This prompt was given to me by my lovely mutual @capturingmyvanishingthoughts ! Hope I did your thoughts some justice, lovey!!!
He knew the snickers erupting in the corner of the room were meant for him, they always were. It was a daily occurrence that he had grown accustomed to, and subsequently learned to ignore. He knew he had friends who had loved him, and although he had told himself countless times that they were the only people who mattered, it still stung to feel the eyes of others boring into his skull when all he was doing was living his life.
There were very few people in this class who didn’t go out of their way to make him uncomfortable in one way or another. There were a few boys from the soccer team who payed him no mind, and probably only respected him due to his relations with Ushijima. Then there was a quiet girl who sat by herself in the front left corner of the room. Her name was __, or maybe it was ~~, but Tendou didn’t know for sure. Tendou wasn’t even sure if he has ever even heard her speak, exempt the times where she answers a question in class. She was a subject of taunting as well, but not as violently as he was. Tendou always had a snarky remark in store to retaliate, and that’s what made them always come back. That was his biggest flaw, cynicism. __ just sat there with her head down, or her face in a book. They couldn’t get a rise out of her, therefore, she wasn’t interesting. Tendou almost felt bad for her, on certain days. She didn’t seem to have many friends, but didn’t seem to want to make any. He debated reaching out to her one time, but he figured she didn’t want to be reached out to. Tendou knew what it was like to be alone, but wanting to be alone was a completely different subject for him.
Everybody had been seated for a while now, most kids on their phones or muttering with their friends. It was ironic that the homeroom teacher always wound up fifteen minutes late on Monday mornings, when students are at their worst. Minutes passed and the flow of the class was going the same, people talking, a few token kids looking over their homework, the staring. Tendou didn’t like to focus on it directly, rather he payed attention peripherally. He stared at one point on his desk, a book or a pen, and simply listened in. Some called it eavesdropping, but he preferred to call it, “gathering information”. So, when out of the corner of his eye he saw two chairs pull away from their desks, he wasn’t really surprised.
“Hey Tendou.” Someone chirped in cynical sing song. Queue Tendou rolling his eyes, and shooting the perpetrator a fake smile. He didn’t say anything, but they came over, nonetheless.
“How are you today?” Another laughed, creeping up behind him and leaning his arm against Tendou’s chair.
“Wonderful.” He muttered, continuing to mind his own business, hoping they would make it short and sweet today. Although it wasn’t physical, it hurt, and he couldn’t wait for it to be all over.
“You’re looking particularly ugly today. Did you do anything new?” A girl creeped up on his side and squatted down, resting her elbows against his desk. Out of everyone, Tendou hated her the most. She overzealously fancied Ushijima, and like Tendou, she wouldn’t leave Ushijima alone, but for a different reason. She wore too much eye shadow and kissed up to boys for money, and if Tendou was being honest, she was definitely a bitch. It was something he’s said to her before, but payed for it in return.
“Well, nothing’s different about me today but I could ask you the same question.” She shot him a bored expression in reply and pursed her lips, scooting her elbows father back on the desk to move away from him. He was parasitic to her.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re kind of an asshole, Tendou?”
“I could say the same thing to you.”
“At least people like me. The only reason you aren’t dead is ‘cause you kiss Ushijima’s ass.”
“You’re being kinda contradictory today, aren’t you? Keep going though, it’s funny.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw somebody else approaching. He figured it was another student who would just pass by and ignore the situation, so he ignored them. The guy gripping the back of his chair seemed to be gripping harder, though. All Tendou did was cross his arms over his chest.
“Stop acting cocky, freak.” The guy muttered, and the girl nodded in reply.
“I wonder why you look like a freak. I’ve never really thought about that. Hey, why do you think he looks like a freak?” The girl nodded at the guy behind him, then towards Tendou.
“Could be the fuckin’ Satan eyes.”
“I think it’s the hair that sells it. What are you, a fuckin’ super saiyan?” She laughed, then closed her eyes, humming and thinking to herself for a moment. “Isn’t there a saying that gingers don’t have souls? ‘Cause that would explain a lot for you, Tendou.”
Tendou continued to pay no mind to her, just focusing on the same spot on his desk; a book he hadn’t been reading that he had to write an essay for in a week. Suddenly, though, he saw the same person walk up to his table, and set their hand right by his arm. He looked up, only to see __, the nerdy quiet girl from the front left corner of the classroom. He wasn’t necessarily confused, but he definitely was a bit stunned to see her standing next to him. Then, the girl who didn’t speak, spoke.
She tapped the girl on the shoulder, only for her to shoot her a dirty look and pop up on her tiptoes to try and loom over her. __ didn’t look amused, pushing up her glasses with her thumb before clearing her throat. Whatever she wanted to say, the former beat her to it.
