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“Kageyama, please take [ Last name ]’s belongings down to the nurse’s office.”
“Oh, uh, yes ma’am.”
It wasn’t uncommon for you to be found in the nurse’s office. Honestly it was kind of like your second home, to the point where you could be left alone in the infirmary without any supervision. At this point they would give you a tardy slip to class and let you tidy yourself up, having familiarized yourself with the room after the countless visits.
This time was a little different, however. Usually you’d come in with minor cuts, a couple of bruises here and there, but usually there wasn’t anything too difficult to deal with. Today you came beautifully decorated with a long gash across your back, your school uniform slicing open after a particularly harsh skid across the rocky ground.
The nurses hadn’t noticed though, too busy with leaving for their usual lunch break as they had assumed you could take care of yourself. You found yourself having a bit of difficulty, though, straining and grunting in pain as every time you tried to disinfect the wound, you’d only open it up more. You feared your top was already drenched in scarlet, and you left droplets of red blood splattered on the recovery couch.
Giving up, you sighed and winced at the stab of pain in your back as you rummaged through cabinets, searching for a roll of gauze that you’d just tie around your back, hoping that the wound didn’t get infected as a result. With your back turned to the door, you hummed a small tune as you picked through the different cartoon themed band-aids the school nurses had supplied. Usually Hanako from homeroom would tidy you up with pretty pink Hello Kitty ones, but you were kind of feeling the Badtz-Maru ones for today. Before you could make up your mind, the noise of the door sliding open caught your attention, followed by the soft voice you’ve grown so familiar with.
“[ Last name ], I brought your stuff-”
You processed the sound of your backpack clattering to the ground, turning around just in time to see the horrified look on Shigeo’s face. You felt the blood drain from your face at the sight of your middle school crush and close friend standing in the doorway, knowing that he would soon freak out. With a shaky smile you tried to raise your hands in a placating manner, but that only drew Mob’s attention to the various first-aid items you held in your grasp.
The boy’s mouth closed into a mix between a grimace and a frown, and soon he was stepping into the room, closing the door behind him. To his credit, he picked your bag up, gently resting it on one of the chairs near the wall before turning to you. With his eyes slightly furrowed in concern, you found yourself softly being pushed back over to the resting couch you had been sitting on earlier.
“Give me that,” Mob demanded, extending a hand towards the gauze you had in your left hand. You sighed in defeat, handing the item over with a guilty expression, “Sorry, I know you told me to take better care of myself.” Kageyama only gave a small hum of acknowledgement, walking over to the cabinets and rummaging until he found the isopropyl alcohol he was looking for. Making his way back over to you, he simply tilted his head. “Turn around, please.”
You frowned at the lack of conversation (not like Mob was much of a talker anyways) before complying to his wishes, sitting criss-cross applesauce as you faced away from him. You heard him suck in a sharp breath of surprise before he sighed, and you could already imagine the horrible furrow in his eyebrows as he looked over your wound.
Shigeo wasn’t at all pleased with your state, looking over the mix of crusted and fresh blood that seeped from your wound. Frown deepening, he kept silent, grabbing a pack of cotton pads and opening the small bottle of alcohol he had found. “I, uh- I need you to lift up your shirt a little bit,” he mumbled, cheeks growing steadily warmer at the strange request.
You didn’t bat an eyelash at the request, “Right, sorry.” And in less than a second, Kageyama Shigeo found himself red as a tomato as he got a clear view of the soft skin of your back. “T-Thanks,” he managed to sputter out, focusing his attention on soaking the cotton pad in his hand with the disinfectant. Taking a deep breath to collect himself again (stupid teenage boy hormones, getting all worked up over some skin), Kageyama gently cleaned away the dried blood that had slid down your back and smeared around your wound.
The two of you sat in mellow silence, the boy trying his best to clean all the blood off as you silently panicked, hoping that he wasn’t too mad at you for being so reckless. Throwing away the cotton pad he used, Shigeo soaked another one, hovering it over your open wound. “Your cut isn’t too deep, but it bled a lot and I still need to clean it,” he informed you, earning a startled nod from you.
“Y-Yeah! Right, you can just do whatever you need to,” you responded, silently cursing yourself for jumping at the sound of his voice. Although you couldn’t see, he nodded, gingerly bringing the alcohol soaked pad closer to your wound. Both of you flinched once it made contact, a poorly concealed hiss of pain slipping past your lips. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” hushed apologies tumbled out of Mob’s mouth, his heart receiving a small pang of guilt as your body tensed underneath his fingertips.
