Sweeter than fiction
-Murasakibara x Reader
"Hit the ground, hit the ground, hit the ground, oh, oh
Only sound, only sound, that you hear is "no"
You never saw it coming
Slipped when you started running
And now you've come undone, and I, I, I, I .."
It was already their match versus the rising star of a school- Seirin High. And unfortunately, Kagami Taiga of Seirin and his team mates are showing great improvement.
She is a student of Seirin, but the ombre blue-haired girl decided to just stay quiet and cheer for her purple-haired Yosen friend silently among the crowds.
The said giant was currently doing his best though he really looked distressed and pressured: an expression on his face carefully hidden and masked by apathy, anger and a thirst to crush his opponents.
Those Prussian eyes that stared at him knew better though.
As some of their schoolmates shouted "No!" or "Crush them!", never even giving a second thought on how the giant would feel in face of such big responsibilities placed on his (though literally big, but not metaphorically so) shoulders, the small girl could barely take their school's lack of tact- she was the only one who gave true support to the giant, the sort that would never falter no matter how the game would end because as of now, even his own team was doubting his skills as a player.
And Yosen High lost. By ten points or so. She couldn't focus on the scores anymore after seeing the defeated face her purple-haired friend wore. Just as when he was entering his zone, Seirin took immediate measures and formulated good plans and strategies- all courtesy of herself.
She never aimed neither did she desired that disheartened look on her former schoolmate's countenance. It was enough that she saw him cry once- a strike of luck when she was there to be the one he would turn to and the very same person that he would cry and bear his heart to- upon returning 3 years after she left the Kiseki no Sedai to migrate to London because of an immediate need to treat her asthma.
She was physically weak, had always and will always be- how she got her place as Kiseki no Sedai's coach before was primarily because of her accurate calculations, mastery of the strategic outline of each games they fought or she had simply watched, plus, her impeccable manner of measuring up every player's capabilities and specialties - both her team's and the opposing one's - just by observing every move they make, in and out of court. To say that she was almost at par with Akashi and Momoi, perhaps even more, would not be an overstatement.
Her observational skills surpasses Momoi's and ties up with Akashi's: she could tell a game's victor just by watching the first game, plus, her deduction skills applies to everyday living as well which would make her knowledge with what moves their opponents would make nothing more but a given.
And the simple fact that she helped Seirin, chose it to be her school upon returning to Japan and by being their manager, destroying her former teammates and friends- it was more than she could bear.
That was then she saw a mass of purple hair leave the court, a towel over his head covering his face, and his body slightly bent forward in an arc: clearly broken.
"Seen you fall, seen you crawl, on your knees, eh, eh
Seen you lost in a crowd, seen your colors fade
Wish I could make it better
Someday you won't remember,
This pain you thought would last forever and ever"
"Nadeshiko-chan, where are you going?" Seirin's blue-haired phantom asked as he saw their manager stand up from her seat and head towards the door at the back,
"I'll just take care of something, Tetsu-muu." she called out from above, trying to sound cheerful- which proved to be quite difficult after seeing the lone tear (which was clearly noticed by herself alone) slide down one towel-covered face.
The bluenette only looked at her with understanding- of course he knew what she would do- she did pretty much the same thing to the others: she comforted them whenever they had faced a drastic loss, whether it be by her own hands or another's, albeit more often hers than anyone else's.
And this was Murasakibara's turn.
"Really?! You'll leave us just after we won?" the ever so imprudent ace of Seirin spoke up.
This caused a handful of glares in his direction: the most unnerving of them all being from their captain and coach.
"Forget what he said, Nadeshiko-chan. Go ahead, we'll just wait for you, and then we'll have a celebration~!" the brunette coach smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
Nadeshiko nodded wryly,
"If I don't return after an hour, you could go ahead of me- just text me the address of where the gathering would take place. Once again, splendid job, team!" she managed a weak smile and her signature two-fingered salute before running towards the door.
After making sure that the ombre-haired teen was out of earshot, Riko Aida then turned to the only person who seemed to understand their manager's weird action,
"Are you sure she's fine, Kuroko-san?"
The bluenette turned to her and shook his head in answer,
"It really pains her to destroy them- the Kiseki no Sedai- but, as ironic as it may seem, she does so for their own sake anyways. I think this one's pretty much another stab for her." he replied in all seriousness.
