"Come on, darling," Tendou said in a sing-song voice. From anyone else, the combination of "darling" and that sing-song rhythm would seem condescending, but from him it was all oddly charming.
"It's not going to be a lot of people, right?" you asked, your voice quiet as you smoothed out your blouse again.
Tendou had asked you– repeatedly– to attend a volleyball team party with him now that their season was nearing their biggest tournament that would determine whether they had a place in nationals or not. "It's all for team-bonding purposes," he had said with a laugh. "Well, that's what we tell Coach to keep his yells at a loud grumble."
Now, you were dressed in a much nicer outfit than you were used to sporting and standing outside of a little recreation area in Sendai that they had rented out. You knew you were way too down bad for the boy with ruby hair in front of you, but this was such hard proof of that. You hardly even went to parties, let alone a party that would be full of high school volleyball boys.
"You've seen the people on the court," he soothed, rubbing a hand over your shoulder as he slouched down to look at you better. "Those are the people that will be in there. Plus a few extras. No big deal."
You sighed before you nodded. "Alright, okay."
He smiled back his usual smirk before he sang out, "Perfect. I get to introduce the beautiful (y/n) (l/n) to my team."
You had met a few members of the team before in passing, so that helped you feel a bit better whenever you were led to the door by the guiding hand at your waist. It couldn't be that bad with Tendou there. He always made sure you were alright no matter what– even if you insisted he didn't.
As soon as you were through the doors, Tendou began to softly hum to the music that was playing. The room itself was nothing special, just a pool table, a couple couches in the corner, and a lot of plastic tables and chairs.
The reactions as the two of you entered were interesting to say the least. Most of the team was quiet, but had wide eyes as they saw you accompanying the boy at your side. One in particular looked a little disgusted at first, but his expression twisted into something closer to confusion as you walked closer and Tendou's hand shifted from your waist to hold your hand that was dangling at your side.
You tried your best to avoid eye contact with him as it became almost piercing. Making a mental note to ask Tendou about the boy with light hair and somehow darker tips later, you looked down at his hand wrapped around your own and tried to focus on the feeling.
"I hope you all don't mind that I brought a guest," Tendou said as he reached the back of one of the couches and immediately reached up with his free hand to tossle the hair of a kid with a black hair and a strange bowl-cut that sat right below where he was standing.
Bowl-cut kid instantly fought back, prying Tendou's hand off of his head. Suddenly, you remembered him as the disgruntled first year that regularly had to chase behind Tendou as he mopped the gym floor.
"We don't care," another kid spoke up from the couch opposite of where you were standing. His bangs were in his face at a strange angle and his expression was just continuously sour.
"Good, good," Tendou said, dragging you around the couch so you could sit together in the free spot. "Then please meet Miss (l/n) (y/n)."
"(y/n) is fine," you spoke up quickly.
"You're a foreigner, huh?" the kid that had been glaring at you as you entered spoke up. You moved your eyes slowly until you were making eye contact with him again.
"Yeah," you answered softly, pushing a piece of hair out of your face as you tried to put on a smile. He nodded in acknowledgement of your question, leaning back to slouch into the couch.
From that moment on, no one really acknowledged you again. They got caught in talking about games and other teams and so many things that went over your head. Tendou would every once in a while lean down to make sure you were alright, but even he got caught up after a while.
They started milling about, breaking up into smaller groups around the room as the conversations blossomed. You were left on the couch after Tendou softly excused himself to join a conversation between Bowl-Cut Boy and the giant that you knew as Ushijima.
You ended up on your phone after a bit, realizing there was nothing more for you to do. It didn't exactly offend you in any way that you were being casted aside by all members of the team. After all, they didn't know you and you weren't really making the effort to start any conversations, so why would they offer you that kindness in return?
Sitting by yourself for a while, you hardly noticed when someone sat down right next to you. Once you did, you figured it was Tendou again, but when you lifted your head, it was that guy with the light hair and dark tips.
As soon as you made eye contact, he said, "(y/n), right?"
You nodded, shifting in your seat to push yourself further into the armrest. He was sitting quite close. Almost as close as Tendou had been.
He bowed his head slightly, but there was no sign of a happy greeting on his face. "I'm Semi Eita."
"Hello, Semi," you said, shifting once again as if you could avoid his eye contact.
His lips actually tilted the smallest bit into a smile. "I have a question for you."
Your heart began to race faster out of sheer confusion on why this guy was acting like this and treating you this way. Now, it was speeding even faster. "What's that?"
"How," he started as he put a hand under his chin as if he were in contemplation, "did someone like you end up with a kid like Tendou?"
Your eyebrows instantly came together to furrow in confusion. Before you could even respond, he was speaking again, "I would like to specify that I think you are beautiful, (y/n). When I heard about Tendou's little foreigner friend that was here for the semester, I couldn't help but think to myself 'That poor, poor soul.' Now, it's even worse because somehow he pulled you away without giving me a chance."
You couldn't even find words as you listened to him speak. You tried to look where Tendou had been standing, but he wasn't there anymore. Semi moved his head back into your line of vision, which made him lean closer to you again. "If you wanted to have a semester-long romance, it could have been anyone. So, why choose him, huh?"
Your mind was basically short-circuiting. You wanted to punch him for saying such things about Tendou, you wanted to tell him that Tendou was the perfect person in every way unlike him, but words failed to reach your mouth. After a few silent moments, you just breathed out, "Semester-long romance?"
The question only seemed to make Semi confused. "Yeah, you leave in a semester, right?"
"Yeah, I do, but," you shook your head quickly, "don't just call it a semester-long romance."
His eyes oddly seemed to soften as he heard that, but it still didn't feel genuine. Especially after all that he had said. "Oh, but I heard him talking about his freedom once you're gone the other day."
Freedom? Your mind reeled. He was lying. He had to be lying.
You swung your legs around and pushed yourself off of the couch as quickly as you could. "No," you said as you pointed a finger at him. "You can't say stuff like that about him in the first place."
"I'm sorry," he said in a tone that clearly wasn't sorry, "I didn't realize you guys were officially together."
The blood rushed to your ears in a roar as the anger washed over you in waves. Before he could say anything else, you turned and made your way towards the exit. You remembered how you could get back to the dorms from here. You could leave on your own.
Of course, you felt bad to leave without telling Tendou, but you weren't sure if you could see him at that moment. It was possible that you could just break down crying as soon as you saw your face.
You hated every word that Semi had just said to you, but part of it was true. You and Tendou weren't officially together. Sure, you had walked hand in hand, but never once had Tendou taken on the conversation of after all of this or even the word official.
He always tiptoed around it. Around your exchange ending, at your relationship, all of it. Somehow, he had hit you exactly where it hurt. Exactly where you had been avoiding.
You just needed to be alone.
Guys wow, holy shit. I'm so sorry for disappearing
... again.
I write basically full time on my own original works (trying to become a published author wow yay) but that means most of my writing time is dedicated to that.
Good news, I spent part of today outlining the rest of this ff. I have an exact plan and I know what to do to finish this story out.
So, let's finish strong! For real this time <3