Chapter Text
Tendou had always enjoyed volleyball. She’d say she had gotten hooked when she had made her first block back in middle school. But it wasn’t until practice at Shiratorizawa Academy that she really felt like her enjoyment turned to love. The coach there let her play her own kind of volleyball, using intuition and guess work to block her opponents. He didn’t criticize her about read blocking or making mistakes as long as she blocked more balls than she let through. Plus, her teammates actually cared about her instead of ridiculing her and calling her a “monster” like her teammates in middle school had.
Yes, Tendou loved volleyball practice at Shiratorizawa.
All of those other reasons paled in comparison, though, to watching her ace soar through the air and land a spike on the opposite side of the net.
“Wakatoshi-kun, that was great!” She bounded over to high-five her captain, her short red hair bouncing around her face.
“Thanks, Tendou,” Ushijima said seriously, intense olive gaze focused on her teammate. “Although I don’t think it was any different than my usual spikes.”
“That’s because every spike of yours is great,” Tendou assured, throwing her arm around the ace’s neck as the final whistle for practice sounded off.
The captain hummed but didn’t respond as she allowed herself to be directed towards the locker room. Tendou was still draping herself around her shoulders as they walked through the doors, removing herself only to change for a quick shower.
Tendou stripped out of her sweaty jersey and flung it into her bag to be washed later. She grabbed her towel and threw it over her shoulder, completely unabashed as she walked naked to the showers.
“Jesus, Tendou, cover up!” Semi yelled, throwing her knee pad at the unashamed redhead. “No one wants to see your pale white ass!”
“Oh Semi, if you wanted to check out my ass you could just say so” Tendou said with a wink.
“As if,” Semi scoffed, hurling her other kneepad.
Tendou side stepped it, pulling the towel from her shoulder, and stepping toward the setter to snap it at her legs.
Semi shrieked, grabbing her own towel in retaliation, and chasing Tendou. The redhead cackled the whole way as she ran into the shower stall and locked the door. Semi beat against the door, but Tendou just continued laughing as she turned on the shower.
“You gotta be quicker than that,” She sing-songed.
Semi gave a final grunt of frustration, kicking the door for good measure before returning to her locker and continuing to undress.
The rest of the girls made their ways to the showers, ignoring the commonplace shenanigans that Tendou always seemed to stir up. Many of them wanted to shower and change quickly so they could return to their dorms for the night.
When she finished her shower, Tendou cracked her stall door open to see if Semi was still lurking outside somewhere, and after deciding it was safe, made her way back to her locker to finish packing up. Her towel was wrapped around her now, fighting off the chill that always followed her when she got out of a steaming shower.
As she slipped on her sweats and t-shirt, Ushijima returned to her adjacent locker and began getting dressed as well.
“Wakatoshi-kun, can we watch that new anime together tonight?” She asked, toweling off the remaining wetness from her hair before tossing it in her bag. Her red hair was almost brown when wet and was just long enough to hang past her ears and eyebrows. She brushed it out of her face, eyes excited.
“We have English homework due tomorrow that I am fairly certain you didn’t complete.” Ushijima said, pulling her sweatpants on as well.
Tendou whined, dramatically banging her head against the locker. She had completely forgotten about the homework: two translation worksheets, and on top of that English was her worst subject.
“I can help you with it, if you want.” Ushijima offered as she pulled on a clean sports bra and long sleeve, already sensing the source of her friend’s distress.
Tendou snapped her eyes to her friend, eyes wide and hopeful.
“…And then we can watch the anime?” She asked quietly, lip wobbling in hopes it would help her get her way.
Ushijima was silent for a moment, trying to recall the details of the assignments and how long they would take to complete.
“I suppose if we finish at a reasonable hour, we can watch one episode.” She relented, holding up a single finger for emphasis.
Tendou whooped, startling the other girls who were still getting dressed nearby. Slamming her locker closed and throwing both their bags over her shoulder, she grabbed Ushijima’s wrist and dragged her out of the locker room.
“Then we don’t have a moment to spare!” She yelled, looking over her shoulder with a wild grin at her friend.
