A/N 17/08/2020:

Hey hey! :D

F*ck the people who say that someone who's good at languages or is great at creating things is less intelligent than eg. someone who is good at physics.

"And you're making the typical me break my typical rules"

It's no secret that Tanaka has difficulties studying. The whole team knows, partly because of the way Ennoshita will shout at him and Yuu whenever they try to ditch their homework again.

Something even fewer people know, is that Tanaka has difficulties studying beyond the regular issues that most students face; like laziness, lack of sleep or just the fact that the subject matter is plain boring. Chikara never really understood why Ryuu refused to tell people as much, but he's been tutoring him ever since he overheard Tanaka talking about it with his sister. That said, even though the progress Tanaka makes isn't always visible, Ennoshita does have to complement his work ethic.

Most of the time, that is.

"You paying attention? Ryuu?"

It takes a couple of seconds before Ryuu's eyes regain focus. "Hmm?"

"You were dreaming again," Ennoshita tuts, tapping his pencil on the page of homework Tanaka had planted his elbow on while he stared through the window.

Ryuu huffs, tearing his cheek from the palm it'd been leaning against with effort, as if the two had been stuck together with superglue. Chikara tries not to laugh at the visible palm print now painted in a dark pink on Tanaka's skin.

"How d'you know? I thought you had your head completely buried in that history textbook of yours."

"You stopped humming," Ennoshita says, idly flipping a page of his textbook and pretending he believes this himself. He ignores the voice in the back of his mind which insists he only noticed because his mind forces him to glance at Ryuunosuke at least once every 10 to 15 minutes.

For some reason, this comment seems to unsettle Ryuu. Ennoshita patiently waits for his friend to come out with whatever is bothering him, staring at his textbook all the while, reading the same sentence about the 19th century restoration of Japanese imperial power at least 17 times without taking in a single word.

Truth be told, he could have noticed that Tanaka had stopped studying because of the silence. Ryuu is an auditory learner. Chikara has grown used to a constant stream of mumbling coming from his side whenever they try to study together. The same goes for when Tanaka tries to solve some math problems; mentioning every step out loud as he goes through the exercises seems to help him solve them faster and with fewer mistakes.

For the previous exams, Ennoshita had been able to convince Tanaka to try making songs to familiar children's tunes – using his notes from class as lyrics. Sadly enough that plan hadn't worked for every single course, but for at least half of his exams Ryuu's test results had been noticeably higher than before. He'd seemed to like it, too. Though it had come as quite the surprise that Ryuu, despite initially feeling too embarrassed to sing in front of his friends, apparently has a great voice. He may be a little of an unconventional student, but as long as he takes enough breaks, and is allowed to sing songs or mumble as much as he needs, he seems to be doing alright. At the very least he has become a much better student than he used to be.

After finally finishing the first sentence, only to be stuck on the subsequent line and having to read it for over 5 times as well, Ennoshita starts to lose his patience. This waiting-game is doing shit for his usually flawless concentration.

"Just spit it out, will you?"

Tanaka chews on his bottom lip in thought. At least he isn't pretending to be oblivious what Ennoshita is talking about, but staring at him like this is still incredibly distracting. So Ennoshita looks away again, hoping that his friend will answer soon so that he can go back to reading about the safer subject of the fall of the Shogunate.

He gives up after another 2 minutes. He grabs his pencil from the edge of the table and uses the blunt end to poke Tanaka in his cheek. "Hey?"

When Tanaka still doesn't answer, bowing his head a little, Chikara pokes his cheek again. He knows he's behaving like a toddler, but he doesn't really care. It feels kind of nice, being the annoying one for once.

"Hey!" Poke.

"Hey!" Poke.

"Hey!" Poke. Poke. Maybe he's been studying for too long? The longer he goes on, the stronger the urge to giggle starts to well up inside of him.

Ennoshita lifts his pencil again, ready for an epic "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-" when Tanaka suddenly asks, his voice soft: "do you think I'm stupid, Chika?"

"Wha-?"

The question comes so out of the blue that Ennoshita drops his pencil, ignoring it completely as it rolls from the carpet and comes to a stop underneath the dresser behind them. Tanaka bows his head even lower as he waits for an answer, refusing to look up at an increasingly more confused Chikara.

"Hey," Chikara says again, weakly, poking Tanaka in the cheek with his finger instead of his lost pencil. He repeats himself in a more urgent tone when Tanaka turns his head away even more, refusing to look at him.

The ace-to-be startles when fingertips curl around his jaw, slowly turning his face so Ennoshita can finally look him in the eye again. Chikara drops his hand immediately after, fingers tingling.

"Who told you that bullshit?"

Tanaka's eyes drift away from Chikara's face to stare outside of the window again. Aside from the twitch at the corner of his mouth, it would be hard to notice how much this question is bothering him. But Ennoshita sees. He knows.

Not all of them are friends with their classmates. Tanaka doesn't talk about it often, but it's become clear throughout their 2nd year that the kids he is sharing classes with don't really mesh well. Or at least not with him.

