Your heavy eyes finally lifted themselves up as you felt a lingering sting on your eyes and cheeks. Turning to your phone, you saw that it was almost lunch time. The strands of light that seeped through your window curtains didn't convince you to get up though. You fell right back asleep.
The whole of Saturday was nothing but that. Waking up spontaneously, but having no desire to get up. Not even to eat. Your eyes fell shut every time. It felt like you had no physical strength to move. It was just once you got up; to use the bathroom and to get water. Every other minute besides those were spent in bed.
The growl of your stomach rumbled you awake.
12:14pm was the time you saw on your phone.
Had you really done nothing for the whole of yesterday? For some reason, that fact gave you irrational stress.
Now you had to not drift back off, or you'd oversleep tomorrow and be late for school.
I wanna get out of here.
You groggily pulled your own weight off the comfort of the mattress, and went to the bathroom to clean yourself up and take a shower for the first time in days. It was a refreshing feeling. Feeling down for so long and staying in one spot really melts and sticks you to place, as if a sand dune could form right over you and you'd still stay put.
Shoving your hands into your pockets, you breathed in the fresh afternoon air. The sky was a gradient of yellows and oranges, with the cloud littering spreads of white.
Your path ahead wasn't planned. You just went anywhere your feet took you.
Where to go...
As cliché as it was, you wanted to go to a park and sit on a swing to reflect on life. Sadly there wasn't exactly one nearby. The second best option was to head to the gym that you were supposed to keep closed. A change of scenery from the whirlpool of moping darkness was definitely what you needed, and you figured the bright lights and squeaky clean atmosphere was just the thing to do it.
Now taking the few steps up to the gym's double doors, you reached into your pockets.
Ah shit.
You didn't have the keys with you.
"Dumbass..." You sighed to yourself, turning around. You didn't exactly want to go home, since you literally just left, so you sat down on the stairs outside the entrance.
Scrolling through your phone, you found various new articles regarding your area. From random news of pointless gossip, to...
You re-read the title of the article.
'Parent leaves town with fake identity as the police struggle for clues.'
Indeed, it was about your mom. Thankfully your name didn't appear internet the article, if someone who knew you read it, for some reason you'd feel embarrassed and ashamed.
'Police suspect the woman of drug use as people claim seeing her mingling with various people and giving stocks before leaving the city.'
'An eyewitness describes someone similar of appearance to be taking the bullet train away to further up Japan.'
'Police station were questioned about previous similar situations as they estimate it to be months before getting a lead.'
Months?
I won't see her for months?
Only then did you remember where you even lived. Japan was notorious for having a high average of missing person cases, many of which taking years to solve, and some even never being solved.
Slowly, as your train of thought began falling down an abyss, you began losing hope.
Not again.
Your body was shaking once more.
And you hated it more than anything in the world. You hated the abundance of panic attacks you've had and the unreasonable magnitude of them. You didn't want it to happen again, yet you couldn't do anything about it. Every piece of advice about breathing expertises and focus strategies had toppled out of your brain. And what was worse and probably most terrifying, you were in public.
You wanted to go home now, you wanted someone to take you there, you needed anyone to talk to.
Tears littered the screen of your phone when you tried to focus your eyes. The untameable shivers and sobs overwhelmed you as you tapped to find the first contact that had appeared.
All you were able to do was share your location before your unstable hands stumbled the phone or your hands and onto the step below. It was like a curse of being unable to handle your own movements.
Almost half an hour later you were still just as unstable as before. You hadn't even realised the hurried footsteps approaching until you heard a voice.
"(Y/n)? Are you okay?" You looked up, seeing a white haired boy with black ends. He bent his legs as he was positioned opposite you, squatting on the step that your feet rested on. Kita looked up at you with a worried expression curving his eyebrows, while his hands were raised to reach your shoulders to steady them from the shakes of your cries.
You could even say a single word; the intensity you felt inside you didn't allow any noises but sniffs to escape.