Ushijima couldn’t fight her friend’s infectious energy and gave her a small smile in return.
Tendou only dragged Ushijima a few steps outside the gym before releasing her wrist, deciding that pulling the taller girl along wouldn’t actually make her move any quicker. Ushijima was only a few inches taller than her but had her by about twenty pounds. The main reason being the muscle her body had that Tendou’s lanky frame would never accumulate, but as Tendou snuck a quick side glance at her friend, she couldn’t help noticing two other sizeable reasons for their weight difference.
Beautiful and chesty as hell. So unfair. Is this some kind of karma? Was I evil in my past life? Is this some kind of cosmic justice? What did I do to deserve two barely there handfuls of nothing?
Tendou heaved a sigh.
“They’re not that bad,”
Tendou snapped her head to look at her friend, nearly tripping as her back foot caught her ankle, the bags on her shoulders throwing her balance off. She stumbled for a moment before stopping to look at Ushijima.
“What?” She squeaked, suddenly concerned her friend could read minds.
“The assignments. Isn’t that why you were sighing like that?” Ushijima asked, her head tilted quizzically.
Tendou was silent for one moment before she burst into loud laughter that echoed off the surrounding buildings.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was sighing about.” She giggled, shifting the bags on her shoulders and starting to walk again.
Ushijima shrugged, quietly following her friend back to their shared dorm room.
When they got back to their dorm, Tendou burst through their door and heaved both bags into the corner, pausing just long enough to dig out the dirty articles of clothing and tossing them into the hamper. She flung herself onto Ushijima’s bottom bunk knowing the brunette would want to sit at her desk to work. They both took out the English papers and set to work, although Tendou grumbled curses under her breath the whole time.
“Waka-kun, this is terrible.” She whined, throwing her face in the other girl’s pillows for dramatic effect.
Smells woodsy, like fresh air and nature.
“What are you having trouble with, Satori?” Ushijima asked, turning to her friend. In practice and class Ushijima still used Tendou’s last name out of politeness, but when they were alone she often referred to her by her preferred name. Tendou had assured her that using her given name or even a ridiculous nickname like “Waka” was fine any time, but Ushijima insisted.
Tendou turned her head just enough to peak an eye out. “It’s these stupid commas! I can’t for the life of me figure them out.” She huffed.
Ushijima got out of her seat and leaned over Tendou’s shoulder to look at her work. Tendou felt herself tense, but Ushijima seemed oblivious of her friend’s distress.
So close.
Tendou tried to shake her nerves away and focus on what Ushijima was saying.
“You need them here and here, but you can get rid of this one. Other than that, the rest looks good. Nice job.” Ushijima complimented, getting off the bed once she saw Tendou make the proper corrections.
Tendou felt a slight blush dusting her cheeks at the praise. Ushijima was too straightforward to sugarcoat anything, so compliments and praise from her were always one hundred percent genuine.
“Thanks, Waka-kun,” Tendou smiled softly. She gave the paper a final scan and decided it was passable before looking over her shoulder at her friend. “Is it early enough for us to still watch that anime?” She asked, putting on her best puppy dog eyes and wobbling her lip again.
Ushijima looked at the small clock she kept by her bedside. It was a little later than she would’ve preferred, but she found that she had a hard time saying no to Tendou.
She sighed before turning back to the redhead.
“Just one,” She said, putting the homework back into her bag so she was ready for tomorrow.
Tendou whooped almost as loudly as she had earlier in the locker room despite the late hour. Ushijima would’ve been concerned about their neighbors if this wasn’t a common occurrence that she was pretty sure the surrounding rooms had gotten used to. Not that anyone would ever come over and complain. Between her sharp, stoic features and Tendou’s buggy eyes and ability to make anyone uncomfortable when she felt like it, there weren’t a lot of people brave enough to knock on their door to tell them off.
The lanky middle blocker stuffed the sheets of paper into her bag then stood up to grab the laptop that was just within reach on her top bunk. Plopping back down, she quickly set up the laptop to watch the new anime and reached under Ushijima’s bed for the snacks they kept there. She looked up to see Ushijima staring sternly at her.
