daddy issues ; ushijima wakatoshi

ten

the walk across campus this morning was peaceful and pleasant. with no one picking a fight, it gave sumiye time to reflect on last night.

kentarō hadn't even bothered to ask about the black eye or scratches, which didn't surprise the girl. she figured he was use to the appearance, but come on. your girlfriend comes over after getting beaten up and you don't even bat an eye? instead, he spent the whole night ranting about his new arch-nemesis at the gym. after an hour of listening to him vent, she wanted to just eat the leftover bleach and get it over with.

on the bright side, he promised to pick sumiye up and take her on a date today since he was busy all weekend. her heart fluttered at the thought of tonight. it was rare for kentarō to go out of his way to plan things, so she was expecting something extravagant.

finally, the girl reached the spot she was looking for– her personal safe haven. as the large vending machine came into sight, she sped up her pace. once she reached the front of the dull purple machine, sumiye pulled out her credit card and punched in combination for a monster. the redhead repeated the action before speed walking towards biology.

this might be the most excited sumiye's ever been for a class.

✿

as soon as she walked into the classroom, sumiye beelined her way to ushijima's desk. "here, ushijima-san!" she slammed one of the cans on the desktop with a prideful smile.

unfiltered excitement seeped through her tone, catching the boy's interest. "good morning hashimoto-san. is this the drink you were talking about?" he picked up the can, slowly inspecting it.

"yep, it's a monster, aka the drink of the gods and pretty alt girls!" her hand fell onto her hip, confidence oozing from her posture. as she took her first sip, sumiye's eyes followed ushijima's every move.

finally, he popped open the can (making sure to save the tab for the redhead) and took a sip. sumiye watched his reaction like a puppy expecting praise– except, his face never changed. "it's... sugary."

in an instant, her giant ego deflated. "that's it?" the redhead asked incredulously. "you mean to tell me i put in all this effort just for that?"

"i don't like sugary foods." ushijima responded monotonously. sumiye stood there staring at his unchanging face for another minute, before snatching the drink out of his hand and stalking off to her seat across the room.

"this is what i get for being nice for once." she grumbled as she chugged the first monster. "never again, ushijima whatever-your-first-name-is. never again."

✿

right as ushijima looked up from his work, he accidentally caught sumiye's glare. she quickly returned her eyes to her laptop, a small pout still on her face.

after sumiye stalked off, the teacher walked in and asked partners to get together to work on their project. when ushijima made his way across the classroom, she refused to make eye contact with him.

"why is she upset?" he wondered as he stole another glance at the girl next to him. "should i ask?"

after some more mental debating, the ace just decided to try and ease the tension. he tried to think what tendō does when calming down semi, the member of the friend group who is most often upset. finally, he decided on a solution.

"so, hashimoto-san, you said pretty alt girls drink that stuff?" sumiye finally looked at the boy, which he took as a good sign.

she looked up at the ceiling– almost like she was conflicted on how to react. looking back at ushijima with a little glare she snapped, "yeah, what about it? are you going to insult my precious monster again?"

"no," she doubted his words and decided to just click her tongue in response. he took that as a sign to continue. "doesn't that mean that you're a pretty alt girl?"

the redhead whipped her head to look at him, so fast ushijima was afraid she got whiplash. sumiye cheek's warmed; internally she prayed they wouldn't turn the same color as her hair. "what?" she muttered, at a loss for words.

"doesn't that mean you're a pretty alt girl?" he repeated, not realizing her flustered state. "you don't think you're pretty?"

"i mean, i do but–"

"so, why're you're so confused?"

sumiye just stared at him for a minute. he didn't understand why, but once again ushijima chose not to voice his question. then, the girl started chuckling, cheeks still blazing. "ushijima-san, you're funny."

"i didn't make a joke?"

~ ✿~

ushijima deserves a kiss idc