Your head slumped back down, as you cried even more.
Another 20 minutes later, your breathing was now moderately fixed. The friend in front of you said nothing during the 20 minute period. He wasn't used to comforting others like this, and he found himself just awkwardly rubbing circles onto your shoulders.
"What... happened?" He finally had the courage to ask.
You didn't want to say anything, because of you did, you might need another hour to calm down. Simply, you took your phone off the ground next to you and opened the article, reaching it out for Kita to read.
His eyes stuck at your hands for a second, before taking the phone and holding it in his own ones. Skimming through the first half of the article to get the idea, he glanced up at you.
"Is this..."
He wasn't yet sure about the situation until you concluded his sentence with a nod.
"My mom." Your shaky voice confirmed, much to your embarrassment.
The captain of the volleyball team you were supposed to manage professionally saw you in such a vulnerable state, and it made you want to leave so desperately. During your practices, you both were composed and fried fluid best, but now eyes were on you as you were slowly giving up on everything. Dammit, why did you even text him in the first place?
Kita nodded back, not sure whether to ask more or not. He felt guilty for stressing about what to do to comfort you. He thought that he should know what he was supposed to do when a friend was upset, but right now...
Kita shuffled to sit beside you, a hand now on your back. He stared ahead, brainstorming what to do in his head. Does he stay quiet? Does he offer to take you somewhere? Does he call another friend to help? Does he say things like 'it'll be okay' when he knows those shallow words might not help?
"Thank you, Kita." You turned to him with a sad smile, catching him off guard. You were thanking him? He'd done almost nothing...
"I... didn't do much to help... sorry." Kita politely bowed his head down a tiny bit.
Why was he being formal at a time like this?
"What? You're here, that's more than enough." Your genuinely confused expression had his eyes open a bit wider.
"You can skip practice tomorrow if you're not feeling up to it." Kita said as you both were stood up as the sun set, ready to part ways.
"What? No way!" You huffed, arms crossed. Now at a reasonable state of mind, you were able to smile and talk properly, or at least better than before. "I wouldn't miss practice for the world!"
The captain didn't reply, thinking various thoughts to himself.
She's... just like Atsumu... always wanting to push herself... She shouldn't though. She has to take care of herself.
And that's just what he said to you, excluding your resemblance to the blond setter.
"But-!"
"No excuses, take a break for tomorrow." There was his mom side.
It was strangely comforting, since your own real mom was no longer going to be one for you.
"What about everyone else? Won't they ask about why I'm skipping?"
"You're not skipping, you're simply resting." Kita reassured. "I'll tell them you're just tired, they won't mind."
"Ah.."
"I'm concerned though," He remembered something that conveniently came to mind. "Atsumu, however, doesn't stop taking about how he worries for you. Surprisingly, he's observant when it comes to you and your feelings, ever since the situation after he and his brother were arguing at your gym. Therefore he may be suspicious..."
"H-he talks about me!?" You had completely disregarded everything he said but the fact that Atsumu talked about you.
Kita nodded, not sure what he was allowed to say. Many people from the team knew he liked you, and you were probably the only one clueless about it. Kita knew it wasn't his place to disclose that love on Atsumu's behalf.
"You can tell him..." Staring at the ground, you wondered yourself if that was even a good idea.
Kita let out a hum of agreement, a slight pondering expression on him as he wondered how to reply.
Doubting your choice for a second, you were reminded that Atsumu deserved to know what happened in your life, as Kita said, "I'm glad you want to be honest with him. You're a very truthful person."
It was as if you were about to cry again, but more because of how nice Kita was being about everything. You tackled him into a hug, with him returning it after a few seconds.
"Thank you for letting me take tomorrow of... and for being here today."
"It's no problem. It's my job to take care of the team, right? And you're part of the family now."
Family...
That sounds nice...
~~~
Omg why is this chapter so long this is supposed to be an Atsumu fic not a Kita fic ffs 🤺
man I just like comfy stuff ig