"tsumu"
she looked behind at her mom, who just shrugged before mouthing 'i'll be downstairs if you need me'
atsumu gave her a small smile, closing the door behind him.
she sighed as she sat up in bed, taking off the airpods.
"why'd you come here?"
"to see you dumbass"
"don't you have practice?"
"it's sunday"
"it is?"
"i heard you were going through bit of a.. slump", he looked around her room, "that seems like an understatement"
"who the hell even called you?", she asked, going back to watching what she was watching
"tsucchan did", he peeked into her laptop, sitting down behind her. it seemed like a boys high school volleyball match of some kind.
"that's oikawa tooru in high school", she pointed to a boy in a white and teal jersey, "his last high school match, actually"
"how'd you even get this recording?", he asked, and he felt kinda jealous cause HE WAS A BETTER SETTER THAN OIKAWA TOORU IN HIGH SCHOOL SO WHY IS HIS GF SO OBSESSED W HIM.
"kanoka senpai had a few recordings of prefectural matches. so she gave them to me to watch"
"nice", he said tastelessly, fiddling with her hair, "come out with me"
"you know, i also saw this, like really cute picture of you in high school", she ignored his request, switching tabs to show him what she'd found.
"oh shit, i remember when that was taken", he said, resting his chin on her shoulder, "akamine clicked it and gave it to our photography club-"
he shut up hurriedly, realising that he shouldn't be bringing her up in this kind of situation.
"of course she did", y/n just nodded, "makes sense. it's a good picture. you genuinely look happy."
when nene called him, she didn't really go into the specifics of what happened, just that there was a big fight within the team and he was part of the reason why. she did sound very concerned and told him to come in case he could, so he did as soon as he got the time.
he wasn't aware that hearing him mention akamine was honestly the last thing she needed. and that she was slowly reaching a limit to how much she could take.
"y/n, let's go out", he sighed, leaving a brief kiss on her cheek
"i don't feel like"
"come on, i won't make you play. it's just to get you out of the house", he got off the bed, taking both of her hands in his.
she stared at him for a few seconds.
"tsk, fine"
begrudgingly, she got up from her bed and locked the door before slipping her hoodie off.
atsumu leaned back, cursing under his breath.
"aren't ya gonna ask me to look away?"
"nothing you haven't seen before", she shrugged
"your mom's right outside"
"you seem more nervous about that than me", she remarked, changing into a fresh pair of clothes and his inarizaki jacket, "what was her reaction when you showed up?"
"she said she thinks she's seen me somewhere"
y/n laughed dryly at this, sitting back down on the bed to put on her shoes.
he got up and held out his hand.
"let's go"
she walked out of her room and her mother was alarmed to see her fully ready, looking a bit more lively than she had seen her look in the past few days.
"i'll.. be back in sometime", she said without giving so much as an explanation
for her to go out of the house was a sign of relief in itself, so she just nodded. "be careful, okay?"
they walked out and he made her get into the cab he'd called for.
"where to?"
"sendai stadium", atsumu said and she gave him a look
"but you said.."
"i wanna show you something i figured out".
his hand was still holding hers the whole ride there too. she wasn't inclined on talking so he didn't force her to.
they reached the stadium, where a division 2 team was practising. the sendai frogs.
one of its members seemed to have spotted her and atsumu and narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously but said nothing.
"this way", tsumu said, leading her towards the empty court that was used for warmups during tournaments.
he took a volleyball out from the cart outside the court. she leaned against the wall, watching him go to the serve line.
"i saw the recording of the jump float serve you've been trying to perfect", he said, "and frankly it still sucks"
"atsumu if you brought me here to tell me things i already know-", her voice trailed off. she couldn't take it anymore.
it was almost funny how that statement of all things was what made her reach her limit.
"y/n?", he looked at her with widened eyes as a single tear rolled down her face.
she wiped it away hurriedly, taking a deep breath.
"what-"
"i'm just... tired", she just looked down at the floor and tears pricked her eyes again.
she wasn't a cranky person in general. she didn't like crying around people. maybe nene, at the most. but otherwise, no.
she had been bottling up the tears for a while now cause they felt uncalled for. but hearing someone, especially him, point out another thing she wasn't good at was too much for her.
she covered her mouth and a broken sob escaped her lips.
atsumu dropped the ball, panic spreading across his face as he rushed to her side, realising that probably wasn't the best thing to lead with.
"hey hey shhh i'm sorry i'm sorry...."
"everything just... sucks so much", she said in between sobs.
he pulled her into a hug, absolutely devastated to see her like this. he wrapped his arms around her protectively, rubbing her back.
"i'm causing too many problems for you huh", he mumbled under his breath.
for about a minute he just let her cry, holding her shaking figure tight. but a single sentence that came out of her mouth made him freeze up.
"atsumu am i j-just a substitute for midori"
he pulled away from her and watched the tears laced with insecurity fall, anger rising inside of him.
how could he have missed this?
"why would ya ever think that?", he asked, his thumb wiping away the tears, "no you're not."
"b-but you really liked her", she tried to say, "and s-she- you-"
"shhhh stop thinking about her", atsumu insisted, "you are smart and pretty and really fuckin hilarious sometimes. i think about you wayyyy more than i would ever admit. i..."
he paused for a few seconds as something dawned on him.
"i love you"
she looked up at him sharply, lips parted as he continued to wipe her tears.
"you do?"
"i love you", he repeated, evidently surprised to hear the words himself, "so much"
she covered her mouth with her hand, replying in a sort of muffled voice.
"you said it so dramatically 'tsumu"
and he narrowed his eyes at her, "that's all you have to-"
"but i love you"
he pulled her back into his arms, sighing heavily before letting out a low laugh when he heard her crack up.
it was all in her head, she had realised. in the end she forgot about how he truly felt, despite the internet telling her otherwise.
and of course, he was more than happy to remind her.
-•-•-•-
"wait, what were you trying to say before i started crying?", she asked, finally catching her breath and rubbing her eyes
"oh yeah, i did have something in mind. you still wanna know?"
"obviously"
"that's my girl"
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voteeeeee if you liked the chapterrrrr
next chapter will be drama hahahahahahahahhshshshhdhrje
also i love and miss oikiwi so much ugh🥲🥲