Short Stuff [HAIKYUU: Tsukishima Kei x OC Fanfic] [Rewriting]

Chapter 32 - You Deserved It

Lil author's note right here:

Ya'll I'm a kpop stan too and my heart beats for Day6 and Seventeen, but I'm so open to getting into more fandoms, someone for the love of all things good and holy guide me through BTS please thanks, hit me up fam lesgo, drown me in another fandom

And also, if you're a Day6 fan please hit me up seriously

Daz all, enjoy the chapter mwah!

~_~

Akira's POV

"Hey, tell me, what's wrong?" Kageyama asked as he sat down properly, letting me cry onto his chest comfortably.

Comfortably? Who would ever feel comfortable crying?

"Aki?" he asked, softly this time. His hand started caressing the back of my head. It felt really kind and comforting.

"I'm scared," I told him, refusing to look up.

"Of getting a sponsor?"

"That and other things," I answered.

"I'm listening."

I sighed and sat down beside him properly. I kept my gaze on the oven in front of us across the room.

"My heart's been hurting ever since I got rushed to the hospital," I told him. "I feel like I seriously messed up, getting an injury during our first match. And now we have a sponsor, so that's extra pressure. I want to do well for my team..."

"You're a team for a reason, Aki. They have your back," he told me as he looked up at the ceiling. "You're not the only one with the name of your school or the weight of the court resting on your shoulders. You have your team to share that burden with you."

"In volleyball, sure," I said, letting out a small laugh. "I wish I could say the same for badminton, but when you're on the court, it's just you and your opponent. Your team can't do anything."

"Is that what's scaring you the most?"

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence between us. The only thing I could hear was the laughter coming from the guys outside.

"What if we got lucky?" I asked.

"You earned those wins. You weren't just lucky."

"What if we stop winning?"

"Don't think about that, just think about playing well."

"What if I can't do it?"

"Win?" he asked.

"Lead," I answered.

There was a short silence between the two of us. I knew he didn't know what to say. I'd be pretty tonguetied if I was in his shoes.

I sighed and leaned my head back on the wall behind us. I just let all the emotions I had pushed away flow into me. It felt like if I didn't do that, the hurting would never end.

"I really love the team, you know?" I told Kageyama-kun. "We've only been together for a little over a month and we've already been through a lot. We even won on our first tournament. It feels like they have so much faith in me, I'm so scared of letting them down."

"I'm guessing there's more to it than that?"

I showed him a small smile.

"This whole sponsor thing," I started. "This just means that I have so much more to lose. I'm not the only one being sponsored, the entire team is carrying Karasuno's name at Fundamentals Co. Before all this, I was just some homeless girl working her tail off to be survive - I couldn't even afford to eat right and then all this happens all of a sudden!"

"Aki, breathe," he reminded me. I sighed and took in deep breaths. His hand was caressing my back, guiding me. "What did it feel like when you won?"

"What do you mean?"

"What was going through your mind?"

I looked down at my hands as I rubbed them together.

"At first, I was glad that it was over," I told him. "Like I was ecstatic that we were just done with the tournament. I was stressing out over it, so scared of losing. We trained night after night, and I'd still work during the weekends. I just felt tired and my leg was injured too."

"But then?" he asked, expecting me to keep going.

"But then it felt like all the blood in my body had rushed down to my feet. I felt light headed, dazed and confused. People were cheering for us, they were cheering for me, and I was shocked that the fact that we won was the second thing on my mind... Then it was the only thing on my mind."

"Were you happy?"

"Absolutely ecstatic."

"You deserved it."

I looked at him, taken aback by what he said. That wasn't exactly one of the responses that I thought he'd give me. A little "Good for you" or "You did good" was expected but not this.. And for some reason, my heart felt... happy?

"I... deserved it?"

"You deserved that feeling of being happy," he said with a serious look on his face. He kept his gaze on the ceiling. "You said it yourself. You've been working for a pretty long time, you worked hard for this, and you were stressing out over it so much. Winning made you happy, and you deserve that happiness."

"I have to work pretty hard to be happy then, don't I?" I asked, letting out a small laugh.

"Not really," Kageyama said. "You still have small happy moments that make the journey to the bigger ones a lot more worth it."

And with that, he stood up and reached his hand out to me. I gladly took it and he helped me up, but I couldn't say anything just yet. What he said really stuck to me. I guess I kind of forgot about all that, I was overthinking everything...

I started tearing up again.

"H-hey," Kageyama said, suddenly worried again. I laughed and shook my head.

"I'm okay," I told him. "Thanks, Kageyama-kun."

I gave him a hug and he returned it, giving me a tight squeeze before pulling away.

"I'll go back first," he said with a small smile. I nodded and waved as he left the kitchen. I sighed and splashed some water on my face through the kitchen sink, wiping myself off with some towel tissues.

"Aki?" I heard someone call out. I turned and saw Tsukki walking into the room. "Kageyama told me to get in here-"

I didn't notice that I had run to him until I realized that I was suddenly hugging him. I felt his chest rumble as he let out a small laugh while he gave me a tight hug.

"What's up?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'm okay now," I told him.