'Now here is he!?' said girl thought urgently as she dashed around the locker rooms, long blue-dyed white curls billowing behind her like a cape.
She then opened a random door and came face-to-face with Yosen's team- all changing their shirts- sweat dripping from their bodies and palpable exhaustion evident within the locker room after losing the match earlier. With well-practiced feigned ignorance and due respect she called out,
"Has anyone seen Atsushi?" she tried to reign in the turbulent emotions her missing friend triggered and refused to show any fear or anxiety in her eyes and face.
Yosen's new student approached her.
"Himuro Tatsuya, I presume?" she reached an urgent hand out which he took with all the courtesy of the gentleman that he is.
"The Legendary Sakurashiki Nadeshiko, nice to finally be of your acquaintance." he answered perceptively, "I believe Atsushi-kun went out to get some fresh air." he answered with a knowing look on his face as if actually telling her to come get him as soon as she can.
She gently dropped his hand and nodded, following his unspoken cue,
"Thank you, Himuro-san." she said with a slight sigh of unconventional relief as she turned to leave.
"Just Tatsuya's fine~!" he called out from the door.
Nadeshiko mid-turned and gave him a rueful smile.
He noticed the worry hidden behind yet another mask of happiness from her and he wonders how on earth was he able to tell so much when they just met but he dismissed such irrelevant thoughts and instead settled on trying to comfort her by waving and telling her some common knowledge that might cheer the giant up,
"Just buy him some sweets. I'm sure he'll be fine~!" Himuro Tatsuya tried to muster a wink considering how 'dire' this situation might appear for everyone involved. Since he assumes that, Atsushi, being a member of the prodigious Kiseki no Sedai - composed of talented though quite egoistic and aloof players, both directly and indirectly - could be taking this hit quite hard since he might not be used to the distressful feeling of defeat.
"I know~!" she reciprocated his attempted euphemism with a holler, "Thanks again, Tatsuya-san~!" she did the same salute she never grew out of and disappeared around a corner.
Though, deep inside, Nadeshiko heavily doubts that sweets could make the giant forget his first loss.
And the fact that she saw his face. Dear goddess! Not even a pass to a pastry shop buffet could erase that frown and stop those tears from falling. His normally large, built and steady psyche almost looked crushed and fragile, broken and cast down as he was disregarded by the people on court who would've normally feared him because of his height and presence.
An aura that used to be bulky and daunting is now nothing more than a pale shade of blue: a pale shade of disappointment over defeat, a defeat he never knew by the hands of the last person he could ever think of capable of such heartless betrayal.
Breath suddenly hitching at the guilty realization of her treachery, Nadeshiko continued running faster, heavily fixated on making this search her priority at the moment, should her lungs and legs gave up under pressure then so be it, she wouldn't give up searching every border of the woods from behind the court to find her friend. But despite this mantra she kept on repeating inside her head, she settled on a bench after a few minutes of futile search. Her body conducting a furious fight against her mind and what her heart was telling her to do, heaving for the breaths she lost and desperately needed even though she refused to take this unnecessary rest.
Even after the operation in Europe, her condition barely even improved and she starts to doubt if it was worth all those years she left her team unchecked while listlessly staring at the white ceilings of her hospital room in London.
Putting herself aside, the mission at hand was to make the giant forget his loss even for the meantime.
But how can she do it when he's nowhere to be found?
"There you'll stand, ten feet tall
I will say, "I knew it all along"
Your eyes, wider than distance
This life is sweeter than fiction"
After a minute or so, Nadeshiko felt a terrified presence from behind her. Knowing better than to just abruptly turn and shock the remaining composure left in the giant, she turned slowly as she says,
"I knew it was you, Atsu-chu~" her voice was soft and gentle as she saw the worried look in the giant's face. Damn she hates that look, probably more so than his usual dispassionate demeanor.
"Deshi-chin..." he murmured, clearly disappointed and betrayed all at the same time.
Standing up in an attempt to at least get a closer look at the purple-haired teen's face, Nadeshiko sighs. It barely closed the gap between their heights,
"You did great. I hope you know why I have to do that." she approached him and tilted her head to the side. Every move as if on thin ice, cautious and calculated, avoiding anymore unnecessary damage on her long list of offenses.
