You were in deep sleep after binge-watching your favourite show. Things were getting interesting as the topic was one that piqued your interest. Your closed blinds refused to let any morning sun shine through it, making your room as dark as ever.
"F/n-san!" you flinched as you heard three loud and aggressive knocks, along with Hanabi-san's impatient voice. The time on the clock said 8:10, and usually you'd be up an hour before. Hanabi-san's loud and impatient call out made you jump up and hurry toward your bathroom.
"Crap!" you complained. It was only the second day of school and you were already going to be late. You hurried and ate your breakfast, got changed and ran outside the door without saying anything else.
As you opened the large gate that led to the outside, a tall and familiar man stood a few meters away to your left. It was Tsukishima Kei. The guy who rejected you not once-- but twice-- the day before.
"Oh," you stared at him as your brain still hasn't registered the fact that he was just a few meters away from you.
Tsukishima appeared shocked at first but immediately regrouped himself. He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "And just when I thought you wouldn't get all stalkerish and stuff-- yet here you are."
You furrowed your brows and stomped your foot. "I wasn't stalking you!"
'Wait, what is he doing here?' you asked yourself. Confusion filled your riddled face as you tried to come up with answers.
"Wait a minute. Aren't you the one following me?" This time, you crossed your arms and raised a brow. Tsukishima let out a few chuckles.
"I thought the two minutes stare down was enough to let you know. I live here... we're neighbours."
'Huh? Wait what???'
"Y-you're lying," you complained. Gulping down the shock, you couldn't believe what he had just said. There's no way you and he are neighbours; you rarely see him around. No, you never see him around this street. Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at you and smirked. You didn't know which annoyed you more, the fact that he's all smug or the fact that you never noticed that you two have been living right next to each other all along.
Tsukishima placed a hand on his chest and sarcastically replied, "I'm kind of hurt, L/n-san. We've been neighbours for four years and you didn't notice. Am I not popular enough for you?" The ends of his lips curved into one of the most annoying smirks you've ever seen.
Your forehead knotted in confusion. "I don't think your popularity has anything to do with this."
"Hmm, I wonder." He silently chuckled and looked down on you as he walks past.
"Wait," you called. Tsukishima turned around and slid his headphones down from his ears.
"I'm guessing this is around the time you leave for school, at 8:30. Usually, I leave for school thirty minutes before that. How would I know we're neighbours when you rarely go out AND we have a thirty-minute interval between our departure times when going to school?" You raised a brow. The look on Tsukishima's face satisfied you. He looked surprised at the response you gave him.
His expression immediately changed and he burst out into a fit of laughter.
'What is wrong with this guy?'
He finally refrained from his random laughter and looked at you with an amused expression. "I underestimated your wits, L/n-san. You weren't as dumb as I thought."
"Is that even a compliment?"
You paused for a brief second. After realizing what you've done, you panicked.
You replied quickly, "Plus, I-it's common sense." Looking away, you noticed him narrowing his eyes at you. Is he observing you? Or did he just want to get on your nerves? It's probably the latter, which made you want to stare at him back and annoy him as well.
Behind Tsukishima was his friend walking with his bag on his shoulder.
"Tsukki!" he enthusiastically called out. Yamaguchi's expression suddenly changed after seeing you. He looked surprised but was mostly confused at the sight of you.
The tall, dark green-haired boy leaned closer to his friend's ears and whispered something.
"She's not following you, is she?" It was obvious that he wanted you to hear it. The look on his innocent face said so. Instead of reacting all annoyed, you only let out a sigh.
"Don't worry, I wasn't. It turns out we're neighbours. Conveniently."
"R-really?" You nodded. You never expected this to happen at all. Not only were you going to be a few minutes late from your designed arrival time, but you were also met with a shocking fact that you and the guy who rejected you twice have been neighbours for four years. Not that it's the biggest deal anyway. It just meant your job is easier now that you know.
A brilliant idea lit up your head and it showed on your expression. You kindly smiled at Tsukishima's friend. "Hey, what's your name?" you asked.
Yamaguchi pointed at himself and looked at Tsukishima, to which he just shrugged off and put his headphones back on.
"Y-Yamaguchi Tadashi," he softly replied. His friend seemed much more gentle and nicer. Thus, you came up with the perfect plan-- befriend Tsukishima's close friend and find out more about him through Yamaguchi. Tsukishima is definitely the type to ignore people he dislikes, and you figured that your persistence already annoyed him. So befriending Yamaguchi seemed like the right move.
