THIRD POV

"Where's your twin?"

"He slept late."

"Atsumu."

"He slept late."

"Atsumu."

"He slept late."

"Atsumu.."

"Ok fine," He sighed dramatically and pouted at her, "I just wanted to go to school with ya only. I didn't want 'Samu around, he'll most likely steal yer attention from me."

Y/n lightly rolled her eyes, "You're not a toddler. Next time you leave Osamu-kun, I'll never go with you to school again."

"Fiine," He huffed and got out the bus with her.

She sighed and neared the school's entrance, "I hope he can get here by himself."

"He will don't worry. Unlike me, 'Samu knows his surroundings," Atsumu shrugged and bought two strawberry milk cartons from a nearby vending machine.

"What 's amazing is that you're aware that you're not mindful of your surroundings," She sweatdropped and thanked him when he gave her the other drink.

He grinned, "Well, now that ya know that, it's more than enough reason to keep an eye out for me the most right?"

"Mm..," She quietly hummed and sipped on her drink all the way to the gym.

"Make sure to use what I gave you, mkay?" The blonde hummed and patted her head before going inside the boys' volleyball locker room to change for the morning practice.

Y/n got inside her own locker room. She changed to her tracksuit after stripping out of her uniform, combing her hair with her fingers, she suddenly felt uneasy. As if someone was watching her.

Her heart dropped when she noticed the window open.

You can't be serious right now...

She gulped and closed it, feeling a little lightheaded because of the growing anxiety and fear. She just quickly fixed her stuff and sprayed the watermelon hair spray that Atsumu had let her borrow. 

The girl locked the door after getting out and hurriedly walked over to the gym. Still, the feeling of someone watching her didn't go away.

Her skin felt prickly.

"Good morning," She muttered quietly to the team before handing the coaches the notes she had gathered and made from last night. The two coaches eyed her hair but just complimented her, which she just gave a simple thanks at.

"Y/n."

The girl turned her head up from her clipboard as Kita neared her. He eyed her pale blonde hair, "What's with the sudden....bleach?"

"Nothing," She quietly said, "Go back to practice, Shinsuke."

He raised a brow, "You're not the type to suddenly do that. Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong," She said, a little nervous and annoyed. The girl didn't want Kita to be involved with her problems.

She keeps it that way. Keep her problems private to refrain questions she doesn't want to bother answering.

Atsumu was another story though. She admit telling him a little bit of her trauma was a light relief for her heavy feelings.

"Y/n, don't be stubborn," Kita warned but still had worry in his eyes.

She gathered courage, "Shinsuke, go back to practice."

The gym fell awkward and silent as she slightly raised her voice at their captain. Even the coaches didn't know what to do, the tension between their manager and their captain.

Hurt flashed by Kita's eyes, but he just remained composed, "Fine."

With that, he turned back around with his usual blank face and continued practicing with the other boys.

She suddenly felt a sudden burst of overwhelming feelings in her heart which she couldn't decipher.

Butterflies erupted form her stomach, but it wasn't the good type.

Suddenly her surroundings felt surreal and too good to be true. Or bad. 

Suna frowned and approached her, "Yo, you good?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," She muttered and shakily scribbled on her clipboard. Her breathing is starting to be difficult.

The dark brunette took the clipboard away and lifted her chin with his index finger. He tilted his head to the side, "You sure?"

Y/n stopped breathing at the tingly touch Suna gave her, "Y-Yeah, I'm good— can I have that back please?" Her eyes were coated with thin layer of tears. She didn't know this, or she was denying it, rather. But paranoia is slowly building up.

The thought of someone just bursting in the gym to come for her, her actions judged by the players, her hair.

The thought of someone knowing she's been bullied last week.

I'm fine. Why am I overreacting? Is it because of earlier? This is absurd.

Osamu appeared (he managed to get to school on time) and took the clipboard off of Suna's hand. Atsumu appeared and pulled her away after his twin gave him the clipboard.

"Hey, hey, Y/n. Ya okay?" Atsumu softly asked as he got in eye level as her.

She released a shaky, inaudible sigh, "Yeah, I'm cool."