“No crumbs,” She said, already shoveling chips into her mouth. “I pwomise.” She mumbled, mouth full.
Ushijima sighed defeatedly, knowing that it was an empty promise. She crawled onto her bed next to Tendou, their shoulders and thighs pressed together so the laptop could balance on both of them evenly.
Tendou was practically vibrating, her excitement radiating off her in waves. Even though Ushijima didn’t particularly care for the different animes her friend made her watch, she enjoyed that Tendou enjoyed them so much and that was enough.
Ushijima treasured her friendship with Tendou. Being so quiet and seemingly unapproachable had made making friends hard growing up, and her singlemindedness for volleyball had made relating to other girls her age difficult. Even her other teammates, although always nice and caring, had a hard time relating to the tall, quiet ace. She didn’t get a lot of the jokes they made and often wouldn’t respond with more than a word or two when conversing. They still made an effort to include her and keep her engaged, but she could tell they sometimes weren’t sure how to react to her.
But Tendou was different. Tendou seemed to genuinely enjoy Ushijima’s presence, asking her constantly to perform small activities such as this, that she could very easily do on her own. Tendou never seemed to expect Ushijima to carry the conversation, just offer enough feedback to let her know she was listening. Although Ushijima knew Tendou liked to tease her, it never felt like she was being made fun of. Yes, Ushijima truly treasured the relationship she had with Tendou, more than any other relationship in her life. The redhead understood her like no one else, and there was no one else Ushijima would rather spend time with.
“So, remember last week our protagonist Itadori was fighting a cursed spirit and…”
Tendou gave Ushijima a quick recap before falling eerily silent as she watched the anime. Ushijima also noticed that moments like this, when Tendou was engrossed in something she truly enjoyed, were when she was her most quiet. It was almost unusual to have the usually animated and lively redhead this quiet, but Ushijima could appreciate the passion Tendou had for things like this. It reminded her of the quiet, intense passion she had for volleyball.
They watched the episode together, the only sound coming from the laptop speakers and Tendou’s chewing. Somehow Tendou managed to talk Ushijima into a second episode, but after that she insisted they both go to bed to avoid being tired in the morning.
Tendou contently complied, happy that she had weaseled a second episode out of the brunette. She crawled into her top bunk, then hung herself over the edge to look down at her roommate, her wide grin only slightly unnerving from this angle.
“Goodnight, Wakatoshi-kun. Thanks for staying up with me. Next time we can watch one of those documentaries you like so much.” She offered.
“Thank you, Tendou. I would like that very much. There is a new one out about bees that I think looks very interesting.”
Tendou giggled. “Sounds good. Night,” She said, slipping back into her bunk.
“Goodnight,” Ushijima said, letting her eyes close and quickly drifting to sleep.
As Ushijima succumbed to sleep, her roommate lay awake in the bunk above her, contemplating the warm feelings in her chest that her ace continued to cause. She studied the dark ceiling above her, trying to discern what to do with these feelings that felt like they had been festering since they were first years. Tendou wasn’t sure when she had fallen in love with her best friend, it hadn’t been a sudden epiphany that struck her all at once or out of nowhere. No, the love she had had for the brunette below her had been a slowly accumulating thing that had almost completely unnoticed until one day Tendou looked at her friend and found the first word that came to mind was love. Their close friendship had been evolving continuously since the day they met, and with it so had Tendou’s feelings.
When Tendou had first gotten to Shiratorizawa, she had expected the same experience as middle school. Kids that avoided her, teachers that seemed uneasy around her, a coach who would scold her, and teammates who feared her. She had learned long ago that it was easier to steer into the expectations that others always seemed to have of her than fight them. It was easier to play the part of a monster when everyone expected it of you. So Tendou had been more than prepared to have another unpleasant school experience.
That wasn’t what she found, though.
Tendou found classmates who supported her, who thought her role on the volleyball team was amazing. They cheered for her by name in the stands at games and asked her when her matches were during homeroom. In fact, after a particularly great game, random students would congratulate her in the hallways.