"Yamaguchi-kun, can I walk with you guys?" you asked kindly. The approach was much different compared to your approach at Tsukishima yesterday.
"E-eh, sure. If it's all right with Tsukki." You both looked at him and unsurprisingly, he didn't let out a word and walked first.
Yamaguchi chuckled awkwardly and looked at you apologetically in the eyes. "Tsukki's always like that so don't mind him." You nodded and smiled.
"I see, Oh I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm L/n F/n." Yamaguchi's face lit up as he showed a kind smile.
"L/n-san, I'm sorry for judging you yesterday."
"Judging me?" you tilt your head in confusion as you had no recollection of him saying anything to you. You don't even think you said anything to Yamaguchi as well.
Yamaguchi looked forward and replied, "Well, I thought you were intimidating. Especially since you were around that girl..."
"With the short hair?" You immediately knew what he was going to say. It was no surprise that everyone would at least feel a hint of intimidation around you and your friends. Of course, you were happy that he felt that way. There was nothing else in your mind other than attention.
"Are we? I guess she is kind of intimidating. Just don't get too close to her. She kind of bites," you joked. Although almost part of it was the truth. You didn't know why you said that. Maybe because you felt that Yamaguchi was the kind of guy who'd be easily manipulated by someone like Aimi or Arisu and didn't want him to be their target. Upon realizing it, you looked away and was deep in thought. 'How could I say that when I'm just like them?'
"L/n-san?--"
"Yamaguchi, hurry up." Tsukishima halted and turned around to call for his friend. You noticed him hesitating and so you showed him a small smile.
"S-sorry, L/n-san. Sorry Tsukki!" he faced his friend and ran toward him, leaving you behind.
You arrived at school a little later than the two. "You're late." Aimi looked at you in annoyance as you sat down. Behind you, Tsukishima watches the interaction. It turns out he had been observing from the back without you noticing. He had a hunch about your friendship with those two, and his hunch was indeed right.
This went on for the rest of the day. Instead of you observing him and stalking him like a creepy idiot, Tsukishima was the one observing you. He hated that he took such interest, but there was something about the way you looked around your friends that made him want to pick on his brain. When you stood around the hallways with your friends, Tsukishima noticed that you were the magnet of insults and back-handed compliments. When history class had started, he noticed that they would often bother you for answers and would only talk to you when they are in need of something. It annoyed him; Tsukishima thought it was lame that you let it happen. If he was you, he would've already made annoying remarks at them.
A few days passed and you haven't seen Tsukishima outside his gate ever since. You were confused, and you even tried to match up your timing with his when leaving your house but nothing worked. The one time you almost caught him leave his house though, Tsukishima immediately went back inside without fail. You didn't know whether to question his guts or to admire it: no one had ever tried to avoid you before. No one except Tsukishima.
"He's purposely trying to avoid me," you concluded. Your persistence must've annoyed him to the maximum that he was willing to leave an hour earlier for school. Nothing was going right and you were close to giving up.
'How about I just stop being a creep?' you asked yourself, and it was a good idea. After letting out a harsh sigh, you've decided to finally put an end to what seemed like a never-ending plot to try and annoy Tsukishima.
~
It was a sunny Friday in school. You and your friends got bored and stayed a few hours after school walking around and talking. Not you though, Aimi and Arisu were busy chatting it all up but you stayed quiet most of the time.
Your mind was filled with different things. It was clogged up with problems and it worsened after arriving in front of the volleyball gym. A short, orange-haired boy in a first-year gym uniform stretched outside the closed doors.
You entertained yourself by watching him and noticing how silly he looked until a familiar voice came up behind you.
"Oh, look. Can't get inside the gym? You shorty?" Tsukishima and Yamaguchi laughed at the orange-haired boy. As soon as they walked past you, Tsukishima looked at you in surprise. You immediately turned away and tried to catch up with the two. His eyes followed your path, wondering why you were here but immediately shaking the thought off.
"Tsukishima! Y-you're just rubbing it on my face that I can't enter the gym!" You hear them from behind throwing insults at each other and Tsukishima chuckling. You reminded yourself that you were done pestering him and went on about your day.
As you opened your phone to blankly stare at it while your two friends talk, you questioned: Why is it that I wanted Tsukishima? What's the real reason? Sure, he's handsome but his personality sucks.
"Right?! She was so annoying. When we dropped her she cried like an idiot. Serves her right." You chimed in at their conversation. Suddenly, you knew why. You wanted their approval. You wanted to stay in their clique. No matter how shallow it made you.