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The ride back from the training camp went by like a flash, but Maeko's thoughts were only filled with him, Suna Rintarou. And little did she know, his thoughts were just as full as hers.
Maeko was not fond of the fact that the training camp has come to an end, due to the homework and assignments she had to catch up with. Unlike the volleyball team who got permission to not attend classes, Maeko agreed to continue her classwork outside of school hours, despite having the task to document the team during their training.
The girl hadn't slept for long, due to her anime binge from the night before and she was ever so grateful that she had a permission slip to not attend classes. Even though she had the entire day to do her work, but the girl was extremely sleep-deprived that she slept the moment she arrived home.
After a few hours of napping since she came home, Maeko was finally ready to get some work done. But the number of chores she still has to do delayed her productivity further. Maeko was clearly tired and stressed but she kept pushing through her tired eyes and worn-out body. By 10 pm that night, Maeko finally could get some work done. As she started doing her homework, she felt her phone buzz. She looked down at her phone, it was a discord text notification from Suna.
Bendy boi
Join the vc
The girl clicked on the discord app and opened the second-year discord server before joining the voice channel they had. Maeko assumed the 3 males were playing a game together as they sounded very aggressive. All of them had their camera on so she opened hers as well, her phone facing the ceiling and her mic muted.
Maeko wasn't a big fan of loud noises when she is studying but she didn't let the voice from her friends bother her as she opened up her past notes for assignment, getting distracted here and there by doodling on her notebook. A few minutes after, Maeko heard her door open; she turned her head only to see her mother there.
"hi mom" she said before turning back to her notes, she was so grateful that she was muted and her camera was facing her ceiling so her friends couldn't see her speaking to her mom.
"Maeko, it's late" The elder said as she walked towards Maeko to see what she was doing quite late at night, only to see her accounting notebook filled with doodles at the corner. She let out a sigh before turning her head to her daughter.
"Maeko if you wanna study, don't let this distract you" she said with a stern voice pointing at the doodles on her notebook.
Maeko glanced up at her mom "but mom, I'm studying too even though I doodle-" she pleaded as her mom walked back towards her door, her words cut off as her mom turned her head back to her with strict yet soft eyes "please" she said before leaving the room and closing the door.
Maeko sighed to herself before turning back to her notebook "it's just doodling" she muttered to herself while writing down her answers.
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The voice of a door creaking open was then heard throughout the call, Maeko noticed it was from Suna and held her phone towards her face. Her eyes widened seeing a little girl was behind him.
"Is that Emiko-chan?" Atsumu asked as he paused the game and stared at Suna's screen.
"Hi Atsumu" the little girl waved at the camera before Osamu and Ginjima said their hello's to Emiko as well. The younger girl then approached the screen closer while suna had moved to the side so her small figure could be seen clearly.
"Eh? Maeko is here" the little girl said, as she inched her face closer to the camera. Suna clicked on the mic icon to presumably mute himself before asking his sister "why are you still up, it's past your bedtime".
The little girl frowned at his words, "yea, I can't sleep because you're too noisy". Suna clicked his tongue at the statement, "fine, fine I'll tone it down okay, now go sleep"He said as he attempted to shoo his younger sister out of his room.
Emiko squinted her eyes at her brother before she remembered that Maeko was in the call as well, "nii-san, when are you gonna tell Maeko? I thought you liked her" the little aggressively said as she waved her little arms desperately. Suna mentally rolled his eyes before opening his mouth to answer his younger sibling.
And just as he was about to reply, the girly squeals from Atsumu and Gin echoed through the speakers, followed by teases. Suna widened his eyes at his younger sister before turning his head to look at his screen.
"OHMYGOD I WASN'T FUCKING MUTED" he internally screamed.
"Also can I sleep here instead" Emiko said innocently, "yes fine just stay there and shut it" Suna replied frantically as he quickly shooed Emiko towards his bed before facing his screen, his hand covering his mouth in embarrassment and shock.
"Wow Suna, when were you gonna tell us you like Maeko" Atsumu teasingly said as he booming laugh filled the voice channel.
Ginjima continued afterward "yeah Suna, when were you gonna tell her". Maeko, who was still shocked at Emiko's previous words, felt her face heat up at Atsumu and Gin's teasing.
Osamu saw Maeko and Suna's flustered faces and glared at his brother through the screen before standing up from his chair to go to Atsumu who was accessing his discord from downstairs.
As his face appeared on Atsumu's screen, Atsumu turned his head at his younger twin before Osamu pushed his head out of the frame, his discord account disconnected from the voice channel soon after. Osamu's account disconnected a few minutes later.
Gin laughed at Atsumu's fate with his younger twin "aight imma head out too bye" he said raising his eyebrows teasingly at Suna before disconnecting as well, leaving Maeko and Suna alone in the voice channel.
Suna rubbed his eyes in frustration "I'm sorry about Emiko, and those people we call our friends" he said, his voice muffled from his hands.
"I'm still here nii-san" Emiko spoke up from under his blankets. "Oi, if you're gonna stay here you shush and just sleep okay" Suna scolded his sibling.
Maeko laughed at the two siblings before shaking her head "it's fine rin" she reassured him with a smile.
"Are you still doing your work?" Suna asked still rubbing his face tiredly. Maeko soon propped up her phone against a stack of books so she didn't have to hold it before continuing her work.
