Quick Note: I'm like hella in love with Wakatoshi. Also apparently a bunch of you guys play volleyball? I noticed in the comments OwO. LOL COMMENT UR POSITION!
Sorry I wasn't able to upload a Valentines special. I wanted to, but school is a pain like always.
P.S. Ushijima might be a bit frustrating at first oops
---
Ushijima Wakatoshi has always been able to appreciate talent. As a child, both with talent and will to work hard, he trained endlessly to arrive where he is today-
One of the best volleyball players within his age group,
The hailed pride and ace of Shiratorizawa;
One of the representatives of the country in international competitions.
Of course, a talented person should be able to tell who's worth taking the shot for, from those whose potentials only lie as deep as their skin.
When Ushijima watches her play volleyball for the first time, he knows she's brimming with talent right to her very core.
They've been classmates for three years now, but not once had (F/N) shined so brightly before he saw her play volleyball.
Well, perhaps he held a bias- it was his favourite sport that she was playing, after all. He pretty much breathed the sport.
During gym class, (F/N)'s team beat their opponents rather quickly. Having done only one match, her team practically obliterated the other with a score of 25 to 10.
His interest is sparked.
The brown haired male watched (F/N) head towards the benches, not before she exchanged high-fives with classmates who complimented her playing.
Though he can't hear what she was saying, she gave small smiles to each of them, before she ran off to the bench beside the one he was sitting on.
As she takes a swig out of her water bottle, Ushijima faces her.
"(L/N), are you part of the girl's volleyball team?" He questions her, not even thinking about beating around the bush.
"U-ushijima-kun! Why aren't you playing with the rest of our-"
"Do you really think it'd be fair for me to be allowed to play against them?" Wakatoshi asks bluntly, frowning as the girl in front of him stiffens slightly.
But then she laughs.
"Yes, yes. You really are too good, after all!" She tells him, though the ace isn't all that fazed by the compliment.
He knows. Not to be arrogant, but he definitely knows the extent of his skills. He's heard them so many times, those words don't really feel the same anymore coming from his schoolmates or peers.
"You didn't answer my question. Are you part of the school's team?"
This time, (F/N) pauses, before letting out an awkward chuckle. "Uh, no. I'm not really that good."
Oh.
So she was that kind of person.
Ushijima Wakatoshi has always been able to appreciate talent.
But he's always detested it when people never put their talents to good use, who never cultivated their skills; who never tried their best to polish themselves to perfection.
"A bamboo." Ushijima murmurs, and (F/N) looks at him oddly.
"I'm sorry?"
"You're just like a bamboo." (L/N) (F/N) looked so taken aback by him having associated her with a plant that she doesn't even respond.
"Very strong and sturdy," He starts off, before frowning. "But when they reach a certain height, may break or bend down."
There's a lenghty silence between them, and without a doubt filled with uncomfortable tension.
From the corner of his eye, he could see a couple girls watching the exchange between him and (F/N) from a distance. He assumed they were her friends- with the way they were looking at them.
"I assume you're not telling me that the bending of the bamboo represents my humility." The smile that was present on her face minutes ago had morphed into an ugly frown.
The brunet almost scoffs. "Just like the bamboo, you could've aimed even higher, your limits reaching the sky;
Yet you bent low and halted your potential."
He watches her turn away from him, (h/color) hair swishing behind her, as she left looking rather upset.
His teammates have told him how mean he comes off as due to his bluntness.
But he says it as it is.
When you're graciously handed down talent, you shouldn't evem think of wasting it. That's his belief.
---
"You know Ushijima, while girls usually stare at you, I don't think I've ever seen an entire group glare at you so intensely." Semi Eita points out, causing the rest of the team to turn their heads to where he was looking.
Indeed Semi was right. When Ushijima turned around to look at the group of girls, their glares seemed to burn into his very flesh.
He recognised some of them. They were the girls always around (F/N), so he assumed they were her friends.
