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seventeen

A couple days after clearing up the misunderstanding between y/n and the Tsukishimas, their lives went back to normal and she was visiting their house everyday now. Nothing had changed, at least nothing major.

But it was growing increasingly difficult for y/n to pretend like those small changes didn't bother her.

Since that day... after being in Tsukishima's embrace, she learned that every little thing he'd do would make her nervous. Waking up in his bed that day after falling asleep and feeling feverish, just to find out she wasn't sick at all. Or when they sat next to each other at the dinner table, knees or feet brushing against each other every so often and her heart would start racing. Even seeing him smile, laugh, or flick her forehead was dizzying.

She was no fool. She had experienced feelings like these once before with a certain someone. As the days progressed, it was becoming harder to deny her feelings blossoming for Tsukishima.

There was just one problem.

It always felt like the four eyes was deliberately keeping his distance from her. There was an enormous wall in front of her that blocked her from becoming any closer to him.

Before she left the house that night, he'd apologized to her out of nowhere.

"I'm sorry about the hug. I know you-- nevermind."

Y/n tried questioning further about what he was going to say, but he shrugged it off, never bringing it up since then.

But it wasn't just that. 

When their knees or feet did touch under the dinner table, he would mumble "sorry" under his breath and slide his feet together. He slowly stopped ruffling her hair or flicking her forehead. When they sat on the couch together, he'd put as much space as possible between the two. He would no longer invite her to his bedroom, but when they were in his room, he looked slightly bothered from the way his brow would furrow. He no longer initiated any sort of physical contact, and y/n found herself missing it.

Did she make him uncomfortable? These small things that he no longer did... was it because of something she did, or was he always like this, y/n paying no mind to it beforehand?

She was currently sat on the floor of the blondie's bedroom, back leaned against his bed and gazing at the back of his tall figure. His attention was placed towards his homework. It was just like the first time y/n came to his home, except before, she could only stare daggers into his back-- irritated at the way she had been stuck at his home when she had plans of moping over her ex.

Now, it was different. She stared at his back, heart beating in her chest. Her head lolled against the edge of the bed, and she breathed in his scent. When had she grown so fond of this smell? Tugging the end of the blanket to right under her nose, she closed her eyes and sniffed in. The smell of him was comforting, reminding her too much of the embrace they shared before. Her face warmed, and before Tsukishima could see what she was doing, threw the blanket back silently, opening her eyes. He was still faced towards the desk.

"I'm bored." She spoke.

"Go hang out with my brother." He replied without moving.

"He's home today?"

"Yeah."

A couple beats of silence passed. "...I wanna stay with you." Her heart pounded once at the random confession that escaped her lips. She hoped he didn't take that the wrong way, but at the same time she kind of did.

Tsukishima sighed, spinning his desk chair around and y/n got a clear view of his red ears, smiling to herself. "Fine. What should we do?"

I want to talk about that day... why were you sorry about the hug?

She shrugged.

He rolled his eyes, then spun back around to his desk. "Go to my brother. He'll do a better job at keeping you entertained."

Y/n rolled her eyes as well. There was that distance he'd been trying to put up. "Fine." She stood, and walked out, closing the door shut behind her.

Tsukishima stared at the blank paper on his desk, listening closely to the sound of y/n's footsteps die down. He sighed and dropped his pencil, burying a hand into his hair.

She seemed upset. Was that too harsh?

He thought about the look on her face when he spun around, a look of hope plastered across it. He blatantly shut her out, and ruined the mood. But what choice did he have? He'd officially crossed the line back when he held her in his arms and even offered her to sleep in his bed. That night was a sleepless one, the smell of her shampoo mingling with his own, and the faint trace of her perfume kept his heart thumping throughout the night. The thought of it made his face hot, as if he didn't already think about it several times in a day.

Becoming too close was dangerous. His mind wandered back to the day of his volleyball tournament against Aoba Johsai, and the hold that Oikawa had on her wrist. He let out an exaggerated exhale.

Y/n knocked on the door of Akiteru's bedroom and a few seconds later he opened it, a surprised look on his face. "I'm not bothering you right now, am I?" She asked. 

"Of course not." He smiled, bringing a hand up to ruffle the top of her head. "Come in." 

Y/n stepped in, taking a look around his room. She wasn't too familiar with it, only catching glimpses of it whenever she walked by his room and the door was slightly open. Now that she could view it clearly, it was easy to see how barren and sort-of empty it was-- she assumed it was because most of his belongings were at his dorm in college. She took a seat on the floor by the small table in the center of his room, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them. 

"What's up?" Akiteru didn't shut the door completely, leaving it slightly open and took a seat on the other side of the table, across from y/n with his legs crossed. 

Y/n laid her chin on top of her knees and shrugged. "We haven't talked in a while. How's life?"

Akiteru chuckled. "It's unfortunate that we haven't, isn't it? I'm super busy with college and preparing to graduate and stuff."

"Really? You must be excited."

He nodded. "Naturally. But it's also troublesome at the same time since I have to start looking for work. What about you?" He smiled. "You usually don't come to start up a conversation with me first."

"Huh?" Y/n's face flushed with embarrassment. Had he seen right through her? "It's nothing."

"Hehe. You're not very good at lying. You can tell me, is it my brother?"

Her heart sped up. "I...I guess I can't hide it very well."

"What'd he do?"

"I don't know." She hesitantly continued. "I don't know if it's him or me... but... it feel like he wants to put some kind of distance between us." 

Akiteru's eyes widened. "Distance?"

Y/n nodded. "In the beginning and stuff, when I came to your house a couple of times, obviously we weren't very close. But not long ago, at least I  had thought we were becoming closer. He.... gave me his lunch, agreed to my ridiculous request of meeting my dad, protected me but got his back hurt, so much more, and... "

Her mind wandered to a couple days back, the feeling of being in his arms and the soft touch of his hands caressing her head. Her face warmed.

"And?" Akiteru's voice shook her out of her thoughts. 

She shook her head. "Nevermind. It's just, he's done a lot for me, and I thought we were closer now, but as of recently it's like he doesn't bother with those things anymore. Or he's just avoiding me on purpose. I don't know."

A long moment of silence passed and y/n kept her gaze down, wondering if she said too much.

"Y/n."

"Hm?" She looked up at the other, his expression soft.

"Do you... like him?"