𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 {𝐔𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐣𝐢𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫}

Chapter 8: New View

*Your POV*

I was doing scientific calculations at home when I was interrupted by the buzz of my phone. I flipped it over and unlocked it to see what was new.

It was an Instagram follow from Tendou. I accepted, followed back, and proceeded to look through his pictures. There was some volleyball in there, but a lot of it was just him being reckless. He climbed buildings, set things on fire, smashed bottles in parking lots, and made faces at the camera.

"Yeah, he's definitely cool."

There were often tags of other people that I clicked on and stalked, all of them being his friends, some of which I promptly followed as well. I came to a photo of him, Semi, and Ushijima at the beach. Tendou was throwing sand at Semi who was running away while Ushijima watched in the back.

They were all shirtless.

I was alone, so there was no hesitation to zoom in on each person like the shameless pervert I am.

Tendou was skinny. Semi was thin but toned, and Ushijima was, well, damn. It was apparent that he took his health seriously and worked out. I hadn't been able to tell under his uniforms, but this guy had some major muscle.

I went to his account. He had more volleyball pictures, some of his award ceremonies, but there were also features of his family and friends. He was celebrating holidays, taking trips, and going to parties. I clicked follow before returning to my work.

*Ushijima's POV*

I hadn't been on my phone for a while, so when I came back to it, I had several notifications. The one that caught my attention was a follow request from y/n. I accepted and followed back before going to her page.

She mostly posted pictures of her and her friends, vacations, outings, etc, nothing unusual. There were some photo shoots. I took a closer look at those and admired her outfits and posing. They were unique. I stared for a while.

Apparently she had spent some time on an extinction rescue retreat. She sat with an assortment of native animals in what appeared to be a rehabilitation center.

"Cute." I mumbled.

I liked the most recent picture out of proper Instagram etiquette and left to make dinner for myself.

*Your POV*

"He liked my post? I guess I should like one of his."

I chose the most recent one as well.

*Ushijima's POV*

In art the next day, Suzuki made an announcement about an upcoming art contest. She explained the categories that would be included and told us to continue our projects where we'd left off yesterday.

Tendou leaned over the table on his elbows and whispered, "I'll be watching you two."

He slowly reclined with a smirk and left for his partner. Y/n came over to me and ran her hands behind her skirt before sitting.

"You didn't lose the supplies, did you?" She asked.

I pulled them out of my bag and presented them to her.

"Great, I'll take those."

I drew my arm back.

"No, I'm going first this time."

She huffed but didn't argue.

I went about the same procedure as yesterday, observing and sketching, but I wasn't only looking at her face. I noticed how she angled one of her shoes upward and one of them towards the other. The laces were crossed in an odd pattern.

She wore a cornflower blue anklet with delicate diamonds.

Her legs were clean-shaven and smooth, not that it mattered to me.

Her wrists layered over one another, fingers adorned in silver rings that she probably made herself.

Her nails were manicured and painted a sparkly navy color.

The way I was looking at her now was unlike all the other times in the past days. I wasn't just picking out details for the task in front of me. I was really looking at her whole self. Only now did I begin realizing how beautiful she was.

*Your POV*

We'd been quiet the past several minutes, but I didn't mind. He looked at me again as he'd been doing continually, but this time was different. It felt like he was looking at me. I shifted under the weight of his gaze, suddenly feeling vulnerable, but he didn't let up. This was the longest he'd held it before. At long last, he shifted his regard back to the paper, and I let out a silent exhale in relief.

I ended up sitting with the team at lunch again. It seemed that would become my regular spot.

"Hey, y/n, are you coming to practice today?" Semi inquired.

"Do you guys want me to?"

There was a collective "Yeah!" which made me feel desired.

"Then I'll be there. I just don't want to get in the way or distract any of you." I told them.

"You would never be in the way. Plus, the company is nice." Shirabu said.

"Am I not enough for you guys?" Uchida interjected.

"Of course you are, but the more, the merrier!" Yamagata replied.

"Right." Uchida uttered, rolling her eyes.

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