Naturally, he also assumed she had told them about what he said to her.
The brunet could only sigh, turning to face his food again.
"Gah! Wakatoshi, did you reject all of them? Geez, how do you get all the girls when I'm here too?" Tendou whines, but the rest of the table merely spare him a glance.
Typical Tendou.
"Like, the one wearing a headband is a total babe! Oh, and the newcomer is pretty cute, too."
Newcomer?
Looking over the group for the last time, he finds (L/N) (F/N) walking over to them with a bento in hand. When the (skin/tone) girl sees him, she doesn't glare at him like her friends did. She merely turns her back to him as she plops down the chair to eat her lunch.
Shirabu, ever the observant one, speaks up.
"Ushijima-san, she's the one your rejected right?"
The guess monster laughs. "Really? But she's the only one not glaring at our dear ace here!" Tendou counters.
"Yeah, but doesn't she look upset to you?" Reon says, but no one replies to him. Instead, they all look expectedly at Ushijima. It was obvious they wanted answers out of him.
"She was wasting her volleyball talents." With a simple statement, his teammates could already fill in the blanks on what had gotten the (h/col)-haired girl so upset.
"Ahh, Wakatoshi's brutal honesty strikes again." Satori grins, to be ignored by the former. "That's pretty much equivalent to a rejection."
The rest of the team let out sounds of agreement.
"She looks familiar. What's her name?" Semi asks.
Before Tendou could make a joke about 'going for Ushiwaka's rejected girls', the latter responds to the inquiry.
"(L/N) (F/N)." He answers briefly, not really wanting to talk about a girl.
"Oh." The light-blond setter nods, but doesn't talk about the topic anymore. Ushijima is mostly glad they're not talking about her anymore. He usually doesn't care about how blunt he is; how his words came off to other people, but he feels unsettled having been reminded of how upset she looked.
---
Shiratorizawa's volleyball girl's team isn't as loved as the boy's team. They're no 'queens of volleyball' like the members of Niiyama Joshi are.
However, it is undeniable that they are still good.
Which is why Tendou practically begged him to watch a match of theirs with him.
"You're not even there to support the school, are you? You just want to watch girls in spandex."
Tendou feigns shock. "Wakatoshi! How impure of you! I would never do such a deed!" Semi, who had just finished drinking from his water bottle, rolls his eyes.
"And I'm a goddess. Sure."
Tendou, not one to miss a playful banter, smirks. "Well, if you're a goddess, you've got to be the goddess of bad fashion choices."
Blocking out the evolving bickering of the two 3rd years, Ushijima finds himself walking to where the Shiratorizawa girls' match was about to start.
When he hears quickening footsteps behind him, he knows they're catching up.
---
The trio take a seat with the rest of his schoolmates. Though the crowd they draw in is significantly less than the boys, the girls' team still gets a lot of support.
"Man, their captain is pretty hot." Tendou gets elbowed by Semi. "Oi, she's already going out with someone, isn't she?"
Tendou merely chuckles. "Tsk tsk, Eita. That's what the ShiratoRumours Page says. If it ain't confirmed, I ain't doing any wrong."
Wakatoshi finds himself judging every players' techniques and skills. The match was relatively calm; no one was really leading by a large margin. While the players from Shiratorizawa were definitely good, he really couldn't find it in himself to get into the game completely.
The brunet barely notices when his coach props himself beside him, sighing.
"Shame. A few years back, we had a really good girls' team, too. Superb, actually." His coach shakes his head, as he speaks to Ushijima. "Could rival Niiyama Joshi."
"So I've heard." The ace replies monotonously, although getting interested. He hasn't heard much about the girls' past teams, he's willing to learn more about successful volleyball teams.
"They were a strong, offensive team, with decent defense- but it was really their captain who brought glory to their team."
Semi seems to have noticed the conversation his coach and captain were having, as he casually joins in.
"Coach, you aren't talking about their captain from 4 years ago, are you?"
