Double U | Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader

→chapter 13.

After you reach the hotel, you take a long bath, letting the hot water relax your tense muscles. Your mind is only focused on the future matches. You already discussed some of the strategies for tomorrow at the dinner table, but you can't think of anything else.

You've also done a little digging here and there about the teams that you would be facing, as you need to know the playstyles of their spikers so you can shut them down.

But you underestimated what it's like to actually play at the nationals. The first day was a children's play compared to where you are now.

You are eliminating team after team, but the next is always stronger or more clever than the last one so your team is always cornered to a point that you think you're going to lose. The sets are longer and longer and your patience is running thin.

Wake up, eat breakfast, warm up, play, come back, eat, shower, sleep. And the cycle repeats. This is your current schedule. Is it worth it? Who knows...?

You barely talk to Ushijima, as you're too tired at night to text him and during the day you're busy with interviews and all of that.

Everyone wants to know the secret of your team. You were a no-one a few months ago, and now you're winning game after game, forcing everyone to move out of your way so you could reach your goal: the finals.

Before you know it, the last day of the nationals is here. For some reason, you feel even more stressed than on the first day. You're completely burnt out. Five days of consecutive matches, combined with stress and exhaustion wore you out entirely.

Before you left for the warm ups in the morning, your coach gave a speech, saying that no matter if you win today or not, she was very proud of what you had achieved so far. And you should be too, after all, your team doesn't come from a powerhouse and is at the nationals for the first time in years. But you're greedy and want the name of your school written on that trophy.

•••

Ushijima is in the stands with Tendou, waiting for the last match from the women's category to start. Washijou came a few times to watch your matches, curious as to how his practice has affected your team. He is here today too, arms crossed over his chest, wearing a stern look.

The truth is, his wife asked him to come and he couldn't refuse her, no matter what.

"Oh, there he is! Wakatoshi!" Ushijima hears someone call him from behind and he turns around to find not only his mother waving her hands up in the air, but his father too, both having a bright smile on their faces as they get their son's attention.

"Mom, dad? What are you doing here?" He asks when his parents approach him. Tendou waves at them from behind Ushijima.

"It's (Name)'s big day! Do you think we would miss seeing our daughter-in-law win the nationals?" His mother answers him. Ushijima's parents would always show up for at least one day of the nationals, usually the first one, to cheer for his son's team.

At first, his mother didn't want to come, saying that it was just a stupid sports competition, but her ex-husband insisted, saying that Ushijima would definitely appreciate seeing them there. Seeing her quiet and shy son interact with the other kids and smiling from time to time as he was playing, melted her cold heart. But what completely shattered the ice around it, was Ushijima's powerful spike that resonated in the whole gymnasium when it hit the floor.

This happened in middle-school and it changed her whole perspective about her son's future career choices. She hasn't missed a single national since then, taking time off work to come and cheer for her son. Ushijima played differently when his mother was around, and especially when he saw you in the stands, trying to show off and impress you. He would never admit that though.