The match went well, Kuroo's team winning the last 2 sets. Akira was still shocked at how as he didn't recognize Ushijima at first. But then it hit her, his morning practice for volleyball! She felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. He looked like he played basketball from his large built, but volleyball was way better to Akira.
"Thanks for coming, chibi." Kuroo gave his sister a quick hug, noticeably glad she came this afternoon. Her parents didn't want her to pursue volleyball after high school, they wanted her to focus on education since they didn't believe in her physical abilities. She was almost forced to take after her brother.
But since she lived with her brother for a while, she could pick was she wanted to do. She was always drawn into sports, letting her major in sports management. Akira was never the star player on the court, but she was definitely one of the smartest.
"Yeah, yeah." She laughed at him, heading over to Sugawara and Daichi.
"You'll finish out college for me right, sunshine?" Sugawara was the only person who know how badly she missed playing volleyball, he felt the same way. But he loved being a teacher, it fit him perfectly.
"Always, but what happens after is where everything will go down." She looked down and Suga patted her on the back, making her look back up to him.
"Don't let your parents chose your life. You know you should be on the court, we all do." He looked up to Daichi, who nodded his head in agreement.
"Thank you, both of you. I really appreciate your support." She gave Suga and Daichi a big hug, waving goodbye before Daichi lightly grabbed her arm and pulled her back lightly.
"Don't mind Ushiwaka, he's blinded by volleyball to see his real feelings." He gave her a reassuring smile before grabbing his boyfriend's hand, heading out of the gym. Akira stood there in confusion, why would she be concerned about how he feels? She shook her head and walked over to the three giants.
"Alright Tetsu, you promised food." She gave her brother the look. It was almost as of they could telepathically communicate with one another. Ushijima and Tsukishima were confused at the nonverbal conversation they were having. After a few seconds of weird gestures, Kuroo sighed and Akira smiled to herself.
"Fine, did you both want to come with us?" He asked upsettingly, knowing he was paying.
"Oi, sounds great," Tsuki responded and Ushijima gave a nod. They compromised on going to the place Akira picked, hence she was almost forced to be here. Ushijima didn't say much, as long as he could stick to his diet assigned to him by his trainer, he'd be fine. Akira threw her volleyball shoes in the back of her car before climbing into the driver's seat. She started the car and put on her seatbelt. Ushijima looked at his phone to see a bunch of texts from Tendou
Wakatoshi, where are you?
Are you out with the hottie next door without me? :(
The team is coming over later tonight for drinks.
Ushijima sighed to himself, Akira picking it up pretty quickly.
"You alright?" She asked, Ushijima not breaking his glare away from his phone, fiddling with the buttons on the keyboard.
"Yes, just some old friends coming over later. I was very unaware." Ushijima hit send, replying with a simple ok.
"Do you need to go home?" Akira began backing out of the parking spot, putting her hand on the back of Ushijima's seat to see behind her.
"No, I can be late." Akira put her car in drive and nodded at him.
She pulled out of the parking lot before Kuroo, determined to get there before him. She rested her hand on the gear shift in between their seats and the other hand resting on top of the steering wheel, tapping her finger to the light sound of music. The silence in the car grew more and more awkward. They both stared ahead at the road, Akira breaking the silence.
"You could have told me you were a star volleyball player." She looked over at him but he kept his eyes on the road.
"I could say the same thing as you. You remind me of your brother on the court." He said very sternly.
"Is that a good thing?" Her eyebrows rose in confusion, Ushijima keeping his light laughter to himself.
"If you were on the other side of the court, no." Akira smiled to herself, she loved being on the court. She was always focused on what was going on inside the court. When she found out her boyfriend was not good to her, she still put on a show on the court.
It was her second year of playing to go to nationals, she played with rage. Her spikes weren't getting blocked, her serves were powerful, everything was going well. When she went up for a spike, the last point in the set, she made eye contact with him in the crowd. He had a slightly worried look on his face. She scrunched her face in anger, slamming the ball down as hard as she could. Her teammates rejoiced, they were going to nationals.
Akira wasn't as excited as the other girls. She wanted to head to the locker room, escaping the large crowd. She hated when people would stare at her, especially since he was the one who stared at her all the time. She thought she loved him, but he didn't nothing good in return.
She figured this out when she went to congratulate him on his win against Karasuno. She caught him in the hallway with his tongue down one of her teammate's throats. She was disgusted at him, and herself. He got to look at her a way no one else would, but it was a mistake. She didn't feel special to him at all anymore. From that day, she hated when people looked at her. He was the cause of her pain and he didn't even know.
"Are you alright?" Ushijima asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She was so grateful, if she kept thinking of him, she'd probably start crying.
"I'm sorry, just thinking." He nodded his head and his eyes went back to the road. Akira kept her face emotionless until they reached the restaurant.
