- twenty -

〚 third person 〛

☾☾☾

"Thank you, Satocchi!" Momo exclaimed as she tucked the Jump magazine into her bag. Tendou waved it off, sipping on the coffee in between his hands. Momo dipped on her chocolate milk, grinning brightly as she enjoyed the taste.

"What's in the bag?" Tendou asked, motioning over to the bag that sat on the floor beside the table.

After Tendou bought Momo and himself a Shonen Jump, he invited her to an nearby cafe where they were currently sat. Momo was more than delighted to get to the know the male who she knew of from his match last year against Karasuno.

"Ah, it's a gift for one of my senpais!" Momo exclaimed, beaming at Tendou who quirked a brow at her, nodding slightly.

"You must be a nice kouhai to have, huh?" He teased, making Momo giggle and shake her head.

"It's his birthday soon, and I wanted to do something nice for him since he's the guy I like." Momo admitted shamelessly, earning a surprised look from Tendou.

"Wow, how lucky. Does he know you like him?" Tendou questioned, sipping his coffee leisurely. When Momo nodded, he nearly spat his coffee everyone. "And you guys aren't dating??"

Momo nodded, earning a look of belief from Tendou. "Why?"

"That's just...surprising." Tendou shrugged, earning a sheepish chuckle from Momo.

"It's just that senpai has never accepted nor rejected me, so I just stick around." Momo confessed, earning a small nod from Tendou.

So he's one of those guys. Tendou thought, placing his coffee down. He propped his elbow on the table and leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm. "What's his name?"

"Tsukishima Kei!" Momo exclaimed happily, catching Tendou off guard. Not long after, he let out a hearty laugh full of amusement.

"You like the normal guy!" Tendou pointed out, making Momo giggle, slightly confused. Suddenly, he sobered up and pointed at the air. "Well, he didn't turn out to be normal though."

Tendou went on to talk about his encounter with his blonde underclassmen that Momo was interested in. He somehow found himself rambling endlessly because he liked how responsive she was. Her reactions were quite amusing too.

"Your relationship can't be all sunshine and rainbows, right?" Tendou said as he leaned on the table, instantly noticing how her expression slightly faltered. "Tell me about it."

Momo laughed weakly, sipping on the remainder of her chocolate milk. "It's...just me being greedy."

Tendou quirked an eyebrow at her as he tilted his head to the side.

Momo fiddled with her cup, feeling a bit ashamed to say things. "I just..feel like my feelings aren't reaching Tsukki-senpai. The distance between us hasn't shortened at all. I want to be more than senpai and kouhai, but I don't want to ruin things between us."

"I feel like he's getting farther away from me sometimes. I don't want to be a burden to him, but I don't wanna stop clinging to him before he leaves me for real." Based on the way Momo spoke, Tendou could tell she had a bit of unresolved issues that led to her feeling insecure about this type of thing. He chose not to pry, but settled on some advice for her.

"That kid doesn't seem like the type to keep people he doesn't like around." Tendou started, shrugging softly as he leaned back in his chair. "I mean, he probably would've booted you a while ago if he disliked you."

Momo shrugged, somewhat not believing the words she had heard before. "I guess."

"You're giving him that birthday gift, right?" Tendou said, earning a nod from Momo. "When you do, confess again. Confess until he takes you seriously."

"And if he doesn't?" Momo asked quietly, fearing the possibility that Tsukishima would continuously brush her off for the rest of his high school career.

Tendou's expression turned into a somewhat scary, smug look as he smirked down at her maniacally. "Break his heart."

Upon seeing Momo's semi-petrified expression, he bursted our laughing, slapping the table. "I'm kidding!"

Momo giggled, amused by his attitude.

"I'll break his heart for you." Tendou said as he turned serious suddenly, making Momo cover her mouth with a small giggle.

"I'll leave it to you then." Momo mused softly. "Though, I hope it never comes to that."

Tendou shrugged, not really able to say the same. After that game last year, he still wanted to break Tsukishima's heart. Volleyball wise, that is. Though, anything was good.

Upon hearing her phone beep, Momo quickly pulled it out of her pocket and checked it. Her eyes scanned the screen, noticing how the Karasuno volleyball group chat was going crazy.

