I was in the park with my mum, sitting on the bench near the courts eating ice-cream. My older brother was on them, tossing a volleyball around with his friends. We were laughing and chatting, until mum caught something out of the corner of her eye. I followed her gaze and realised she was staring at a young man, with tousled brown hair. It was him. I rolled my eyes, looking away, and hoping he hadn't seen me. But when I looked in another direction, another one was there, this time an adult around 28. Not another one, I thought, scrambling to get away from them. I turned to face Koshi, who was playing on the court but he'd disappeared, replaced with a gang of teenage guys, with leather jackets that screamed danger. No. Mum turned away from me, looking into the distance at something I couldn't see.
"They look happy." She murmured, a wistful smile flitting across her face, her silver hair catching the sunlight like Koshi's sometimes did.
"Not as happy as we are." I said in a proud, stubborn voice. Mum squeezed my hand, her grey eyes glinting with moisture, still staring at that unreachable place, and I knew she'd hadn't heard me.
"I have to go." She got up and left me on the bench, leaving the gang, the man and him to close in from three different directions. I felt a weight on my shoulder, and whipped my head around, sinking into the swirling brown of his pupils.
The ice-cream hit the dirt.
Y/n screamed, waking up in a cold sweat. Koshi sat next to her on her bed, shaking her, a worried expression plain on his features.
"Are you okay, Y/n?" He stopped shaking her, his grey eyes concerned. She shook her head, tears dropping onto her face. She turned to the clock next to her bed: 3:17 am.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" She sat up, wiping the tears from her cheeks and stared down at her hands. Koshi pulled her into a hug.
"Shh, shh, its okay." She cried against him, curling into a ball as he hugged her, letting all the pent-up emotion out. It was a dream. A nightmare really. When was the last time mum cared enough to sit with me, let alone buy me ice cream? She sat back up, drying her tears and leaned into her brother's safe embrace.
"Can I dance?" She whispered, her voice croaky and hoarse, and he nodded mutely. They stood up and Koshi walked out, giving her privacy so she could change.
She wasn't normally comfortable wearing short shorts and a sports bra only in front of people, but that was the easiest thing for her to dance in, and her brother came to watch her practice so him watching didn't bother her as much. Right now she was glad he was there.
She made her way to her bedroom door, opening it. Koshi waited on the other side, and they walked down the hall together to the studio. The lights flicked on, and he dulled them down so they weren't blinded, it was still 3am after all. A soft golden glow bathed the dim room, and she walked over to the far corner and breathed.
The feel of the soft rubbery-sort floor against her bare feet, the still air, the apprehension. It was all so familiar, and instantly she calmed down. She knew the routine, she could do this.
Her brother walked over to the stereo and as if he knew exactly what she wanted to dance to, he opened the computer and selected the song.
She took a deep breath, and started. Breathe. Look up. Float the arm out, pull it down, knee drop to the floor. Roll, stand up, tilt kick to the right. Pull it into a triple skater turn. Step, assemble firebird.
She danced, the music flowing past her, the air around her now alive, dancing with her. Muscle memory allowed her mind to be on the emotion. She threw her body into the moves, flowing from one to another, setting her thoughts free. She felt calm, she felt happy.
The music came to an end, as she hit the final pose. She knelt there, breathing for a second, before standing up and curtseying. Force of habit. The soft glow of the lights fell down over her and her brother like a golden shower of starlight, and she watched as Koshi brush a tear away.
"That was beautiful, n/n." He said smiling softly at her. She walked over to him and hugged him.
"You should probably go back to sleep. I have to go to dance in the morning, I'm so sorry, but please don't tell the team." She begged. She didn't know why but she wanted to seem like a normal average girl to them, not some crazy dancer-musician-singer-swimming-Brainiac girl who's parents kept her in the house for 3 years because she was mildly good at them. They already knew she had been accelerated one year in English, not to mention the email she'd gotten for arithmetic.
"Huh? Why don't you want to tell the team?" Koshi tilted his head, confused. "You're a prodigy!" She flinched at the word, and he noticed. Huh, that the first time someone's noticed her flinch. And cared.
"I'm sorry." He hugged her again. "If you don't want the team to know they won't. If you want me to go to sleep now I will. Remember to take care of yourself, and if you pull a muscle of something don't keep dancing." He kissed her forehead softly and wandered out of the room, down the hallway to his room.
Only after she heard his door close did she turn the music back on.
YOU ARE READING
I'll Be There (Nishinoya x Reader) ON HOLD
Fanfiction"She's too precious." "She's too young." "She needs to be protected." Y/N had spent her life protected by her parents who seemed determined not to let her many beautiful talents go to waste. But when something horrible happened in elementary school...
