The Shape of Silence || Tsukishima Kei x Reader

Chapter Six: Music

Kei wasn't happy. (F/n) could tell.

His eyebrows scrunched up. His mouth twisted. His yellowy-sunshine-golden eyes were so concentrated on whatever he took his time up with, as if he was trying to forget about whatever was bothering him.

He kept scratching his temples or the back of his head irritably. He wasn't talking much–she could tell from the lack of how much his jaw movies hand how he never used his hands to wave with his words. His breathing wasn't sharp, and his chest barely moved.

He wasn't speaking. Barely to anyone. She could tell that other people thought he was just tired, or maybe they didn't realize this difference at all, but she did. Irritability flew off of him in little gestures.

The way he tapped his pencil, stuck on a seemingly simple question. How he would glare at some girls, who were giggling in the corner when she looked up. How he didn't say anything to Tadashi. How he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

She noticed. She wondered if he was making any sounds as well. She doubted it. Just appearing to sigh a lot.

She wanted to confide in Kim, or even Emi. Those two were the two who were amazingly fluent in sign language, and she could really trust them. But she didn't think that Kei would appreciate her signing about him without him being around.

She tried asking Tadashi what was wrong, but he only shook his head. That didn't do anything for her. Did Tadashi know what was wrong? Did he not know? She needed information.

She tried to confide in Tobio, who seemed serious and somewhat sensible, but she thought wrong. When she wrote out a question on her board, the moment he answered it in his unreadable, scribbly handwriting, she knew she'd get nothing from her interrogation.

She wondered if Yachi could help, but somehow (F/n) felt that no one would give her anything.

This troubled her. Her fingers drummed on her textbook. She was currently in the gymnasium, waiting for volleyball practice to end. This was normally something she did now, because Azumane normally walked her home.Yuu would sometimes join. She suspected that something was going on between those two, and she also suspected that they didn't realize it yet.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Relationships didn't matter at the moment. What mattered at the moment was the problem with Kei.

She felt the vibrations from the boys running on the court and the balls slamming on the floor ripple to her spot on the bleachers. She saw some yell, some cheer, some grin at each other in victory from a good toss or some other volleyball move she didn't take her time caring about.

Kei was quiet. He didn't really seem to be enjoying himself. She knew when people enjoyed themselves, even the quiet ones. He wasn't enjoying himself.

Shimizu seemed to notice (F/n)'s distress, probably because of the fidgeting and the furrow in her eyebrows. The third year made her way over and sat down beside her, waving a friendly hello.

You have a problem. It wasn't a guess. It was an observation.

I do. (F/n) admitted, drawing out a long sigh. My classmate, K-E-I, seems... (F/n) spelt the name out instead of signing the letter, just in case Shimizu got it messed up with Koushi.

He seems very distraught, doesn't he? Shimizu finished, and (F/n) nodded, her shoulders sinking slightly.

Do you know what's wrong? The first year tried one more time to see if she could get anything on her friends irritability.

I was informed by Yachi that his headphones broke this morning. Shimizu smiled a little. She told me he's been absent all morning. Was he giving you troubles?

No! She quickly signed back. No, not at all. I can't hear him speak, but I can see him speak. You'd be surprised at how much he does.

(F/n) knew Shimizu wasn't one to show doubt, but the girl saw it swirl inside the third years eyes for a moment. Her eyebrows twitched in just the slightest way, almost like surprise. Anyone would be surprised. Kei doesn't appear to speak a lot, but he does. Everyone does, even the 'quiet' ones. You tend to pick up on that when you can't actually hear her hem.

An idea hit her. Shimizu laughed, as if she could see the lightbulb light up above her head. (F/n) quickly stood up, knowing that the boys were beginning to finish, and quickly ducked out of the gym. She left her stuff to let them know that she'd be back. She wasn't known to be a forgetful person.

~~~

Kei sighed as he put the last of the volleyballs away, listening to Tanaka and Noya race each other as they swept the floors. His headache had increased throughout the day due to the inability to drown it out with his music.

He watched glumly as the others did their own jobs cleaning up, and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. He was suddenly surprised to feel earbuds slide quickly into his ears and one of his favourite songs begin to play.

Kei almost dropped his glasses, but managed to put them on to identify the blob of colours in front of him.

His saviour was (F/n), her eyes glittering with a hopeful look as she held his phone in her hands, cheap earbuds connected to it. He stood there for a moment, then began to open his mouth to speak, but she shoved his phone in his hands to stop him.

I heard your headphones broke. I found a vending machine that has cheap stuff. Highlight on cheap. She shrugged. I figured that you'd need something. You're smart. Too many thoughts. Music helps, right? This song was your recently played ones, so I figured you liked it.

He stared at her in utter shock, a whole new light seeming to shine down on her.

These are just replacements until you get better ones. Keep them, I obviously don't need them. She smiled at him brightly. You didn't speak a lot today. I got worried. You normally make snide comments about people. You looked really sad.

His eyes widened. He knew she were observant, but not that observant. He was about to sign to her but she shook her head, cutting him off once again.

Talk more. You seem happier that way. She smiled, then gave him a small wave. Goodbye, ___.

She signed something, and as she was walking, it dawned on him that she'd just granted him his name sign.

She'd applied 'K' to the sign music.