“It’s- shit! I-It’s alright, just keep going,” you tried to reassure, trying not to let the tears that pricked your eyes fall. As if possible, Kageyama’s frown only deepened as you curled your hands into fists, nails digging into your palms as you tried not to make any noises of pain in front of your little crush. The boy tried his best to take care of your wound as thoroughly as possible, but ultimately found himself rushing at the thought of making you go through any more pain. Going through two cotton pads, Mob finally unrolled the opened roll of gauze (it seems you’ve already used some of it before).
He had half the mind to just give you the bandages and make you wrap yourself up, but after a small gulp of courage, Shigeo leaned forward to where he could reach around your torso to dress the wound himself. His hands went around you, and leaning closer, Kageyama swore he could hear the hitch in your breath when he did. “I can do this myself, you know-!” You started, startled at such close proximity.
Mob didn’t let you speak much, already wrapping the gauze around your lower torso. “I know you can, just let me do this for you,” he muttered bashfully, his breath on your skin causing the hairs on the back of your neck to rise. You wanted to crawl into a hole and die, but you settled giving a small nod. “Alright.”
You two settled back into silence, but instead of worrying about causing him trouble, you were too busy screaming on the inside, hoping that Mob didn’t hear the frantic beating of your heart. But even if your face was flushed pink, Kageyama didn’t notice over his own internal fussing, trying to calm down his own blush when his fingertips would subtly brush over the small of your back. Finally forcing himself to stop being a creep, Mob finished off his first aid by tying a small bow with the bandages. “Done.”
Almost letting out a loud sigh of relief, you let your shirt fall back down, turning around to face the boy once more. The usually stone-faced boy stood with a small smile on his face, seemingly satisfied with his job well done before his eyes finally caught a good glimpse of your features. Almost comically, Mob’s shoulders dropped in exasperation at the various scratches and small cuts that were littered on you.
You laughed at his reaction, simply motioning over to the sanrio band-aids you had placed next to you. “It’s alright, big guy. I can do these myself,” You reassured, eyes glimmering in amusement. He loved how lovely your eyes looked when you smiled.
Deciding to take a small leap of faith, Mob only shook his head, a small smile creeping back up onto his lips as he tilted his head in the way you’d always call him cute for (although a passing comment, it never failed to make his heart skip). “Taking care of you is…nice. I want to keep doing it,” he hummed, gaze turning soft as he watched your face for a reaction.
And a reaction he got, your face turning a beautiful shade of cherry as you seemed to shrink under the sweet gaze of Mob’s admiration. Your eyes quickly shifted to the side, smile turning wobbly as you found your palms turn sweaty. You weren’t imagining things right? Was Mob trying to flirt with you, or were you just jumping to conclusions??
Either way, you didn’t protest, simply giving a small huff as you handed over the patterned first-aid item. With a satisfied expression, the boy soaked up another cotton pad before focusing on the injuries, careful not to make too much contact with your skin in order to not dry it up (Ritsu occasionally gave him skin-care tips when they got ready in the morning). Deeming his work satisfactory, he opened up the new pack of band-aids before pulling out a few small ones.
With a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, he gently began to decorate your face with the grumpy looking penguin. Once he was done, he barely pulled back enough to get a good view of your face, the flush on your cheeks having settled down a little but still not completely gone. “You look silly,” he huffed out, a small laugh slipping past his lips.
You stayed silent though, simply admiring the boyish side of the usually silent Kageyama Shigeo. He was so cute, so cute that it was gonna drive you crazy. “Are you feeling better now? I don’t know much about first-aid, but I tried to learn a bit in case you got hurt again- which you did -but i hope i did ok. Is it alright, are the bandages too tight or anything?” He began to ramble, starting to lean back away from you as he tried to look over your injuries.
You panicked as he began to lean away. Something told you that this was the chance, that this was the moment where you could change something in the constant emotional standstill that seemed to occur between you and Mob. Gripping onto his arm, you pulled the boy back to you, effectively shutting him up as he looked at you with wide eyes. You two stayed still, searching for any sort of rejection in each other's eyes.
And when you didn’t find any, you finally uttered the words that had been on your tongue for over five months now. “I like you.”
Kageyama felt his eyes widen, the tips of ears growing pink as the rest of his face soon followed. “Oh,” he managed to breathe, brain struggling to catch up with the simple statement that left you. He swallowed harshly, realizing that he stayed silent for a bit too long. “I-I like you too.”
You closed the space in between the two of you, only landing a lingering peck on the boy’s lips before leaning back, both of your expressions wide eyed and starstruck.
Oh.