Their coach scoffs, in unison with the whistle signaling the end of the game; followed by the clapping of the audience.
"Who else? I'm obviously talking about (L/N) (Girl/Name)."
Ushijima has always been a man who didn't get shocked easily. Some say his monotone way of speech and his lack of reactions make him out to be heartless.
But when he finds himself locking eyes with (F/N), who had been standing by the sidelines of the court, Ushijima finds himself feeling guilty for what he said to her.
Her attention is brought away from him when Shiratorizawa's players cheer loudly from the court. (F/N) walks towards the girls, finding herself enveloped by their hugs.
Wakatoshi only notices the jacket she was wearing, as the words sink in his brain.
It was the typical Shiratorizawa Varsity jacket,
only with the addition of the word,
Manager.
Ushijima has always been perceptive, as such a skill was useful in volleyball. And he could tell that (F/N) wasn't dumb too. So when he locks eyes with her again, she stiffens slightly.
He knows.
---
After the game, he doesn't get a chance to talk to her until days later-
Courtesy of their history teacher who had partnered them up.
"This is due on Monday. You have five days, inclusive of the weekends, to finish this. Remember, I'm expecting a well-written essay, minimum 1500 words, about your chosen historical period.
You will also be expected to make a presentation summarising your paper, as well as provide us your insights on how the issues of the past are reflected in this generation.
This project will amount 10% your final grades for this term, so I expect you all to take this seriously." The teacher glares at several people, particularly the ones who slept or were loud during class.
While both Wakatoshi and (F/N) had agreed to work together to finish the project, their project was barely done leading up to Saturday.
It was inevitable.
Ushijima trained and stayed up late for volleyball practice; (F/N) obviously had to stay late in school too, due to her manager duties, thus resulting to the lack of progress to their history project.
They had to finish it together, and fast. Otherwise their grades would definitely drop.
So when Ushijima gets a text from an unknown number, he's not surprised as he glances over the text.
Received
From: Unknown # - 0802-xxx-xxx
Sub: It's (L/N) (F/N)
Message: Before you ask, I got your number from Reon-kun when we ran into each other in the supermarket. Anyway, we need to work on our project. ASAP. Is tomorrow afternoon @ my house good?
It's a Saturday afternoon when he gets the text. Ushijima is taking a short break from practice when he decides to hastily type in his reply.
And add her to his contacts.
Reon gets to peeps at the message. "Oh, (L/N)-chan finally decided to text you."
Tendou, being the lover of gossip that he is, jogs over to the duo. "What is this I hear about Wakatoshi texting a girl?" The middle blocker says it as if Ushijima texting someone, especially a person of the opposite gender, was a miracle.
To be fair, it kind of was.
"It's for a project." He says, sending a short message back.
Sent
To: (L/N) (F/N)
Sub: Sure
Message: That's fine. What time + address?
Tendou and Reon both push eachother while they try to look at the text message their captain sends to the girl.
The redhead gets the first glance, and he gets a laugh out of it. "Project, huh. That all you gonna do at her place?" He winks, and Reon chortles along with him as he reads the message for himself.
Semi then appears, having previously wondered why his fellow 3rd years were all gathered in one spot.
"Only perverts like you think so deeply into things like that. This is Ushijima, you know."
"Seriously, Semi. Not only do you dress like a prude, you act like one too." While Reon seems to take interest with the start of another Semi-Tendou banter, Ushijima glances down at the reply he got back.
Received
From: (L/N) (F/N)
Sub: We Were Born To Make (Our) History (Project)
Message: Around 3 pm maybe? That way we can finish before dinner. And the address is...
Ushijima quickly copies the address on his phone, before the coach scolds them for taking a minute too long into their break.
---
He's outside her house at 2:50 pm, ringing her doorbell.
"Hold on for a moment!" Ushijima hears a shout, and after a minute he hears footsteps turn louder, as the door swings open.
