#did i edit well enough uisdhfg who is to say

[pontevoix]

[ shock ]  –  for the sender to recoil a bit in shock at how quick the receiver latches onto them in a moment of high emotion, before returning the affections. (ushijima and tendou, high emotion of just tendou being tendou bvfhdb) (okay fair warning i'm going to send you a bunch, you by nO MEANS have to answer them all this is just a buffet for you to pick whatever you like from bvsjhbv) SENT BY @pridewon​ LANGUAGE OF HANDS PROMPT​

tendou did not ease into his interactions with ushijima. when he is fifteen & a little angry & a little desperate & hungry to be himself —- he does not go slow. when he is fifteen, tendou slides into his place on the shiratorizawa team. he isn’t a starter yet, but he is quick to establish himself as a threat. he bows the first time he started a guessing streak, &

he never goes slow. but in the beginning, he let himself disappear until he had proof that he is a worthwhile asset. it’s a nice feeling, being a threat &

then tendou snakes into the space he carves for himself. on the court, he volunteers to run extra drills. he wiggles his fingers in greetings to those he teams up with. he pretends that his stamina is unending. he mutters complaints to whoever stood beside him about drills in a joking presupposition of camaraderie. he cheers when it feels right.

with his fellow first-years, tendou interjects himself. he drums his fingers on semi’s shoulders when he creeps up from behind & reports that he watched a video of a concert in singapore that got weird, like a horror film. he presses his hands on top of leon’s head to give himself leverage to read over the other’s shoulder —-

& with ushijima ? tendou slides next to him at the cafeteria, punctuating his presence with a hip bump before settling back & marveling: ‘ man, wanna make a bet ? ‘

with time, tendou scaffolds things he already knows about himself by making himself inevitable. & by second-year? third-year? he is inevitable —

tendou’s eccentricities & impulses are to be expected. tendou settles into himself throughout high school & refuses to marry himself to a future, to not living (or playing his sport) as he wants so

tendou retires from volleyball.

tendou refuses to settle, generally speaking. in the process ?

he settles even more into himself, & — granted, he’s not the best at communication. when he moves to france, tendou loses track of time zones & how often he texts, but . . .

ushijima still gets a consistent irregular splurge of emoji-filled texts from tendou. with these messages, tendou checks in & reports films he’s seen & comments on matches that tendou watched for ushijma. they’re aging out of high school & into their careers; the fact that they are still friends seems to add validity to their friendship, as far as tendou is concerned. this does not erase the fact that their opportunities to interact in person are few —- it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other, & ushijima has just moved to europe for an international team &

tendou invites himself to visit. ushijima waits politely at the train station for tendou’s arrival, &

tendou spots ushijima’s back before ushijima spots him —- & maybe tendou behaves a little too familiarly, with a little too much disregard for boundaries because nowadays ? his boundaries are few.

so : he thinks a proper hello ( & a little bit of a jump scare ) should be the draping of arms over ushijima’s shoulders from behind. tendou props his chin on ushijima’s shoulder, & his eyes gleam with curiosity & he doesn’t

even stop to think that this type of touching is nothing that they used to do. tendou has always been tactile, but embraces were something reserved for games or jest.

tendou thinks ushijima might elbow him in surprise, but that’s fine.

he makes a popping sound with his lips & laughs finally to announce himself. ‘ did i scare you ? ‘