He nodded slowly. It started with his hair, a frivolous thought that it looked straighter than it usually is, as if it's drained by life, and then her wandering gaze took him in as a whole and she blamed it all on gravity but she knew it was her fault that he looked as if he was a fallen star, so so lost and broken. He was like a child begging for forgiveness for breaking his mom's favorite vase, like a,lover who forgot their anniversary, as he close to stuttered his next words,
"Deshi-chin said it would change our view of basketball..." he mumbled, tripping over breaths and hiccups and tears obscuring his view.
She smiled, though it looked more of a grimace if not a painfully forced one, and nodded,
"Very good, Atsu-chu~ Come, let's seat." she said as she gingerly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bench.
Tear stained cheeks blushed at the contact, water-drenched pools of violet widening by a fraction of an inch as he followed her lead and settled on the wooden seat.
"Now I want you to know that loving basketball is different from simply playing it just because you're good at it and that you always win, okay?" she looked deep into his eyes, as if writing her very words down his soul.
He nodded slowly, a few stubborn tears flowing down his face, quite unnoticed by the giant himself.
This clenched the Prussian-eyed girl's heart even more and it didn't help her when Murasakibara started choking down sobs.
She sighed gently, refusing to swallow since she envisions barb wires instead of liquid should she do so,
'You lot really are monsters on court but babies upon the face of defeat aren't you...' she thought miserably, she really could've at least bothered to teach them about life lessons after every training back in Middle School then his would've been a hell lot more easier for every one of them and not as complicated as this every single time.
Abandoning the thoughts of wasted chances never to be taken back, she settled on making it up to him now instead,
"Hush now," she gently pulled him in her arms, in which he gratefully almost dived in; though preventing to do so since it might crush the only person he goes to for comfort, "Don't force them back, Atsu-myuu. Let it go. Let all the pain and anguish flow freely. Let all the false verdicts drilled into your mind fall down into heaps of worthless dusts." she rubbed comforting circles around his large back as his long arms slowly wrapped around her as well, his face buried on her nape- looking like a large teddy bear wrapped around a small girl.
He looked down at her, eyes wide and brilliant; tear-stained violets with fresh and raw pain and understanding, gratitude and a sense of profound protection dedicated solely for his only confidante, unguarded and more tender than anyone would ever give him credit for,
"Thank you for always being there for me, Deshi-chin..." the edges of his lips quirked upwards forming a smile that was almost shy and was not less heartwarming, his eyes brighter than before, his views refreshed and renewed: both in basketball and... more complex emotions he had never tapped into before.
Atsushi looked down at the ideally smaller girl, confused at the sudden feeling he had deep inside, it was light and funny and foreign that he believes his instincts should tell him to fear this but he doesn't; he wondered if it was in his stomach...or maybe his heart? Since the latter had been acting like some thrashing contraption of unsettled nerves ever since the girl found him.
He figures he would have to ask her later about this.
"It's fine, Atsu-myuu. I'm actually grateful that you come to me to seek for comfort. That it is with me you find safe to cry and spill your emotions out." she gave him another calming smile and reached out to muss his shoulder length hair and slid it slowly down to caress his cheek in which he surprised her by actually leaning unto it. It was to be considered an improvement on his part since he just used to cry and freeze into place whenever she does pretty much the same thing before.
'That's weird.' she thought, blushing at how adorable and vulnerable the purple giant looked like as he rubbed his large cheek on her small palm, his arms still around her. It was as if all of these was suddenly new, as if they're both different persons yet still the same and she didn't- couldn't mind such close proximity. The ombre-haired manager was never one to dwell with such trifling details as personal space or the amount of distance to be placed between a boy and a girl to be considered decent in public but this feels slightly...different.
The giant basked in the warmth and comfort his former manager offered and found solace in the soft palm of her left hand: with the familiar calloused thumb primarily caused by drawing keeping him from falling deeper down the disappointment of loss.
After a few moments, the purple haired teen spoke up,
"Deshi-chin?" he asked the smaller girl in his arms, uncertainty clear in his voice and tone.
