College AU in which you and ushi are past lovers
Requested by @IROIHS
There will be slight angst but you'll be fine I promise
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you sat at the seat you'd taken in your morning lecture, you could deny that you felt a certain person's gaze on you. You were sitting in amongst at least sixty other students, yet you knew exactly who was watching you. Of course it had to be him.

You lifted your gaze from your notebook to glance at none other than Ushijima Wakatoshi, who daringly locked eyes with you until you turned away again, feeling your chest tighten with sadness and disappointment. Shortly afterwards, the professor ended his lecture and you hurried out of the hall before your ex could approach you—not that you expected him to anyway. You just wanted to get away from him.

You thought that time was supposed to heal the wounds that your failed relationship has created, but it had been a year and each day tore at the wounds more and more. It was so hard for you to look at the guy who broke your heart and still feel love for him even though he didn't love you anymore. Nothing could fill the void that your relationship created when it ended, and it drove you crazy. You couldn't move on.

As you walked back to your dorm room to hide from the world for a bit, you couldn't help but think about the memories that different parts of the campus held for you. Passing by the main gym reminded you of that wonderful moment when Ushijima had first confessed, telling you that he'd had a crush on you and offering to take you out on a date after his game. You could've sworn he'd played better after he'd gotten that off his chest.

Noticing the cherry blossom tree in full bloom brought back memories of your first kiss and of your declarations of love for one another. That kiss had been so passionate, especially coming from someone as stoic and unemotional as Ushijima. Not only had it shocked you, but it had made you feel special.

Seeing the suites off in the distance triggered memories of you going to visit Ushijima to study with him, keep him company, or simply to have him cook food for you in exchange for a massage from you. You remembered how luxurious his housing situation appeared to you and how much the athletes at your college were spoiled for doing so well.

Before you could get to your dorm, you had to pass by the dreaded gym used strictly for practices. While serving as a site where many fond memories took place, it also served as the location for your heart wrenching breakup, which replayed in your mind so vividly that it brought you to tears by the time you'd arrived at your dorm room.

When you'd gone to the gym to wait so that you could hang out with Ushijima after practice, he'd refused to budge after he'd changed his shirt and stepped outside.

"Wakatoshi... what's wrong?" you'd asked upon noticing that he had a distant look in his eyes and he wouldn't follow you.

It took a few moments, but he eventually told you, "I don't think I can do this anymore, (f/n)."

"Do what? Did you have a rough practice?"

"This. With you."

"What? Why?" you'd asked, feeling taken aback. Upon turning around to face him, you'd been met with his steady gaze. He hadn't shown a hint of emotion in any part of him.

"I don't know how I feel about anything anymore. I'm wholeheartedly devoted to volleyball, and I will be for a long time. That's the only thing I'm sure of. I'm not sure of my feelings for you, though, and I don't want to continue with this relationship until I am," he'd explained, his tone flat and cold.

Tears began to sting your eyes as you said, "But I thought you loved me and you always would."

"Things change, (f/n). I don't like feeling uncertainty at all in my life, and you're the only source of it right now. I don't want to be with you or you to be with me if I have doubts about my feelings for you, so I think it would be best if we took a break and went our separate ways."

After hearing that from him and watching him walk away from you, you'd made a beeline for your dorm room and cried your eyes out. You hated how Ushijima could be so emotionally disconnected and unskilled. You hated how he could just leave you without getting hurt at all.

And, most of all, you hated how you'd catch him watching you when you knew that he didn't love you or care about you anymore. He'd been the one to break up with you, yet he still looked at you like he wanted something.

He had been such a huge part of your life, and despite the fact that a year had passed, you still felt empty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After you'd finished crying and reviewing your morning lecture notes, you cleaned yourself up and left your dorm once again to attend an evening class.

On your way to every class you'd manage to spot Ushijima walking around campus. Sometimes, he was with his teammates and others, he was alone. He didn't really seem to care either way.

You sensed his gaze on you again as you passed by him in a hallway to get to your class, and you refused to look up at him, choosing to slip past him while keeping your head down so that he couldn't see the whirling emotions behind your eyes. Upon ducking into your classroom, you let out a long sigh and waited for the professor to arrive so that she could numb your mind with another painfully boring lesson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once your class had finished, you headed outside into the night to make your way back to your dorm. You hated walking alone at night. Ushijima had always accompanied you on your evening trips back to your dorm since he hadn't wanted anything bad to happen to you. Thinking of that made you miss those days when he'd actually seemed to care about you.

As you made your way past the practice gym, you couldn't help but notice a tall figure standing around the corner of it, out of the way of the light from the nearby lamp. You knew it was Ushijima, and you willed yourself not to approach him, but you couldn't seem to stop yourself from walking over to him. When you got closer to him, you realized that he had his hand on his face and his fingers were white the pressure he was putting on the inside corners of his eyes. His head was down and he looked more defeated than you'd ever seen him before.

"Wakatoshi..." you called out to him softly.

He opened his tear-filled eyes and looked down at you, making your heart sink. You'd never seen him cry before, let alone show any kind of vulnerability. Without warning, he took your face in both of his hands as his lips crashed into yours.

His passionate and sudden kisses made your heart race as they brought back familiar tingles of the love you always felt when you kissed. But you still felt so confused and hurt, so you pushed him away and kept his lips off of yours long enough to ask, "What are you doing?"

You didn't realize there were tears pouring down your cheeks until his thumb wiped them away and his other hand left your face to wrap itself around yours. "I never should've doubted my feelings for you," he admitted, his voice wavering slightly as he struggled to hold back his own tears, "I love you, (f/n). I love you so much, and my feelings for you never changed, even though I thought they did."

Hearing his confession provoked a feeling of hope that had been lingering since he broke up with you. You'd hoped that he would always love you, and listening to him tell you the way he felt about you made you feel relieved.

"As soon as I broke up with you, I knew I made a huge mistake. I couldn't stand not being with you, but I refused to ask you to come back because I knew I'd broken your heart and I hated myself for that. But I do want you back. I feel like such an idiot for choosing volleyball over you because you're so important to me," he told you, his brown eyes filled with more emotion than you'd gotten out of him in all your years of knowing him.

He squeezed your hand and pressed more passionate kisses against your lips that reminded you of how much you'd missed his displays of affection towards you. When you broke away from him for a moment, you kissed his cheek gently before wrapping your arms around him and giving him a hug.

"Will you let me back in?" he asked quietly, his usually strong and powerful voice reduced to a soft whisper.

"Yes," you answered, "I still love you. You did break my heart when you left, but you're the only one who can fix it."

"I won't do anything stupid like that again," he promised as he planted a kiss on the top of your head.

"You'd better not."

You each sniffled softly as you hugged one another tightly, enjoying each other's familiar warmth and comfort. Knowing that Ushijima really did love you and care about you made you feel completely content and at ease. He'd made it clear how big of a mistake he'd made and how upset he'd been about pushing you away when he shouldn't have, and now you wanted nothing more than to have him back with you again.

"I love you," he murmured softly and ran his hand through your (h/l) (h/c) hair.

"I love you too," you responded with a small smile.

"My roommates won't be in for the weekend so I'll make you breakfast tomorrow."

"Thanks. I'll bring back that sweater of yours I borrowed." You pulled away from him slightly and looked up into his eyes before brushing his olive brown hair out of his face and pecking him on the lips.

"Keep it," he told you sheepishly, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks, "It's cute when you wear my clothes."