"Do you want sweets? I have some in my bag. Let's go get it," He hummed and pulled her hand gently.

"Kita-san, I'll just talk with Y/n," Atsumu told Kita who just nodded without sparing him a glance, but worriedly looked over at Y/n when they exited the gym.

Someone's coming to get me.

"I have gummy bears, candies, ah I think I even have one of those ice creams from the convenience stores."

Someone's watching me.

"Which ones do you want? I'll share them with you."

The window up there is open. What if someone jumped off and lunge at me with a weapon??

"Y/n, sweetie."

"Huh??" She slightly jolted and breathlessly answered Atsumu who wore a concerned gaze.

He sighed and combed her hair with his fingers, placing them behind her shoulders, "I'll just go inside the locker room to get the sweets. Wait for me here, okay?"

"...Okay," She quietly mumbled and stood outside the room.

Atsumu disappeared inside the room to grab the sweets, Y/n felt like shit as she felt the cold breeze, the tree's flowing sound, far inaudible movements.

It made her want to go insane.

She did her best to breathe in a stable pattern. It's okay, paranoia doesn't last long. It's just paranoia, it won't harm me that much. I'll just have to endure this until it eventually goes away.

Something rustled behind a bush slightly far from her. Her eyes widened and shook as she started to find it hard to breathe properly. She jolted when she hard a huff from somewhere, but no one was around. She felt eyes behind her but it was just a wall. Saw movement in her peripheral vision but nothing happened.

"Y/n it's me Atsumu."

She shakily released a sigh and turned to Atsumu who wore a bright smile while holding sweets. The girl was thankful he announced his return with his name, and appeared with a positive aura.

"Hi," She quietly greeted and took the packet of gummy bears Atsumu had given her with a thanks.

"Hello. Oh wait don't open that yet, let's eat these ice creams first," He hummed and gave her the vanilla flavored ice cream.

She tried hard to push paranoia away which came off surprisingly decent. Thank goodness Atsumu was there as her companion.

"...How did you even keep these cold inside your bag?" She confusedly asked.

The omelette head shrugged, "I dunno. I kept a medium sized box filled with ice and just put them there. 'Samu told me how."

"I see," She mumbled and opened the lid. Y/n licked the tip of the pointed ice cream, making Atsumu stop breathing.

As if noticing his sudden halt, she craned her neck up and looked at him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," He cleared his throat and licked his while looking away.

The girl let it drop, "Let's sit on that bench."

The blonde nodded and followed her to their seat. Both of them quietly ate their ice creams in comfortable silence, until a leaf fell on her shoulder and made her jolt, almost making her drop the ice cream.

"Fu...," She almost cursed out loud but remembered her manners.

Atsumu blinked, took the leaf and threw it away. He moved closer to Y/n and rested his free arm behind her which was on the top of the bench's support, "....I'm here."

"Why...?" She quietly asked, confused at his actions.

"Yer getting paranoid, aren't you?" He quietly asked while staring at his ice cream.

She gulped, "How would you know?"

"I've had episodes of it. Mostly when I was nearing my teenage years," He sighed and licked his ice cream, "I always thought there would be ninjas who had intentions of separating me from 'Samu. Like, I don't particularly like 'Samu in general. But the thought of losing him and having to deal with the world as the only twin..... it's kinda scary."

He laughed but it sounded sad. Atsumu finished his ice cream and perfectly threw it inside an open trash bin from afar, "So yeah. It's kinda stupid, but I was a child back then so I guess it's kinda excusable. That's why.."

"...huh?" Y/n stopped breathing when he side hugged her with his cheek pressed on top of her head.

Atsumu softly gave her a comfortable side hug and lightly rubbed her cheek on top of her head in a circle motion, "I'm always here. And when I'm here, you're always safe."

It was enough to ease her paranoia and make her feel sheltered. It took long to make it go away, but Y/n was more than glad when it went away and the only thing there was for her right now was Atsumu's comfort. 

She felt safe with him.

—

hiii idrk if this chapter was good or not–

any thoughts about this chap? also feel free to share this fic with ur friends ;3 i got more readers to call senpai