The teachers she had expected to be put off by her strange questions and limitless energy in class seemed unphased by her eccentric behaviors, even offering her extra help in subjects she struggled in. They supported her maintaining her grades so she could keep her place on the volleyball team and by making themselves available when she needed extra explanations after class.
Her coach told her she could do almost anything she wanted so long as she stopped more balls than she let through. And her teammates…
Although they sometimes acted annoyed or unsure of how to read her at times, they never called her names or made her feel like she didn’t belong. They made her feel valued as a teammate and praised her for her good work. Everyone on the team accepted her odd behaviors, the weird songs she would sing or her loud outbursts as completely normal. They would even offer to hang out with her outside of practice, wanting to grab food or watch movies. She felt like she had found home with them.
As for Ushijima…
When Tendou had first met the tall, standoffish brunette at their very first practice as first years, she was sure that she would hate her. The aspiring ace seemed like a stickler for the rules and came across as someone who thought she was better than everyone else because of how good she was. Tendou had decided in the first few moments of that first practice that she would do everything in her power to block every one of the other girl’s spikes.
During the second half of practice when the team had split up to scrimmage, Tendou had been delighted to find herself on the opposite side of the net from Ushijima. She had been watching her closely throughout drills, trying to learn her body language and her timing. It wouldn’t be perfect, but she thought she had a good read on the taller girl. When the ball was set to Ushijima, Tendou waited just a second longer than normal to gather her full jumping power, sending her arms straight up against the spike. Only at the last possible second did she shift her arms to the side, assuming that Ushijima would try to spike around her long arms, and successfully block the brunette. When the ball had snapped back down on Ushijima’s side of the net, Tendou whooped loudly before turning back to her team to celebrate. She looked over her shoulder smugly, expecting to see frustration and disappointment written on other girl’s face.
Instead, she saw a fire burning in the other girl’s eyes that made Tendou grin even sharper.
Doesn’t go down easy. I like that.
The next spike that Ushijima sent her way left her fingers stinging for the rest of practice.
The remainder of the scrimmage had carried on like that, both of them blocking and spiking to gain their team points. Tendou felt a new sense of competition throughout the practice, fire tingling through her veins as she pushed herself to keep up with the other first year. At the end, Tendou’s team had won mostly because she had more third years on her team. Ushijima had carried her team, though, performing outstandingly for a first year. Both the girls received high praises from their upperclassmen before everyone split up to go to the showers.
Tendou turned, about to make her way to the locker room as well.
“Tendou?” The voice behind her causing her to pause and look over her shoulder. The tall brunette held a ball in her hands, her face stoic and cold. But Tendou noticed the tenseness in her shoulders, and the slight pinch in her brows as her eyes darted to the ball in her hands then back to Tendou.
She’s nervous.
“What’s up, Ushijima?” She asked casually, slightly defensive that the brunette might say something rude to her about their scrimmage.
“Would you mind staying after with me and practicing for a bit? Your blocks are very good, and I’d like to try spiking against them some more.”
Tendou stared at Ushijima, searching her face for signs of teasing or insincerity. She searched for any indication that she was going to say psych as soon as she agreed. But all she saw on the taller girl’s face was an open and genuine curiosity about her answer.
“Sure. I wouldn’t mind blocking you a few more times before going back to the dorms.” She grinned.
The taller girl grinned back, picking up on her competitive inflection.
“We’ll see about that.”
They tossed balls to one another well into the night; practicing blocks and spikes and giving each other tips on how to perfect their form. Tendou was starting to realize that Ushijima wasn’t as cold as she appeared, she was just quiet and only spoke when she had something to say. She wasn’t cocky or arrogant, she was just confident in her own abilities, but still appreciated any critiques or advice.
They practiced together until coach finally kicked them out, yelling about how if they didn’t go home and rest, they’d be useless for practice tomorrow. The girls had scrambled out of the gym, opting to shower back in their dorms to get away from their screaming coach as soon as possible.
“Thank you for practicing with me, Tendou,” Ushijima said as they walked back to the freshmen dorms.
Tendou beamed at the brunette. No one had ever even asked her to practice with them, much less thank her for it. “Call me Satori. And any time, Wakatoshi-kun!”