“The hell do you want, nerd? I can’t believe you’re actually-”
Just like a slow motion scene out of a movie, Tendou watched as __ cranked her arm behind her, and as hard as her small structure could, slapped the girl across the face and sent her stumbling back onto the desk in front of him. The sound of the impact made the entire class to go silent, and Tendou swore he could hear it echo off the walls. Nobody said anything, just stared in awe at the quiet girl who made the loudest scene.
“Holy shit…” Tendou muttered under his breath, watching her as she brushed her hands against her ironed skirt. He could feel goosebumps prickling at his skin, and although he had no relations with this girl at all, he felt overwhelmingly proud.
The girl stood up and gasped, offended, but didn’t throw any physical blows back. Tendou figured she must’ve been as shocked as he was, as everyone was.
“The fuck was that for, bitch?” She cried, standing up and getting in __’s face again. __ merely shrugged.
“It’s for you being absolutely ignorant. It’s a reality check for how pathetic you’re being. Do you really have nothing better to do with your lives than bully someone in your senior year of high school? I’ve been watching you this entire year and every day I think Iose more and more brain cells just breathing the same air as you imbeciles. It’s actually hilarious that you think you have any relevancy in this world for someone who sits around and makes fun of someone who did absolutely nothing wrong, somebody you barely know and chose to judge based off physical features you find lacking to your own. If anybody’s the freak, it’s you.” __ told her off with little expression on her face, but Tendou picked up on the way her eyebrow twitched. In fact, it was the lack of expression she bestowed that made Tendou realize this was the most belligerent he had ever seen anyone in his life. She glanced down at him for a split second, and only a split second, before looking back up at the girl.
“And before you try to tell me off- think about what you’re going to say. Are you going to try to belittle me with childish insults, or are you actually going to try and debate me like an adult? Because until you actually have a mindset of somebody who’s graduating this year, I don’t want to talk to you. Same goes for you.” She nodded at the guy who was holding onto Tendou’s chair, who miraculously wasn’t holding on anymore. “I’m willing to accept any punishment I receive for hitting you, because in the end I know I’m right. I’ll continue to do it again and again until you realize what you’re doing is pathetic. Keep that in mind.”
The girl’s jaw had dropped halfway through __’s tangent. All three of them, and the rest of the class, watched as __ bowed in front of her, then trotted back to her seat and pulled out her book as nothing had ever happened. Tendou looked up at the girl standing by his desk, arms limp at her sides, tears in her eyes. The slap mark on her cheek was evident, but the shock more so. Everybody was still silent, afraid if they made a noise, __ would snap. All Tendou could hear was the way his heart was hammering in his chest. His adrenaline was kicking, and he wasn’t even the one who told the girl off. Though, the bursting feeling in his stomach was telling him that he was thrilled. Somebody had stood up for him, for the first time in eighteen years of his life. That person being the proclaimed nerd, especially. It was the most dauntless thing he had ever seen, and that’s what made his heart race faster. He couldn’t wait to tell Ushijima and Semi about this later.
A few minutes later, the teacher walked into classroom, stunned for a completely different reason. “You lot are awfully quiet today! Oops, I shouldn’t say that, I don’t want to jinx myself.” He chuckled at his own lame joke and took a seat at his desk, still unaware about how everyone sat statue in their seats. Nobody dared to open their mouths, and nobody dared to mention anything about what just occurred.
The next day at school, Tendou made it explicit to himself to go and thank __ sometime today. Not one person in the halls gave him a nasty glare, nobody bothered to bump into him while he was at his locker, and most importantly, nobody in the class dared to even look his way. The girl had been sitting in her seat with her eyes towards the floor the entire time. Tendou tried glaring at her for a minute, to see if she was actually unwilling to attack him. He figured she sensed his eye on her, she had to, but she still didn’t move. She didn’t even spare him a glance, and to Tendou, that was wonderful. As for everyone else, instead of huddling in their groups and gossiping about their crushes new Instagram photo, there was heavy discourse about __.
As long as Tendou could remember, __ was always the first one to arrive in class. Suspiciously, though, she wasn’t seated in her usual spot in the front left corner of the room, and class was about to start in three minutes, which was even odder. This struck the rumor that she was in trouble, that she was placed in school hour detention, or even suspended. Even though __ had hit another girl, Tendou deemed it highly unlikely that she was given any heavy form of punishment. She had a perfect record, kept on the down-low and he was positive the principal didn’t even know her name. The worst she could’ve gotten was forced volunteer work, or a day of after school detention. That didn’t really explain why she as absent, though. Her catching a cold would be too ironic for the situation, and her just merely skipping, even more so. Although all suspicions subsided when the classroom door creaked open. __ walked in with her bag and a book as she did every day. She looked absolutely fine, the same uniform, the same tired look, although, one thing was clearly different.
