Ushiten || Au? ||

Part 1

O•° 3rd POV °•O

Ushijima walked into morning practice looking like crap. His hair was a mess, his movements were sloppy, he had bags under his eyes and everyone noticed, though you could rarely ever tell what he was feeling, you could definitely tell something was wrong now. Ushijima wasn't the brightest and happiest looking person, so his body language and facial expressions wouldn't tell you much, if not, nothing. But his routines were perfect, he always brushed his hair in the morning, always went to bed at a resonable time for an 17-18 year old and was never not practicing, so this was very unusual for the 3rd year.

Tendou being the nosey, best friend he is, really wanted to know what was wrong with his 'miracle boy', but he decided it wasn't the right time to confront him and would wait till break. Inbetween that time, was torture for Tendou and Ushijima, everytime the ball was set to olive-haired teen, he either missed his spike or just barely got it accross the other side of the net. Everyone was shocked and worried for him, Tendou, bocoming more impatient by the minute, so when break was finally called, both boys were glad. Tendou walked over to Ushijima who was chugging a bottle of water, sat down on a bench, exhausted.

"Hey Ushi?" He said, slight worry in his voice, though Ushijima didn't pick up on this. He looked up at the red head and gave a small, quiet "hm?"

"Ushi, are you okay? You haven't been acting your usual self.."

Ushijima looked at Tendou, confused. "Usual self...?" He repeated, he knew exactly what Tendou was talking about, really, he knew that he wasn't at his best today, though he acted as if he didn't.

Tendou didn't buy this act, he too, knew Ushijima was hiding something and was trying to lie but still went along with it nonetheless.

"Yeah, you seem so out of it! You kept messing up pretty badly and you keep zoning out on something..."

"I'm fine, Tendou"

Ushijima spoke quietly and had a deadpanned expression, though Tendou saw it, he saw that his best friend was hurting, and he could hear it, he could hear the sadness and crack in Ushijima's voice. It wasn't obvious to others, but it was to him.

Ushijima felt bad for lying to Tendou, but he couldn't face him in this state, he tried so hard not to just give in to his  sorrow, but ramain emotionless to those who were around. Biting down on his lips, he waited nervously for his friend to speak up.

Tendou was really worried at this point, he had never seen Ushijima like this, he was infact broken inside and it shattered Tendou's heart to see him like this, he wish he could just kiss it all better, but he knew that wasn't how it worked. He just wondered why Ushijima wouldn't open up to him, did he not trust him?

"Ushi, I can tell your not fine. Please, the whole team is worried about you."

Ushijima just sighed. Thoughts clouding his mind. He was debating wether or not to tell Tendou what was going on. He did trust Tendou... He liked Tendou, but this was something he always found a challenge to do, he hated having the spotlight on him and always diverted conversations. Running away from these situations was something he was good at.

"I- I don't think- I'm sorry, I can't..." To be frank, he did want to open up and he could if he wanted, but that part of him that was scared of judgement and abandonment told him it wasn't safe.

Tendou was at a loss at what to do, he wanted to cheer his friend up so bad but had no idea how to.

Sigh "Fine, how about we meet up after school?"

"Huh- why?" Ushijima was visibly confused, 'he just changed the topic so suddenly, why?' He thought

"Well- you can tell me then! When we are alone, and if you really don't want to, atleast let me try to cheer you up! I hate seeing you like this"

'Ah- so he wasn't done with me...' Ushijima thought for a while but finally agreed to going with Tendou after school.

A/n: Heyyy- it's Alev here! Well, here is this weeks chapter! I hope it's good enough for you, I wrote all of this in a notebook during school so it isn't exactly the best and all but I felt like I needed to post so Boom, here we are 😗 there isn't as much speech in this chapter, it's mostly descriptive writing, after all, I am used to writing like that, but hopefully the next chapter will have more speaking in, anyway, bye!!! 👻