His eyes meet the (e/c)-coloured irises that belonged to (F/N). Her hair was still dripping slightly, and her clothes obviously mismatched. He can't help the small laugh that escapes his throat. Adorable.
"Ushijima-kun! Come in! Um, you're a bit early?" (F/N) chuckles nervously, sidestepping to let Ushijima in. The man takes off his shoes, and allows the girl to lead him to a sofa.
"Do you mind waiting here while I-"
Ushijima only nods, as he briefly watches (F/N) scurry back upstairs, before quietly looking at his surroundings.
It was a moderately-sized living room, with a television, picture frames, and other ordinary objects.
Most of the frames had pictutes of their whole family, a few solo pictures, and one with the siblings.
But the one that struck out to him the most was the picture of (F/N) wearing a medal.
Picking up the frame situated by the sidetable, Ushijima reads the caption.
3rd Place Volleyball Winners!
Amemaru Middle School, Fight!
When he places it back down the table, (L/N) (F/N) comes down the stairs, looking more ready than she previously was.
"Did I take long?" She questions, adjusting the sleeves of her shirt.
"No, you're fine." He replies shortly after, standing up to follow the (h/c)-haired girl upstairs.
They enter a somewhat spacious room, with a couple history books on the bed. On the desk, there's a laptop and a computer. To it's side was a printer.
While one side of the room had a poster or two of some anime characters, the other side had newspaper clippings taped to the wall, certificates framed, and a few trophies on the shelves.
"...Ushijima?"
(F/N) follows where his eyes were looking, and she gulps.
"My sister and I share a room- before she went to college that is." She says, trying to remain nonchalant, as she hands a laptop to Ushijima.
"How about we get the research over with? We're doing the American Revolutionary War, right?"
The brunet nods silently, noting that the girl infront of him couldn't even look at his face at the moment.
"We were able to do a sufficient amount of research already; all that's left is The Battle of Yorktown. Could you go do the research and start on the presentation while I work on our papers?"
(F/N) doesn't wait for his reply, as she starts typing on her keyboard.
Ushijima doesn't complain. Personal affairs come in second. Right now, he had to focus on his project.
---
At 5 pm, they're taking a break. They had barely talked to each other for the 2 hour duration of being in the same room.
The only times they'd talk was to ask for opinions regarding the project, or to ask for information.
"Ushijima-kun, I'll go downstairs to fetch us some snacks. Do you want any drinks?" She asks him, preparing to go downstairs to the kitchen.
He looks up from the laptop.
"Water will do."
"Alright." She gives him a small smile, although it's a bit awkward looking, and runs down the stairs.
He finds himself observing the room again, analyzing the newspaper clippings with only praise for (F/N)'s sister.
And then the telephone rings.
He shouldn't have picked it up, really. He should have just let it go to voice mail. But Ushijima picks it up, mostly with the intention to tell whoever the caller was that (F/N) was currently busy. He intended to tell them to call her later.
It doesn't go as planned.
"(F/N), dearie, this is your mom!" The woman calling, presumptedly his classmate's mother, speaks with no intervals that he finds it hard to intervene.
And he'd rather not reveal that a boy was in her daughter's room. Who knows if (F/N) had informed her parents or not.
"Your Dad and I won't be home tonight. But don't be too upset, alright? At least you won't have to cook dinner for three!" Ushijima finds himself cringing at the awkward laugh that came after.
"We're treating your sister to dinner! It's to make up for the fact that we didn't get to see her game last time. I'm sorry we can't come over to pick you up. We have a reservation by 7 and we can't be late.
Anyway, good luck on that test tomorrow! Well, see you in the morning!"
(F/N)'s mother hangs up, and before Ushijima can put the phone down, he hears someone's throat clear from behind him.
"Ushijima... Who called?"
"Sorry." He replies instinctively. And he really is sorry- he was pretty much snooping at someone else's personal matters.