"Yes?" she looked up at him, eyes widening by a nearly unnoticeable rate upon meeting the unsure purple gaze set on her alone.
Both blushing at their close proximity, the younger girl's being more because of how clear those violet orbs reflected her in startling details.
"C-can Deshi-chin t-tie my h-hair?" the giant asked bashfully, "I can't see Deshi-chin's face with my hair on the way..." he murmured, the reason being more of an afterthought to avoid being weird than anything else.
This caused the girl to chuckle,
"Of course, I can tie Atsu-myuu's hair for him. Sit still, okay?", instantaneously forgetting the uninvited tension that had settled between them a few seconds ago. After a nod of approval from the giant, she tugged at the powder blue ribbon that held a few pieces of her hair from covering her face and reached out from in front to the back of the mass of purple and pulled a handful of strands to the back, cool hands softly grazing the burning cheeks of the taller teen whose gaze was focused intently on her and her alone, she then tied the ribbon to a small bow after and pulled back to see her masterpiece.
"Done~!" she allowed herself a genuine closed eye smile as a reward for the confrontation going better than she expected. A soft peck on the cheeks startled her Prussian eyes open once again, forcing her back into her body to determine just what had caused the feathery soft contact that had met her skin and sent sparks flying through her spine.
Snow white cheeks dusted pink as she entertained a superficial thought that maybe the giant had kissed her. Just...maybe. Before being completely replaced by a vacuous urge to seek the truth, to determine whether it was just her thoughts conjuring foolish fantasies or otherwise,
"A-atsu-myuu? W-what did you d-do?" Nadeshiko stammered, feeling quite disoriented and unruly for the first time in her life.
She was expecting that the giant would at least have answers, but he didn't, he only had another question thrown at her that added to the piles already cluttering at her feet ever since the had any form of physical contact during this particular meeting,
"I feel weird, Deshi-chan." he looked lost, innocent and as unaware of things as she was.
"Weird?" she repeated, blush subsiding she attempted to take the matters into her hands instead since her purple headed companion's less likely to do it, only to have it back again in raging flows as he said:
"I feel weird whenever I'm with Nadeshi-chin. At first I thought I was just hungry- but then it happened more often than before: I think of Nadeshi-chin whenever she's not around, I cry to Nadeshi-chin every time, Nadeshi-chin makes me feel more happy than before and never fails to make me smile and Nadeshi-chin smells like vanilla and strawberries..." he tumbled upon the words, his head turned to the side, flaming cheeks more visible because of his hair being tied down the back, arms still around her.
Nadeshiko had let out a giggle that caused the giant to turn back to her out of curiosity,
"I'm happy with Atsu-myuu too~ But we have to sort this all out first, okay?" she tilted her head to the side, finding this as the only possible solution at the moment, trying not to get herself lost in all the sudden hype and revelations.
"Sort what out, Nadeshi-chin?" the purple head tilted to the side as well.
"Well~ If you really are sure with your feelings...That may mean that you- that you...uhrmmm..." she trailed off from her carefree start, suddenly at a loss for words.
"That I what?" Murasakibara's arms around her tightened by a more comfortable rate, eyes searching hers.
"That you...fancy me..." she blushed in a way that reminded Murasakibara of the fine strawberries she once brought for him out of her vacation in a strawberry farm. The most tantalizing shade he ever saw.
"Fancy?" he looked confused, not even knowing the meaning of such a word.
"You'll find that out when it comes~" she winked slyly, "As for now, we would show them what you've got, okay~?" she reached out once again to pat his head.
Murasakibara in turn, kissed her left cheek once again.
Expecting him to nod like an obedient child as he always did, she was caught off guard by the daring gesture and practically froze on the spot,
"What was that Atsu-cchu~?!" she exclaimed, blushing hard.
Gaining the shattered bit of his confidence and piecing them back together in her form, he raised his head a bit to inspect the burning face right in front of him and he nods his head in approval that this is probably the most adorable sight he had ever seen,
"Well, it sounds like the honorific you use in my name Nadeshi-chin~" he grinned, eyes bright once again, the late afternoon sun sending pleasant rays of warm oranges and yellow forming a halo to crown his precious purple shoulder length tresses.
A/N: Please look forward to chapter 2 and don't forget to write your comments down below~ ^^