Protection - Kei Tsukishima fanfiction

eight

The ramen the done. It was done, however the satisfying feeling of completion was replaced with dread and a stinging feeling of sadness. The intoxicating smell didn't excite me and the placing of the ingredients upon the broth didn't fill me with delight. It was just a tedious and nerve wracking process. I set two bowls down onto the counter, letting off steam as the freshly cooked dish awaited patiently. I kept another wrapped in cling film on the small dinning table, ready for the angered person stomping about in her room to eat later; I wasn't going to let her go hungry. With shaky hands, I guided myself through the house with both small bowls in hand, with the required utensils, as the steam moistened my face, and sawt out the moonlit entrance where a blond four-eyed giant was present.

Tsukishima was willingly sat on the top stairs of the porch, elbows resting on his high raised knees almost caging his head between his legs in exhaustion. He looked out to the pathway where the desolate street showed no life as the sun began to slowly fade over the mountains and the air becoming rich and fresh. He almost looked at peace amongst the calm, blurred scenery, however, inside his mind is a broken record of the unexpected event that just occurred before his very eyes. I felt a sting of uneasiness at the idea of disrupting Tsukishima's normal calm and collected personnel to a guilty and silent statue. Hopefully sharing a bowl of ramen and engaging in a civilised conversation will bring back my condescending and smirking classmate.

"Here." Lowering myself to sit by his side on the step, I gestured the bowl of goodness to the blond beanpole who instantly took hold as to avoid any unfortunate spillage. The hot, glazed dish warmed his giant hands as they circled around its shape; the smell welcoming him and a dormant hunger he dismissed before now.

"Thank you." Tsukishima muttered, his attention now aimed at the many fresh ingredients laid before him and my frail body which sat closer then it ever had been before and, some reason, he didn't really mind.

He noticed how my face was ridden of any crimson colour it once showed over six minutes ago, and how the tear stains were now a distant memory he had burned into his mind. My croaky and faint voice was now the same monotone sound he had gotten used to, and my eyes didn't display a window into sadness, but now into a window of hope.

"Creepy..."

"Hm?"

"How can you do that?" Tsukishima lowered the bowl of ramen every so slightly between his knees in a attempt to signal that our resolve had now started; he wanted to eat with a cleared mind.

"Do what? Make ramen in five minutes? I made it before you came--

"That's not what I meant, simpleton." Tsukishima finally let out that reassuring snicker that I had been waiting for, desperately trying hard to keep a stone cold face, "It amazes me how unobservant you are sometimes."

"Hey, at least I was kind enough to give you half my serving as a tension breaker." I pouted.

"Is that so. Then have mine. You made it. It's yours." My blond classmate tried to gesture the bowl back to my grasp but I instantly declined.

"No. Have it. It's my way of thanking you for the notes you brought me." I looked to his side to still see the pile of papers held close to his grasp, "Also, you might never get the chance to criticise my cooking ever again. And it might be the best ramen you're ever tasted and you'll regret it for the rest of your life." I gave Tsukishima my biggest yet most patronising smile I could, hoping that this playful attitude could lighten the mood and bring himself to eat for the sake of teasing.

"I guess you're right." He stared at his bowl once again, "I'm sorry, but you still haven't answered my question. I don't think I have it in me to eat before I have some context."

I pondered again, "If it wasn't about the ramen then what did you mean?" Curiosity, and a slight bit of dread, over took me, causing me to place my serving on the step below, my attention now plastered onto the giant.

"I meant-- I feel like I'm sitting with a different person from the one I saw earlier. It's scary how you do it."

"Oh, right." If only the sun was setting from a east so I could clearly see his facial features.

The truth is: I don't like to show my weaknesses. Especially to him. Someone who doesn't know anything about me. Someone who wears their confidence up their sleeves. Someone who has never really seen high of me. If I kept crying, what would he think of me then?

"What just happened doesn't matter anymore. Now that I have your notes and some type of guidance, I have nothing else to cry about. Everything will be fine. And besides, do you really want tears and snot in your ramen broth?"

"Absolutely not." I laughed at his forward statement and then soon retorted back.

"However, don't think that I'm not going to take what just happened seriously. I just deal with these things in my own ways. It's just... it's not like this hasn't happened before."

Tsukishima's head whipped towards me, eyes slighter wider and mouth merely ajar, shock over coming his body. Sympathy radiated from his body, something I was not prepared for and quite frankly it startled me.

I gasped, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't be getting you more involved then you already are. It's not really fair that I burden you with myself."

Tsukishima furrowed his eyebrows together in a stern manner as if to say he didn't want me apologising and dismissing my problems like they didn't mean anything. A million words were floating around in his head, but none made the courageous leap from his mouth and into the tense air. He thought that any dismissal of my apology would only create a unnecessary argument and, what's worse, he knows that I don't blame him and yet he still carries the weight. This isn't right, and this whole situation is wrong, but he can only do what will cause me less hassle: sit on a tiny porch two small for his towering height, eat ramen he doesn't deserve from the person he should be serving and watch as I brighten up the beckoning darkness with my hopeful and reassuring smile. That smile calls a emotion within him, but he doesn't know what it is and the idea makes him sick.

"Anyway, enough of that! Please ea--

"One more thing."

Oh god, "Yes?"

"To make sure you get good results, whenever you need tutoring, I won't make a stupid bet instead of just helping you. Sound good enough? That way this won't happen again." Tsukishima looked forward, avoiding my stargazed eyes as they scanned his face in delight, remembering very detail of the first moment he has shown sincere kindness face to face; it was a mile stone and a start of a partnership between the student and the tutor. I couldn't believe my ears.

I followed his eyes and looked out into the front garden; now the sun had completely disappeared over the mountains leaving a warm orange and purple glow to cover the sky. It was a perfect moment for two people to talk with meaning behind every word. A beautiful time of day to sit down and have a meal after tears and a awkward encounter had occurred. It's just weird, however, I didn't think I would ever share an evening like this with someone else, especially if that person is Tsukishima Kei.

"Thank you, Tsukishima. That means a lot after everything, more then you could imagine." He nodded his head in a silent response, probably keeping his cool in a heart warming conversation like this--I'm sure showing human emotions is beyond him and he wouldn't want me to see them anyway.

With chopsticks in hand and bowl in another, he finally set his eyes in eating, "Thank you for the food."

"I hope you like it. Let's make a deal! After we take our first bite, we move on and go back to the way we were."

Laughing ever so slightly at my cheerful suggestion, Tsukishima took his first bite, "You're so childish."