"yeah there's a lot to catch up on" she answered. Suna activated the music bot in their server so the two could listen to songs together as he knew Maeko was able to focus better with music in the background.
"Rin are you sure you want to stay in the vc? I don't want to keep you up" Maeko asked as she felt guilty for keeping the boy up.
"Nah, I'm not tired, and it's fine. I like keeping you company anyways" he replied before playing another game.
Afterward, the two just kept talking absentmindedly about random things, some were related and some unrelated at all. They didn't know how, but even after Maeko finished her assignments and Suna finished playing his games, they kept the conversation going and didn't hang up once. The two didn't know what made it so easy to talk to each other like this, but still enjoyed each other's presence through the screen nonetheless.
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Maeko was busy taking out her sketchbooks as she heard Suna grumble to himself before he let out a yawn as he entered his room after carrying Emiko back to her own bed next door.
"Rintarou if you're tired you can just sleep. You've been staying up nearly every night now" she said.
"no it's- It's not that" Suna replied to her as he sat back down in front of his monitor.
"Something on your mind Rin?" Maeko asked with full concern before placing her sketchbooks on her desk and leaning her head onto the palm of her hand.
A sigh was then heard from her phone as Suna leaned his head back while ruffling his hair slightly before moving his body closer to the camera of his pc and leaning his head on top of his crossed arms that were on his desk, his chin propped his head up as his fox eyes stared at the girl through the screen.
"I feel like I got nothing else to do outside volleyball. And my own skills are very lackluster compared to other teams and who knows in the future I might not even get into a team. Plus, I really don't fucking know what I'd do in college, like what will I even study? I'm not that smart of a person and I can't run a business or whatever, you already know what you want to do, I don't" he started rambling, a sigh escaped his lips before continuing "I guess I'm just worried I won't be okay in the future"
"Rintarou, your skills are nowhere near lackluster. Your spikes are amazing and your blocks are very well executed. I also don't know what the future holds but believe me Rintarou you are going to be just fine. And if all else goes wrong, you can stay with me for all I care" the girl reassured as she let out a small laugh at her last phrase.
"I highly doubt it Maeko" he replied as he let out a worn-out scoff.
"I also have my doubts about my future but trust me Rin. You're going to be just fine. Besides, you'll always have me" she said smiling at her camera. Suna's former raging thoughts cleared up once he saw her smile, that smile gave him a sense of peace.
"yeah, I'll be fine. I have you right?" he thought as he quietly grinned to himself.
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The clock had struck 4:30 in the morning, both of them were still in the voice channel not knowing the reason why. But neither of them wanted to end the call. Maeko was a bit preoccupied as she was scrolling through Pinterest finding pictures for drawing references, and yet her eyes kept diverting to Suna's own.
She tried to not stare but how can she not? She was video calling the best friend she has feelings for that is looking slightly too attractive even when he is sleep deprived. Suna was not any different as his own eyes kept redirecting to Maeko's figure through the screen.
The two were trying so hard not to stare at each other, the feelings deep within their hearts were finally getting recognized and yet not really shown. Both teenagers wanted to speak about whatever the hell this feeling was and yet they didn't want to ruin what they already have, not knowing the hidden feelings were mutual.
Maeko felt as if there was this gravity that's just pulling her towards the boy, in the past sixteen years of her life she had only experienced this gravity hold from Suna. Sure they had their ups and downs, but ever since they met in grade school they have never been apart from each other. Even when she claimed he was only a friend, she always seemed to come back to him.
And this thought wasn't one-sided, as Suna too felt the same way. He always tried to reassure himself by thinking that they were just friends, but every time he needed to talk, to vent, every time he needed a place to disconnect from the world around him, his favorite place to go to when his mind searches for peace, was Maeko.
The magnet-like pull the two felt for each other was growing, it was branching them closer to the other. The butterflies that were once non-existent started erupting every time the two would meet, and deep down despite the thought "s/he is just a friend", both of them could feel the voice inside wanting to say the words to the other: I like you.
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Osamu was just about to turn off his own laptop, but before he did so he checked his discord to see any messages he missed. Fortunately, there were no messages, but his heart twinged slightly seeing Suna and Maeko still in the voice channel together.
Osamu couldn't help but feel so inadequate, he felt if he met Maeko earlier or if he was a tad closer to Maeko than Suna was━which is impossible because Suna has been there since she was young, he might have a chance.
Seeing his brother and Ginjima talk about the two and when they'll be together didn't help, Osamu could only stay quiet and smile, sometimes he'd divert the topic instead. He was happy for them both, as Maeko and Suna were both his close friends━and Osamu could see how Suna made Maeko happy, sure she says she appreciates them all for being her friend, but Osamu saw the tiny gleam of delight in Maeko's eyes whenever she sees Suna, and the conversation they had the other didn't help with his hidden feelings either.
"I think I like you Itanawa Maeko, but I can see you be happier with Suna more than you could ever be with me." Osamu whispered at the screen before him as if he was speaking directly to the girl he viewed ever so dearly.
%━━ 2:55a.m | 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 ✓
author's note!
Osamu stans I am so sorry- ok this was short I'm SORRY but I do hope you enjoyed the chapter!! Also, it's confirmed that Suna has a younger sister, but her name and age isn't stated anywhere so I just came up with one :D (she will be ten in this story ^_^)
Stay safe and healthy everyone !!
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Next chapter: I thought of you