10 Stages of Me and You [Tsukishima Kei x Reader]

Stage 2: Him

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She ran away from him earlier but not from his mind.

To say Kei was pissed would be an understatement. [Name] annoyed him far more than ever. She made him want to do things he never imagined doing.

While walking to school alone earlier, the girl kept popping in his mind. For some reason, every other train of thought led to her.

When he passed by a cake shop, he started wondering what kind of cake she liked. Did she like those with vanilla cream or those with chocolate? When was her birthday? Would she like a cake as a gift or something she could keep like a stuffed toy?

When he saw a dog, he wondered if she liked dogs. Did she own a dog? Was she more of a cat person or a dog person? Was she neither? Did she prefer fish instead? What were their names? If she had a pet, he'd bet that their names would either be cute or weird.

When he saw the ice cream stand they passed by before, he suddenly remembered the events last night. He remembered how she liked her ice cream. She was a clean eater when it came to ice cream, surprisingly. She said that the drip from them was too sticky and she preferred not having to worry about it after eating the dessert.

And when he saw her walking, he decided to speed up to catch up to her.

The simple sight of her made him want to move closer. He wanted to walk as close to her as possible. He wanted to stay longer with her as much as time would allow. He wanted to say she looked adorable while she tried to say more insults to him. He wanted to know her more.

She made him feel like he could be the happiest person as long as she was there. And maybe he was. Not that he'd show it. It felt wrong to suddenly express so many emotions at once and yet something in him kept on pushing him to do more. To show that she was special.

Why would he though? What would he earn from that? She didn't see him in that way so why? If anything, she probably saw him as a big bother or just a source of entertainment.

He should push her away before these feelings of him got way more complicated than it already was. Besides, when has he ever cared about feelings anyway. He got through his life before without her so what's the difference now?

But, when she ran from him, he felt a pang in his heart.

He wanted to push her away, but it felt so wrong if she suddenly disappears in his life.

He let her in too far already in his life. She already mattered to him. He can't do it. He can't push her or his feelings away for the sake of his own emotional security.

They say when you start to admit something, it only gets worse from then on. They were right.

Realizing his feelings and accepting them. They both led to this point. Now, he can't get rid of the girl in his mind even as she is far from his sight.

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"Tsukki, are you okay?"

Kei looked at Tadashi.

It was already club time and the team was working on their receives. It was an apparent thing already that he wasn't as good with the receives, but at the moment, he was the crappiest of all. His receives were more off than before and it made the team wonder about what happened to the tall middle blocker.

"I'm okay."

Kei decided to focus more to quickly get over things and stop being the center of attention. When he finally got five receives from the coach, he went back to the line and sighed.

"Hey, Tsukishima. You sure you're okay?"

The concerned voice sent his heart racing and his mind in a frenzy. Without even looking he already knew who was talking to him. How couldn't he when she was the very reason he couldn't even focus earlier.

"Calling me by my name? It looks like munchkin is concerned with me," Kei teased, covering up the fact that he was definitely not okay.

"Of course I'm concerned with you! You're part of the team!"

[Name]'s response shocked Kei. She often talked that way when it was club time. She was extremely supportive and caring to those in the team, even to him. But to hear those words again ever since he realized he saw her in a different way than before made him feel flustered. If his heart was racing before just because of her voice, it was now doing a whole marathon because of her concern. Heck, it might even have skipped a beat or two.

'Hell, I don't think I can handle my heart anymore because of you.'

"I'm okay. Don't worry." Kei gave a short response as much as possible to stop himself from stumbling over his words and embarrassing himself.

"If you say so."

Kei stared at the girl as she made her way to the side of the court, observing the others. As soon as she glanced at him, he looked straight ahead, pretending he wasn't even looking at her.

'You have such an effect on me and you don't even realize.'

If people were to tell him before that one of the problems he'd face in high school is thinking about a girl 24/7, he'd scoff and call out their bullshit. And yet here he was.

It seemed unrealistic at first but he actually had feelings for someone. It felt weird. He knew at one point it'd happen, but he was never really prepared for the fact that having feelings for a person shifts your whole world.

He felt weak against her. He hated that feeling. He couldn't go on without seeing her at least every hour. Her occupying his thoughts wasn't enough. In fact, it made his desire to see her stronger. He'd pass by their class while going to the comfort room just to get a glance of her face. If there was a chance to see her, he'd take it. He was like an idiot when faced with the girl.

He had too many close calls with slipping out. He was so close to stuttering some of his words just because she was the one talking.

He wasn't himself. But he did a good job on hiding it at least. No one really suspected anything, until club practice.

Turns out, having her there while she also ran in his thoughts led to a disaster. He kept on thinking if she was looking at him. Was she amazed? Disappointed? Or was she not looking at all?

He wanted to look at her at all times. He's already been caught three times. He was sure though that he'd at least catch her once, with her being the one staring and not him. Or was it just his imagination?

Tsukishima Kei was annoyed, again.

'[Full Name]. You're either gonna drive me to push myself to become better or just drive me insane.'

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