Your first weekend at this school was approaching and you were almost dreading it more than the school days. You had had a weekend prior to starting at the actual school, but you spent all of it setting up your dorm and working out the last logistics of your exchange with your advisor.
There weren't such things to fill the space anymore. You could always start a new painting, but it was only inevitable that you would become bored eventually.
You had asked for just one friend, but you had hardly even found that yet. What you did have was the boy that was currently painting and singing across the room from you, and-- at best-- he had only ever called you a "partner." Maybe it was better than the other option of enemies that he had proposed that first day, but you still weren't sure if you were able to call him a friend.
He glanced up right as you brought your eyes back down to your painting. Feeling your eyes on him, he wanted to catch you in the act of staring desperately, but you had averted your eyes right before he could say, "Gotcha!"
Everyday he felt like you were only getting more distant from him despite the fact that your conversations seemed to be getting further and further into you and your past as each day passed. He couldn't figure out why it seemed like you were drifting away every time he got closer.
"Ms. (l/n)," he said, still focused on the painting in front of him. He hoped you would at least give him a response if he addressed you directly.
"Hm?" you responded.
He smiled. "What're you up to this fine weekend on Shiratorizawa's campus?"
You almost wanted to gasp as you stopped painting and leaned back to get a better view of him. He was looking at you with a quirked brow as he leaned in his seat towards you. Did he know exactly what you had just been thinking about? No, it had to be a strange coincidence. "I'll probably be painting," you answered simply.
"That's what you're doing right now, though," he pointed out while pointing his paintbrush at you.
"Yeah," you shrugged, "I like to do it."
"But that's your only plan for the entire weekend?"
You let out a small sigh without thinking before biting your tongue. "Yeah, I'm not sure what else there is."
He started to hum again. "Well, all you had to do was ask of course. I can always make time to help a lady out."
"Help me out?" you asked slowly.
"Yeah," he answered. "This campus may be vicious, but there's still fun aspects to it. Tonight, come to the volleyball game at the gym."
"Volleyball?"
"Mhm. A great sport."
"You're a fan of it?"
"You could say that," he answered before rolling his head on his shoulders to look at you directly. "Now, what do you say? Take a chance for me?"
It was hard to tell if you wanted to say yes or not. You were desperate to start to find your footing at this school, and in the worst case scenario you could just leave if you weren't feeling it. The gym was only a short walk from the dorms, you hardly even had to go outside to get there. "I'll go."
He threw his arms up into the air. "Bingo!"
You laughed a little bit as you always did at his theatrics, which made his usual smirk set in even deeper.
✦ ✦ ✦
The crowd walking towards the gym was much larger than you ever expected. Your old school had a boys' volleyball team, but it never had this big of a crowd attending the games. Maybe part of it was due to some students living on campus and having nothing better to do-- like you.
After getting your well-timed food from the cafeteria when there were the least amount of people there, you made your way over to the gym. You blended in as much as you could with the large, excited crowd that were walking the same path as you.
Without trying, you started accidentally listening in on a group of girls that was nearby to you. They seemed way too excited to be there and you quickly gathered why when they started spouting out names. You heard something about an "Ushiwaka" and a "Semi."
That's when they brought up a name you weren't expecting to hear. "The only third year I don't care to cheer for is Tendou."
You were almost too angry at the concept that anyone wouldn't cheer for such a happy and nice guy that you didn't notice what they had said, but the meaning still reached your ears.
Tendou was a player? He wasn't just here to watch for fun, he wanted you to watch him play?
Thinking back to the conversation you had had with him earlier that day, you remembered how he had answered your questions strangely. A lot of things he did were strange, so you didn't even think about them beyond that. Now, it all made a bit too much sense.
That's when the girl's conversation continued behind you and your blood began to boil even more. "Yeah, no one wants to. They even call him a monster or something on the court."
A monster? He was a lot of things, but monstrous was the last word that would have come to your mind whenever you thought of him. You felt your heart break as you continued to hear these random girls say such horrible things about him even though they were entering the gym that he was about to be playing in.
It made you wonder how many people in this crowd were actually fans of his. As you looked at the sea of faces while you eyed the stands, you thought it was improbable that there would be no one there that would appreciate him. You guessed it would depend on how good of a player he was, but it would be hard to believe that every person in this crowd thought of such a sweet boy as a strange monster.
You took a seat at one of the seats in the upper rows where less people were concentrated, but you still got a great view of the court that was below you. Volleyball hardly ever interested you, but now there was a fire inside of you telling you that you wanted to watch more than anything.
Tendou caused this, you knew that much. You had yet to even see him down there nor did you even know if he would be starting, but you remembered how he had gotten excited when you agreed to go. Someone here wanted you somewhere. That was enough to make you want to remember back to gym class when the rules of this game were being explained to you so you could try and keep up as soon as the whistle was blown.
He had been kind to you in his own way this entire time, so maybe you felt like you owed him the favor in a strange way. Maybe there was also part of you that was starting to fully enjoy his strange mannerisms and made-up songs. Just thinking about his songs made you wonder if he had any songs for the court.
You also began to wonder why he had never mentioned being a part of this team before. Shiratorizawa was known for its sports, and from what you had heard from the crowds walking in, the boys' volleyball was nothing to scoff at. The word "powerhouse" was thrown around more than once.
Suddenly you felt horrible for not asking him more. You had only been talking for one work week so far, sure, but he was constantly asking you about your home and your life. He loved other countries and always dreamed of traveling, but you mostly knew that from his explanations of why your life interested him so much.
This was the beginning of repaying the favor you already owed him. Even if he had no idea he had done favors for you, you had every plan to try and start giving him even more back. If you wanted to try and make yourself one friend beyond just the "partners" that you and Tendou currently were, you could never allow someone else to call him a Monster again.
He was no monster. You were certain about that.
But, that was before you saw him on the court.
edited (2/15/22)