When she got there, she saw Kuroo kick Tsukishima in the leg when walking inside, making her lightly laugh. The two began to head in behind them and found a table to sit out. The four sat, Ushijima across from her and Tsukishima next her her. Kuroo sat across from Tsukishima so he could watch Ushijima which he, for some reason, did not trust.
"So shortcake, how's work going?" She rolled her eyes at Tsuki's question, picking up her menu.
"It pays the bills, that's all I can ask for." She gives him a sarcastic smile and goes back to her menu. Kuroo goes to kick Tsuki in the shin for teasing his sister but somehow misses, kicking Akira instead.
"Ow! Little shit!" She smacks the blonde in the back of the head, thinking it was him.
"First, that was not me. And second, I am certainly not little." He gave her a suggestive face. Ushijima was starting to grow uncomfortable watching the situation unfold.
"Well, your ex-girlfriend said differently." She teased. He had always picked on her because he enjoyed watching her get mad and flip out on him.
"She was a bitch, who can trust anything she says." Tsukishima scuffs and goes back to his menu.
"You always did attract the bitchy ones." Akira decided what she was going to order, putting her menu on the table.
"Tch, you're one to talk." Akira's face gets a little pale and she cowers back in her chair.
She looked up to see Ushijima staring right at her. She shifted her gaze towards her brother, who soon kicked Tsuki, not missing this time. Before Tsukishima could say anything, the waitress came over to take everyone's order. When she went back to the kitchen, she gave a wink to Kuroo. Akira rolled her eyes and took a sip of her water.
"So, Ushijima how are things going in the new apartment?" Akira asked, trying to break some of the tension starting to form at the table.
"Fine." He replies, finishing his cup of water. Being an athlete had its perks, Akira took notice of all of them. He was great to look at doing just about anything! The way his big hands wrapped around the smaller cup, it gave Akira suggestive thoughts, internally slapping myself for doing so.
"How's volleyball going? I heard Kageyama plays with you." Kuroo sparks up a conversation about volleyball with Ushijima and Akira listens before Tsuki pokes her, gaining her attention.
"I'm sorry for being him up, I know it's a sensitive topic." Tsuki apologizes to her, which was a rare thing.
"It's fine, I just don't want to talk about in front of him. I don't know him very well yet." Akira gave a forgiving smile to him.
"He seems better than the last one. He doesn't abuse his fame." As much as Akira didn't want to think about him, she was right. Oikawa wasn't just blinded his fame, he was blinded by his pride. He didn't show Akira the love she wanted, the love she needed from a boyfriend. Worst to see the girl with him was on her own team! She was betrayed by two people that day.
Ushijima seemed different, she was unaware of what his love life was, but she knew he a very respectable person. When she didn't know who he was, he wasn't offended or tried to tell her. He liked that she didn't know, he knew she wanted to be friends with him for himself, not his fame.
The waitress soon came and brought everyone's food out. When Akira saw the plates on the tray, she noticed two of the plates were the same, one is hers. At first, she thought it was her brother's until it was placed in front of the man across from her.
Did he like Hayashi rice too? She smiled on the inside. She had a recipe from her grandmother that she could make if the time came.
After about an hour of eating and chatting, the pairs split their ways. Akira hugged her brother and he squeezed her a little tight.
"Call me if you ever need anything, okay chibi?" Kuroo whispered in her ear and she smiled back at him.
"Always, thank you Tetsu." She waved goodbye to Tsuki before they both went to their separate cars and Ushijima getting back into Akira's.
"Thank you for coming with me today, I really appreciate it." She looked at him and smiled before starting up her car and heading back to the apartment.
"It's no problem, I had fun today." Ushijima was right, he had a good time. He never played volleyball for any other reason but to win. Playing for fun really brought him back down to Earth, maybe Tendou could come if they had to go again.
Once they reached their apartment, they both stood at each other's door. When they were about to say goodbye, Ushijima's front door flung open, a familiar redhead on the other side.
"Akira! Are you going to join us tonight?" Tendou asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Were you waiting for us? Anyway, I don't want to intrude. Plus, I need to clean up."
"We have free beer!" Tendou sang and Akira smiled. She wasn't a big drinker, but she did work at a bar. She was pretty smart with alcohol and how much she could drink at once.
"Tendou is he home yet...and who is this?" A grey-haired male leaned on the other side of the doorframe, staring at Akira with a smirk on his face. Ushijima saw how uncomfortable she was and stood between the two.
"This is our neighbor, Akira." She thanked the heavens he got in the middle of the two, she didn't know he picked up that she hated to be stared at. He turned so he was facing her, his back to his apartment. He towered over her, making her look even smaller than she was.
"You can go freshen up. If you want to come over, the door is unlocked." Akira nodded and mouthed a 'thank you' to him before waving at the others and heading into her apartment.
She decided to shower and put on some comfortable clothes, soft leggings, and a big sweater. Akira decided she should stop by, she wanted to meet Ushijima's friends and see how he was around them. What could go wrong?