAH! It's so awkward!'

"Hi?" Kei returned what she said in a confused and questioning tone.

'Oh, kami-sama. Take me now, away from here. I just did the most embarrassing thing I could do in front of my crush. I want the ground to swallow me up now.'

"Eh?" Kei started, with a teasing tone. "Has chibi-chan ran out of insults to say?"

"No!" [Name] came off far too strong with her denial but decided to pay no attention to it. "I was just scared. I couldn't believe I saw a yeti so early in the morning."

"Yeti? I can't see it. But, I do see an itsy bitsy spider. I wonder why it's lurking in the streets so early in the morning."

"Your insults are lame today," [Name] said, grinning at the boy she was now walking with.

"Really? I was just basing it off your own crappy ones." Kei glanced at the girl before looking straight ahead again with a smirk on his face.

"Oh? I was only trying to sync with you because I felt that if I didn't, you'd be crushed by my insults now. I was being merciful, you know?" [Name] brought up both of her hands and shrugged.

"Too bad you can't sync with my height too. Then you wouldn't be the shortest anymore."

"Hey! I'm taller than Nishinoya-senpai!"

"By what? A centimeter?"

"More than that! I'll continue growing you'll see!" [Name] pointed towards Kei's face as she made her claim.

"Then hurry up, so I could actually start seeing you."

'Seeing me? Like... a date?!'

The shorter one of the two froze up for a second as she realized the other meaning of the word. The taller of the two noticed and wondered why the hyperactive girl suddenly stopped talking. His words started to sink in and he too froze.

"I-It's not my fault you can't see clearly! You should get a new pair of glasses if you can't see me!" 

[Name] stuttered out her first word due to the embarrassment she felt because of her own imagination. Luckily, due to his own thoughts, Kei wasn't able to notice it as well.

"I don't think that's the problem. You see, there are things that cannot be seen by the eye just because they're too small. Don't worry. The next time I see you, I'll be sure to bring a microscope."

[Name] couldn't say anything back to the boy, for now, giving him another win in their tally.

"And here you said, you'd get back at me for being late yesterday."

[Name] puffed her cheeks as she stared at Kei's eyes.

"I won't lose tomorrow!"

[Name] started sprinting towards their school as soon as it was within view. She quickly changed her shoes and ran to her room before the tall middle blocker could even catch up. As soon as she reached her seat, she planted her face on her table while clutching her chest and feeling her heartbeat.

'Crap. It's fast. I couldn't even handle walking with him. How am I gonna go on the rest of the day? How am I gonna survive club?!'

"Shit," she said softly.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

It was math class.

[Name] loved math. It gave her a solid clutch on what was happening. Math was definite. It had answers and even if they were imaginary, they were still answers. Math had rules and these rules made it easy to understand the subject. If there was a problem, the answers were absolute. There are no spaces for error and no room for consideration. She loved the fact that as long as she listened, she'd understand.

Feelings were different. They were all over the place. They had no definite explanation. They were both easy and hard to even understand. The moment you think you do, they suddenly change into a different feeling. They also contributed to your actions which is sometimes not the best thing. The worst part though was that, the more she listened the more confused she was.

"Alright, make sure to copy this down class."

[Name] looked down at her notebook as she grabbed her pen. She leaned on her non-dominant hand that was on the table, her elbow far from the edge and upright. Without looking down, she started writing in her notebook.

'I wonder what class lamppost is having right now. Argh. Why am I thinking of him again?! I should start trying to bury my feelings for him. But, he makes me feel so happy just by being next to him. I shouldn't think that way though! I'm sure he wants nothing to do with me.'

"Um, [Surname]?" 

[Name] looked at his seatmate, Tobio.

"Yes? What do you need Kageyama-kun?"

"You didn't press the top part of your ballpen."

[Name] looked at her notebook and saw that she hasn't written anything at all. Before she started writing, she forgot to press the top part to bring out the ballpoint of the pen.

"Ah," [Name] sighed. "Thank you for telling me, Kageyama-kun."

The said boy just nodded his head and proceeded to look at the board, trying his hardest to understand the lesson. [Name] on the other hand, mentally cursed herself as she started rewriting her notes with a working ballpen.

'I let him distract my thoughts too much. This isn't good.'

Sadly for [Name], this was only the start of her frustration.

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