Ushijima’s eyes widened, a little surprised that the redhead had elected to use her first name.
“I figured we could use first names, what with us being teammates and friends and whatnot,” The redhead replied sheepishly after seeing the brunette’s expression.
“Friends?” Ushijima asked, eyes a little incredulous.
“Well, of course!” Tendou insisted, opting to completely ignore her earlier feelings towards the brunette. She threw an arm over her shoulder. “We’re going to be, like, best volleyball buds. We’ll be an unstoppable team. With my blocking and your spikes, we’ll make it to nationals easy peasy this year.”
Ushijima gave her a small smile, a slight blush on her face from both the declaration and physical contact.
“Okay.”
Tendou grinned at her new friend and launched into ramblings about anything and everything that came to mind until they had to inevitably part ways for their own dorms. She waved excitedly to her friend, even though they only ended up being down the hall from each other, and was ecstatic to see the brunette give her a small wave in return before disappearing into her room.
Since then, the two had become inseparable. They quickly became close friends and insisted on becoming roommates for the second half of their first year, as well as their second year. All the while the feelings in Tendou’s chest bloomed, growing into something that simultaneously made her feel lighter, yet weighed her down. So here they were, halfway through their third year and it hadn’t gotten any easier to handle.
She had almost confessed at the beginning of the year, but that idea had quickly been squashed. They had been sitting in their dorm, Tendou reading the newest Shounen Jump while Ushijima tended to some of the small plants she kept in their window sill. Tendou had put her book down, looking over at her friend as the sun filtered through the window, bringing out all the natural highlights of her dark hair and making her eyes sparkle. The redhead couldn’t stop her mouth before it was already moving.
“Waka-kun, do you think that we’ll stay friends, even after high school?”
“Of course. You’re my best friend.” The brunette replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Tendou smirked, her friend’s bluntness always endearing.
“But do you ever think about the future? Like what you wanna be when you grow up? Or…or about getting married or anything like that?”
Ushijima paused for a moment, this answer requiring a little bit more thoughtfulness.
“I do. But part of what I think about I haven’t told anyone else about yet.”
Tendou felt the room get a little warmer.
“You know you could tell me anything, Wakatoshi.” She prompted, trying to clearly emphasize how serious she was taking this.
“I… I know not everyone would approve, but there’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.”
Holy shit.
“Yeah?” Tendou swallowed, trying not to sweat.
“And for part of it I would actually need your help, Satori. I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about this for a while now.”
Tendou was definitely starting to sweat.
“I would help you with anything, Waka-kun. Anything.” She emphasized, leaning forward to look at her best friend. “What have you been thinking about?”
“I want to continue playing volleyball after school. I want to play professionally and maybe… and maybe even play for the national team. I know my parents may not approve, but I think that’s what I really want. It’s my dream. And that’s why I would need your help. I have been meaning to ask you if you would be willing to help me with extra practice outside what we have already for club. I know it would be a lot to ask of you, but I don’t trust anyone else on the team to commit with me.”
Tendou felt herself deflate.
Of course. Volleyball comes first.
Tendou quickly recovered, though, beaming at her friend.
“Of course, Waka-kun. I’m honored you would want my skills at your extra practices.” She grinned, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I have no doubt you’re going to be Japan’s Ace!”
And her friend had smiled back at her, thanking her with a soft smile that made Tendou’s heart ache.
Tendou had decided from that moment on, that her feelings were her own problem, and she would never let them ruin the amazing friendship she had with Ushijima. The brunette was too straightforward and single-minded in her love of volleyball, and Tendou would never be able to compete with that. If she tried, all she would do is muddle their friendship and confuse her friend.
So no, she wouldn’t be some lame girl with a crush, who hid around corners pining after her friend. There would be no awkwardness between them, and she wouldn’t let it ruin the great relationship they already had. She would step up and be the friend Ushijima needed her to be, supporting her in any way she could to achieve the dream that made those olive eyes sparkle.
As she finally felt sleep begin to take her, Tendou thought maybe it was time she found an outlet for some of these feelings