Monstrous Intuition. | Tendou x reader |

Chapter 14

 You look down at the canvas leaning against the wall, the painted side facing away from you so you wouldn't have to look at it any longer. You had spent almost the entire day Saturday staring at it, so proud of yourself for the work that you had managed to throw together.

It was already graded. You had finished it right before Yamamoto Sensei left on Friday— after she had extended her stay in the first place in hopes that you could get that last grade before your last day of class. As soon as she saw it as you backed away from your easel, she turned to you with tears in her eyes before she wrapped her arms around you. "Oh, I don't know if I will ever have a student like you again."

Then, you had tears in your eyes, too.

The thing is, that painting was more than just your final piece at Shiratorizawa. It was a gift. It was supposed to be your goodbye gift.

Now, you contemplated kicking a hole in the middle, ripping apart the layers of paint that you had spent weeks upon weeks layering in order to capture that image you had taken on your phone. It looked even better than reality— Which was wild considering what you had painted was one of your favorite places in the world.

You sat down on your bed. That was the only part of your room that wasn't packed up yet. Even your little rubber duck that Tendou had teased you for was packed away somewhere in some bag ready to be shipped off with you tomorrow evening.

At the beginning, you had been desperate to leave. Then, you would have rather done anything else. Now, you are ready again. Ready to leave it all behind and move on to the next place.

All because of what you had overheard when you had, after one particularly bad night of overthinking, wandered to Tendou's room. He had given you his room number after a while of asking, which gave you the option to at least try to talk to him. He had soothed your nerves so many times before— It was worth a shot to get him to talk to you. Maybe, just maybe, he could reassure you about something, anything.

Then, you had gotten to the door and heard a familiar voice behind it. A smile graced your face as you raised your fist, ready to knock. Then, you heard a word that made you freeze. "D'ya think freedom is all its cracked up to be?"

No voice responded. Well, you thought maybe you heard some low grunt on the other side of the door, but your ears were roaring with panic too much to consider who the grunt could be. Tendou's voice continued, "I mean, I haven't exactly felt too constrained, but— I don't know. I guess it's been more rough the past few—"

Your fist had fallen to your side, balled up next to you as you listened to those awful words. Suddenly, even worse words had flooded your mind. The ones that had made you panic that horrible night. Freedom. Semi had warned you about Tendou wanting his freedom.

So, you charged back to your dorm and hid away, trying to ignore it. After a night of tears, you had dragged yourself to your usual classes, and dragged yourself in front of your canvas after class to continue the painting that reeked of Tendou. Yet, you kept painting because how could he possibly have ill-intent towards you? The kid that had dragged you to a bakery, painted you a beautiful picture both literally and metaphorically, and kissed you so tenderly your lips still burned for more attention— He couldn't be mean.

The one that had melted down in front of you, that you had held as he cried after so many times of him doing the same for you. That Tendou was no monster— You had known that from the moment you met him, even as you heard the whispers of others around you saying the opposite. Yet, with no words from him to reassure you as you packed your life in Japan away, you found yourself unable to believe that you had fallen for such a trick. You looked down at the painting again, feeling completely defeated.