(F/N) rolls her eyes impatiently. "You probably are. You're the most goddamned honest guy I've ever encountered. But that's not what I wanted to hear."
There was a beat, neither meeting the other's eyes. The silence was consuming.
"Your mother called." Ushijima begins quietly.
(F/N) still keeps a composed face. "And?"
"She said they won't be coming home for dinner because they're going out to dinner with your sister."
She flinches, but Ushijima doesn't point it out. "Anything else?"
"They wanted to wish you luck on your test tomorrow."
At that sentence, the facade (F/N)'s been keeping up in front of him breaks. A cannonball shoots through the wall she put up, breaking it.
"Ushijima-kun... You know our class doesn't even have a test tomorrow, right?" She mutters quietly, plopping herself on the bed. She heaves a deep sigh, seemingly frustrated.
"Ushijima-kun, I told them during breakfast. The project. Said you were coming over. I told them." Her voice cracks, and Ushijima sits down quietly beside her, not sure how to deal with the situation.
And then the tears started to stream down her face, reminiscient of a dam breaking and it's waters all gushing at once. There was nothing pretty about it. Ushijima couldn't even bare to look at her for longer than a second, without feeling even a pinch of the hurt the woman beside him was going through.
The whole scene was absolutely revolting.
How someone could cry so much because of a person, because of people- How a person who, as far as he knew deserved only joy in her world, could have it taken from her.
Ushijima didn't know how to deal with it.
He just wanted it to stop.
"Do you want to talk about it?" The brunet settled on saying, slightly fidgeting.
(F/N) rubs her eyes for a few seconds, trying to make her waterworks dissapear.
"I'm... sure you already have an idea of my... predicament." She sniffs, finally looking at him.
She's still crying, though she seemed to have more control over herself now. He hands her a glass of water when he hears her to start to have breathing spasms.
She takes a huge gulp of water. "Thank you."
"Do you need me to leave?" Ushijima asks, ready to leave her house if (F/N) felt she needed to have alone time."
The girl in question thinks about it for a while, before shaking her head. "Actually, I think I need to vent to someone. I've bottled this up for so long." She takes in a breath, as Ushijima remains silent, waiting patiently for her to begin.
"Ever since I was young, my sister was always the better sibling."
She laughs bitterly. "Parents say they don't have favoritism, but they usually do."
"I didn't mind it much when I was younger. I looked up to my big sister as well. She was fantastic at volleyball, friendly, and managed to maintain her grades on top of all that!" (F/N)'s lips thin, gazing at the trophies from across the room.
"She inspired me to do volleyball, too. So when I tried out in middle school, you could only imagine the expectations that were put on my back."
Ushijima nods, waiting for her to continue.
"Everyone said I was good. But everyone also compared me to my sister. Not only did I look like her, but the grades I got were similar to the ones she got before, and my playing style was similar too. We played the same position, you know. I admired her, so I was happy back then that I was doing good like her.
But no matter what I did, I could never surpass her. And then I just started to become less me, and more like my sister's shadow- her copy.
I was losing myself."
(F/N) sat quietly for a while, as though trying to recollect herself, escaping the whirlwind of horrible thoughts.
"I saw you pick up that picture of me from middleschool a while ago. That was the final volleyball competition I've ever entered."
Ushijima Wakatoshi looks to his side, where he finds (F/N) smiling softly, as though she was recalling the event in her memory.
Today, it was one of the only moments were she looked genuinely happy.
"When we won 3rd place, I was over the moon. My teammates and I relished in our victory. We didn't think we'd make it that far. I thought I'd actually continue to do the sport I loved so much in high school."
Ushijima furrows his eyebrows as the gentle smile of hers morphs into an ugly frown.
"And then I overheard my coach talking to my parents. I've always thought of her as a second mother to me, and I thought she would think me as her own child, too.
Then she told them the unthinkable.
'If only she was her sister, she would have won us gold with no sweat.'"