"Who's that?" Tendou questioned curiously, sliding into the seat beside her. Momo flashed him the screen, allowing him to read the chats that were flooding her phone. "Ah, it's that shrimp and his boyfriend."

Momo spluttered our a laugh, amused by how true his words were. Kageyama and Hinata were busy arguing on the group chat while Tanaka and Nishinoya sent stupid memes about whatever they were saying. Azumane was trying to stop them from spamming the chat with their nonsense, but quit when it became futile.

"Gimme." Tendou said as he took the phone form her hand, going to her camera. He held the phone up, wrapping an arm around Momo's small body and pulling her closer. He steadied his hand then smiled up at the camera. "Smile!"

Instantly, Momo's mouth curled upwards into a smile as her lips parted, allowing a cute giggle to escape her lips. At that same moment, Tendou snapped multiple pictures.

momo-chan | nowAttachment: 1 Image guess who i met today!!!

Immediately, everyone on the team hopped onto the chat to say something about that image she had sent.

hinata shoyo | nowGUESS MONSTER!!!!!

nishinoya yuu | nowWOW! NICE MOMO CHAN

tanaka ryuunosuke | nowWHAT DOES THINK HE'S DOING WITH OUR MANAGER?!?

kageyama tobio | nowIs that the Shiratorizawa third year from last year?

daichi sawamura | nowWhere are you guys?????

sugawara koushi | nowyes, Kageyama, it is. but anyway, where are you guys, Momo-chan?

azumane asahi | nowAre you safe, Momo-chan? ;-;

yamaguchi tadashi | nowWow. I left not too long ago and you already replaced me! Lol, just kidding hahah

ennoshita chikara | nowHow did this happen?

kinoshita hisashi | nownice picture

narita kazuhito | nowshe looks like she's having fun.

tsukki-senpai | nowSenpai-jumping, huh?

momo-chan | nowi'm at a cafe near the mall! I met Satocchi by chance at the book store and we became jump buddies! i'm okay and i'm having a lot of fun heheh

momo-chan | nowand tsukki-senpai :,(((( im not senpai-jumping! you're the only senpai i loveeeeeeeee

After a bit more of talking with Tendou, they realized that it was probably time to head home.

Being a nice guy, Tendou walked her to the station and made sure she got on her train safely. Momo found it quite sweet that he went out of his way to walk her to the station.

Momo plopped in a seat, placing her backpack that held Tsukishima's gift in her lap. She smiled to herself, staring at the bag as the train began to move.

'It's so empty.' Momo thought as she noticed the empty train. She pulled out her phone, shooting the group chat a small text.

momo-chan | now Attachment: 1 Image on my way home now. the train's pretty empty right now, so i'm all by myself!

Upon noticing the time, she expected no one to answer, but received a text.

sugawara koushi | now it's quite late. will you be okay on your way home?

momo-chan | now yup! i'll be okay! don't worry about me!

As the train came to a stop, Momo got off and began walking in the direction of the exit. As she exited the station, she found herself in the cold street that was pretty empty.

"It's past your bedtime, shorty." A voice called out, catching Momo off guard. She turned to the person, nearly jumping with surprise when she saw who it was.

"Tsukki-senpai?! Is that you?!" She shouted, earning a roll of the eyes from Tsukishima.

"No, it's Santa."

"Oh, then, I want a red dragon for Christmas-" She was cut off by Tsukishima pinching her cheeks, shutting her up. "Ow, ow, ow!"

Moments later, they walked side by side down the street. Momo glanced at Tsukishima, fiddling with the straps of her backpack.

"What're you doing out so late?" Momo questioned, noticing how Tsukishima's expression slightly changed.

"I went to the convenience store then saw your text." Tsukishima muttered as he stopped in front of her house, waiting for her to go inside to leave.

"Thanks for walking me home, Tsukki-senpai! I really appreciate it!" Momo beamed at him, getting a ruffle of the hair in response.

"Mm." With a quick farewell, Tsukishima head off back to his house where his brother sat in the living room.

"Ah, Kei, you're back!" Akiteru said with relief, glad to see his brother in one piece. "You ran out so suddenly that I thought something bad happened."

Tsukishima scowled, hating how his brother had to bring up such an embarrassing thing.

"What happened?" Akiteru asked, tilting his head at his brother.

Tsukishima paused for a second before shrugging. "Just wanted to go for a walk."