Chapter Text
“I don’t like him anymore,” you responded to the Miyas.
Suna sat at his desk a couple of seats from you as a few of your classmates loitered after school had ended. After your confession, Suna observed the twins’ reactions. Osamu narrowed his eyes, inspecting your facial expressions. Atsumu’s jaw hung open as he gawked at you.
“Didn’t you say that you’d wait?” Atsumu said once he regained control of his mouth. He leaned over your desk and continued to ramble. “You made such a big deal about it.”
“Well…,” you started, avoiding eye contact and glancing at the wall. “I just changed my mind.”
Atsumu pursed his lips. “Of course you changed your mind.” He leaned back against the seat behind you, crossing his arms. He rolled his eyes, saying, “You’re never serious about anything.”
“How could you say that?” you retorted. “It’s been seven years!”
“Only to give up in the end,” Atsumu replied.
You blinked a few times before you ground your teeth. This wasn’t about your crush anymore. You forced yourself to take a breath and resign into a sigh.
“‘Tsumu,” Osamu said pointedly.
“What?”
“Stop being a jerk.”
“How was I being a jerk?”
Suna deadpanned as the two Miyas continued to bicker. Second year was going to be a lot louder with the twins together in the same class.
You started browsing through your phone, ignoring them to create your own comfortable bubble. Suna thought Atsumu would have known better than to push your buttons, but Atsumu wasn’t known to be considerate either. Suna didn’t understand why you considered him to be one of your best friends.
He thought back to a post Atsumu shared on social media. It was about the time the twins pulled you into one of their prank calls during your middle school years. Of course, they used your phone and as a result, you started getting spam calls every other day. The person they pranked took their revenge by handing your number to solicitors. When you told the twins about it, they just laughed. This was one of the many reasons why Suna steered clear of their antics. But for some reason, you still stuck with them.
Suna slouched in his seat, pulling out his own phone from his pocket. Mindlessly browsing through it, he started reorganizing the playlists on his music app. He had one for his afternoon stroll back to his house during days with no volleyball practice. Another was for those exhausting runs around the block, slipping his earbuds in without the team noticing. He also had a list for dumping the songs that resonated with him but he had nowhere to put. He’d get to them some day.
Hearing footsteps from the door, Suna glanced up from his phone to see Kita walking towards you.
“Oh! Kita!” you exclaimed, your eyes lighting up. “I didn’t notice you were here!”
Kita stood at your desk, hands resting in his pockets. “You got over your crush?” His tone was forthright and direct.
“Ugh.” You slapped your forehead. “I still can’t believe you knew about it.” Kita must have heard your conversation from the hallway.
“Everyone knew about it,” Osamu added. You shot a glare at him.
Suna didn’t know who it was since he had only moved here in first year. Glancing at Kita, Suna spotted a slight frown. He was curious to know how you were able to get a reaction from the person he considered to be a robot.
“Oh shoot!” You abruptly stood up, chair legs grinding the floor. You stuffed your phone in your bag along with the notebooks and pens that were scattered on your desk.
“Where are you going?” Atsumu asked.
You pressed your lips together, pushing your items into your bag a little faster. You rushed for the door only to have Osamu blocking your path.
“You’re avoiding the question again,” Osamu commented.
“Just move,” you sighed as you nudged him to move aside. “It’s none of your business.”
Osamu didn’t move. He curiously raised his eyebrow at you. You attempted to walk around him, but Osamu continued to block you with a smug grin. As Suna watched the battle between the two of you, his eyes perked up after getting a glimpse of the clock on the classroom wall.
Osamu continued to have fun with you, but you weren’t up for it. “Osamu,” you said, “can you please just–”
“Y/n, let’s go,” Suna told you, rising from his seat.
You scrunched your eyebrows together, trying to make sense of Suna’s words. Osamu blinked a couple of times and Atsumu gave a small “huh?”
Suna didn’t address your reactions, packing up his own bag. Approaching you, he said, “Well? Didn’t you want to go?”
When you came to and clued in to what he was doing, you replied, “Oh right!” You rushed past Osamu and out the door with Suna following. At the same time, Aran came into your classroom to look for Kita and gave you a wave as you left.
“Uhhh… since when have Suna and Y/n talked?” asked Atsumu.
Osamu shrugged. “What if they’re dating,” he said with a snicker.
“Uhh… but he’s the total opposite of her type,” said Atsumu.
Aran raised his eyebrow. “What are they talking about?” he asked Kita.
“It was obviously a joke,” Osamu replied. “Maybe that’s why her crush is gone,” he laughed.
“Hey,” Kita gestured to Aran, ignoring the twins’ conversation. “Let’s go.” Kita stepped out the door and Aran followed, waving the twins goodbye.
*****
Clutching a closed umbrella in your hand, you were glad it wasn’t raining. You didn’t want to cancel your plans.
You had been walking a few minutes away from school, but strangely, Suna was still beside you. Looking at the cherry blossoms on the ground, you wondered why this high school guy was even walking with you.
You glanced at Suna who was hunched over as he scrolled through his phone. His earbuds dangled around his neck. You inched away from him because, although he wasn’t close, you still felt the need to put some distance. You took another peek at him. Suna didn’t say anything.
“Was that rude of me?” you thought. “I think I just made things more awkward.”
Still, you were thankful he got you out of the twins’ interrogation. You sighed, imagining how the scene would’ve likely played out otherwise. You didn’t want to bring up the topic that got a certain Miya going.
Your walk had only been five minutes but the awkward silence had multiplied its felt duration. You barely knew this guy. Sure, you knew that Suna was familiar with the twins, Kita and Aran through their volleyball club, but you never hung out together. The twins were either with you or they were with their club. You and Suna were in different circles. Having mutuals didn’t automatically make you friends.
But you did see Suna in the background. When you and Atsumu visited Osamu’s class last year, you’d occasionally hear Suna add a remark or two to the twins’ antics. He didn’t make much of an impression then and didn’t really talk to you. He usually did his own thing and kept to himself – unlike the Miyas who made their presence known with their bickering.
So as Suna walked alongside you, you were pressed to somehow start some small talk, despite being merely acquaintances – or perhaps because you were only acquaintances. You tried to rummage through your brain to find some topic to talk about. Instead, you got a glimpse of yellow that contrasted his black backpack.
“What’s that?” you asked as you pointed to the pin on his bag. From what you could tell, it was a golden yellow jersey with the number ten in white. It was probably the size of the tip of your thumb.
“My bag,” Suna replied.
“Oh.” That wasn’t what you meant, but you figured it was easy to make that mistake. You pushed yourself to clarify. “Actually… I was talking about the pin.”
“Oh,” he said. “It’s a pin.”
You pressed your lips together. “Of course it is,” you mentally retorted. You wondered if a second attempt at small talk was worth it.
A moment or two later, Suna added, “My sister gave it to me.”
You raised your brows, wondering why he suddenly chose to mention that. Maybe the two of you had the potential to hold a conversation now.
“Really?” you told him. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Well, it’s not like we talk to each other.”
You dropped your shoulders as you looked away, fighting the urge to roll your eyes. “Ugh, I give up,” you thought to yourself. “Why did I even try?”
A couple of cars stopped next to you as the two of you approached a traffic light. You fidgeted with the hem of your shirt, wishing the light would change quickly.
“Bye,” Suna said out of nowhere as he hunched past you to cross the road to your right. When he was halfway across the street, you let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding.
The light changed and you crossed at your side of the intersection. At least you were almost at the park now. That walk with Suna was awkward to say the least. But you were definitely perplexed. Why was he even walking with you?