Ushijima widens his eyes slightly. That must have been heartbreaking to hear. To think, someone you adored, bringing you down?
"Those were the exact words she said. They still haunt me to this day. My parents, my coach, my peers- they couldn't see past my sister to even spare me a glance.
And, well, to cope I enveloped myself in my studies. I got into Shiratorizawa because the whole summer I spent less time with volleyball and more time studying for that ridiculous entrance exam we have."
She lets out a short giggle.
"If you wanted to stay away from volleyball, why-"
"Did I become their manager?" Ushijima gets cut off by (F/N), who finished his question.
"I couldn't help myself. You obviously know this, but when you breathe volleyball, it's kinda hard to let go completely." She smiles, and the brown-haired ace finds his lips inch up slightly.
"It's not the same thrill as being on the court, but..."
"You're so strong." Ushijima says, not really sure if it was the right time, but says it anyway.
(F/N) pauses, her (e/c) eyes widening in confusion.
"What?"
"You went through all of that, yet still manage to smile and be cheerful around your friends. You still love your family; you still manage to help people, while hurting knowing that they're doing something you love." Ushijima says, slowly grasping (F/N)'s hands, squeezing them comfortingly.
"I'm not really good in situations like this, but I know that you've been doing great. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
(F/N)'s eyes became slightly watery again, but before Ushijima could worry if he had said something wrong, the girl infront of him gave him a pleasant smile.
"Thank you for listening. I really needed it." She laughs, appearing embarrassed. "This was only supposed to be us doing our project, but I ended up ranting to you."
"I don't mind." Ushijima replied quickly.
They glance at the clock, and (F/N) grimaces. "It's nearly dinner time! Say, Ushijima-kun, after we finish this project, how about we have dinner? Consider it a payment for your comfort."
Well, Ushijima was supposed to meet Tendou and the rest of the third years, but he supposed they wouldn't mind if he ditched them for (F/N).
"That'll be good."
---
At 8:21 pm, they're outside (F/N)'s house. They're both in a good mood, all the previous tensions between them had dispersed.
"Thank you for the dinner." Ushijima says, looking straight into (F/N)'s eyes.
The latter opts to stay silent, before grabbing Ushijima's hand and kissing it gently.
When she's done, she looks up at him. "Thank you for being there for me."
Ushijima's breath hitches slightly. "Why did you k-"
"Because you're too tall for anything else, you lamp post." (F/N) huffs, cheeks red from embarrassment.
Ushijima ruffles her hair slightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, (F/N). Oh, and meet me after training. I want someone to do some extra practise with."
Feeling flustered at the use of her first name, the said girl's turn a deeper shade of red.
"Wait!" Ushijima halts his tracks, turning around to face her.
"Am I still a bamboo?"
To (F/N)'s utter surprise, Ushijima Wakatoshi flashes her one of his rsre smiles. She feels her heart flutter slightly, feeling absolutely stunned.
"You are."
---
bam.boo
noun
a giant woody grass that grows chiefly in the tropics
It could symbolise many things, symbolisms originating from different countries.
Commonly, it symbolises strength.
In the Philippines, we have a bamboo called "Tinik". It's a species of bamboo that bends easily with the wind, however, it doesn't break.
It can have many symbolisms, depending on your outlook. It could be humility, obedience, lack of power,
Or it could mean that even after all the hardships you face, no matter how much you bend and feel weak, you still don't break. You get back up to shape.
---
Author's Note: I know it's more of a comfort and angst fic than romance, but sometimes we get so caught up in the romance that we forget about how feelings could start to develop, how a bond would develop.
Also I was feeling mighty inspired hAH gotta write b4 the feeling goes away
I have like three tests tomorrow and like a script and presentation to finish. Oops.
---
WORDS THIS CHAPTER (excluding author's notes) : 4579 words
Can this be found on another site or story: Nope :3
Last Edited: July 2, 2017
Amount of times I typed in Ushijima *not Wakatoshi*: 55