For some odd reason, the girl who would rather be mixed into the crowd than the center of attention, dyed her hair blue. It wasn’t even a dull blue that would be looked passed in a mere second. It was neon, almost blinding, and if it weren’t for the signature way it frizzed up, Tendou would’ve thought it was a cosplay wig. Everyone was silent until she sat down, and swung that bright mop over her shoulder. Then everyone turned back to their respective groups and started scream whispering about her hair.
“Why would she do that for him?”
“Isn’t she graduating top of our class? She’s ruining her chance to look professional.”
“Ya think she has a crush on Tendou?”
Tendou would’ve approached her then, but she seemed like she would rather not be approached. If he wasn’t in a public setting like this, he swore he would start crying. She began this rendezvous by slapping a girl, then went and dyed her hair an obscure color, for him. She was making a scene out of herself to make a statement about him, and just the mere thought of it was overwhelming. He couldn’t wait for this class to end so he could pull her aside in the halls.
As soon as the bell rang and he saw __ rise from her seat, Tendou wasted no time running after her. It saddened him to see so many people glaring at her in the hallway, turning to their friends and laughing about what a stupid decision she had made. The moment he got close enough to her, he tapped her shoulder. She looked up at him and her expressionless face immediately turned downwards. For some reason she was shocked, almost as if she was afraid of his confrontation. He muttered a quick, “hi” before leading her down an empty hall. She followed him willingly, which proved she wasn’t that scared of her impending confrontation. Maybe she was just shocked that she was being confronted in the first place.
“__, is it?” Tendou asked once she sat down next to him by the door of a vacant classroom.
“That would be me.”
“__, you’re the most badass person I’ve ever met in my entire life.” Tendou watched as her eyebrows raised at the statement, and for the first time in his life, watched her lips curl into a smile. He had to admit, it was pretty adorable.
“Thank you, but I disagree.” She shook her head and pushed her bright blue hair in front of her cheeks. “I think I was just being a decent human being, that’s all.”
“If decent human beings are superheroes, c’mon! You decked someone, it was incredible!” Tendou nudged her in the shoulder to watch her smile again. He figured she wasn’t used to being complimented. “I have to ask you though, __, why’d you do that? I mean, I’m definitely not mad, no no no. Nobody’s ever stuck up for me, though. So why’d you do it?”
__ took a moment to think, taking a deep breath before blowing out of her nose.
“I hate bullying. It’s pathetic, don’t you agree? Whether you’re eight years old or eighteen, it’s all the same. I knew that you were bullied for a while now, I mean, everybody does. I’ve been wanting to call them out on it for a while but… I just had no idea how. But then… then it was happening right in front of me, I was already having a bad day to begin with, and the moment I saw her just, slither up next to you I lost it. And, and, and I have no idea why they would bully on you in the first place! If they knew anything about what you do at volleyball, I assure you they’d never speak to you again.”
Tendou looked down at her, amused, and shook his head.
“You’re definitely something, aren’t you? And uh, how do you know about volleyball? You don’t seem like the type to be into that stuff.”
“Me and Kenjirou are friends from middle school. I started going to your games for him but now I… I go for you.” She whispered the last part, and if Tendou wasn’t so attentive to her words, he would’ve missed it.
“Oh stop it, you’re making me blush.” He teased, hitting her on the arm lightly as if they were old friends.
“I mean it. I find you realy interesting and, oh dear, I sound really creepy, don’t I?”
“Nah, it’s flattering. You know what else is flattering? This hair.” Tendou laughed, and a silly smile crossed __’s face.
“I know. I know. It’s kinda bad.”
“Why’d you do it though? Was it on your bucket list to slap a bitch then dye your hair blue?”
“Who has a bucket list like that?”
“I dunno. You just seem different enough already.” Tendou shrugged.
“I kinda did it for you, too. I’m not obsessive, I promise. I heard her say something about how your hair was ugly, or something and I was just so fed up. Like, how could somebody hate such a pretty color?” She shook her head, and looked up towards Tendou’s hair for a split second. “And I get that nobody else has red hair around these parts and I just drove to the hair salon and boom. Blue hair. If they’re going to make fun of your hair for being an odd color, they can try me, too.”
Tendou was silent for a moment, he really didn’t know what to say. He had to take a second to soak it all in, all the flattery, the entire gesture, all his suspicions being true. He felt himself shiver.
“Are you sure you’re not a superhero?”
“I’m positive.”
“Then you’re not normal, __.” Tendou laughed.
“Well, who needs normal?”
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