"Don't take criticism from people you wouldn't take advice from," Chikara says sternly. He's learned from experience that Tanaka reacts better to speeches that fire him up instead of quiet compassion when he's feeling sad. The compassion will be welcomed later.

"It wasn't that bad," he says, grey eyes reflecting the light from outside – casting the eerie illusion that he has no pupils. "They were just- They heard me mumble… talk during the test and- I mean… I couldn't just let them think that I was cheating, or something?" He says, his voice suddenly a touch more desperate as he turns back to face Ennoshita again. "And I guess… Hikari thought it was funny, that I can't really focus unless I'm talking – so he told the others. They thought it was funny too… And they said-…" He trails off again.

Ice slides down into Chikara's stomach. If it had been Nishinoya, or one of the others of the team, then it could've been funny. Maybe.

'Children can be cruel.' It's a line he's heard often before, mostly directed at primary school kids, who are unintentionally cruel in their curiosity or their lack of understanding for the hurt of others. But where most of those younger children have no real ill intentions, at 17, some of their peers have turned cruelty into an art form.

"You never lose focus when we're preparing stuff for practice," Chikara says stupidly. He wants to facepalm the moment the words leave his mouth, but the truth is; despite immediately realizing the utter idiocy of Tanaka's classmates' claims, he's at a loss for what to say. And all in all, it might not have been the worst example. They're at the end of their second year now, and coach Ukai had told him and Tanaka to start preparing things together with Suga and Daichi, in an effort to make the switch to their new roles as captain and vice-captain as smooth as possible.

Tanaka never really lost focus whenever they were discussing practice plans, no matter how boring the details could get sometimes. And the more freedom Ukai and the others allowed him, the more Tanaka began to shine in his new role.

"I can focus!" Tanaka suddenly bursts out, almost giving Chikara a whiplash when he reels back too fast. "I sometimes focus on the same thing for hours on end! I just… can't really choose what subject I'm focusing on, most of the time. And then… sometimes I'll realize that I'm focussing on something stupid, but I can't stop?! And I know at that point that every second I spend focussing on, y'know, whatever, is another second that is wasted, and then that goes on for hours and I'm still doing it, and I just can't stop! And then I start to panic more and more, but my eyes keep staring at the pretty bird outside and-"

"I get it!" Chikara presses. Then, softer: "I get it, Ryuu."

The sigh Tanaka breathes out at his comment seems to take all his previous desperate agitation with it, because when he starts talking again, he sounds so calm it's almost as unsettling as the earlier outburst. "Dad says that I'm 'more than smart enough for this' and that 'he knows I'm intelligent enough to succeed in all my classes'." He chuckles bitterly. "But that just makes it sound like I just don't want to work whenever I fail a test. Because 'I'm smart enough to get through, so if I fail it's because I didn't care enough'. I know he probably means well, but I don't really think he understands. He remembers Saeko's and my diagnosis when it fits him – mentions it more than enough whenever we get rowdy or shout too much, but it's like he forgets about it every time I show him my grades, even though he knows I try hard. Should know I try hard."

He takes in a deep breath, and Ennoshita gives a tiny nod, giving him space to go on with his rant without distracting him by interrupting. "If I do badly, then everyone is disappointed, but if I'm lucky and do well, then it's nothing special, because 'I'm smart enough to get those results anyway' and it's what they expect. And most of the time it's still that first option anyway.

Tanaka slumps down, legs stretching underneath the table while he rests his head back against the wall. Chikara's mind is alternating heavily between squeezing his shoulder in understanding and hitting his friend on the back hard – slapping some sense back into him.

"Why does nobody see that I'm trying? Really trying? Just because I study in a weird way? Does that only apply to quiet people who only spend their time reading or… I don't know – doing smart-people stuff?"

"-or salty, condescending people," he adds as an afterthought.

Ennoshita raises an eyebrow. "Nobody sees? What am I then? A potato?"

Tanaka lets his head slide down the wall until it's resting against his shoulder as he smiles tiredly up at Chikara.

"We know you put in effort, Ryuu. I can't be the only one. If you feel like that, then I think you should just talk to your dad. Explain how you feel about it, and such. Even if it doesn't change his mind, I think you'll still feel better because you got to share your view on things. It doesn't matter that you study in a… different way, that's not the only way to success. You shouldn't try to change into something you're not – just find a way that makes it work for you and keep going. You've gotten a lot better at taking notes as well as remembering the summaries we made for your tests. There's no reason to sound as negative as you do; you can be proud of your progress!"

He waits until Tanaka nods before adding: "And for the record; I truly know you try hard, even if it doesn't work out well for you, all the time. I… like how much effort you put in, even when you feel out of your depth. That goes for more than just school work, obviously, but… yeah. It shows that you… won't just quit. That you're determined, I think."

"Hell yeah, I am!"

"You are."

"I'll become the most determined guy of our year! No–, of the whole school!"

"Well, you can start this project of yours by using that determination to finish your homework, then."

"Ennoshita, you traitor!"

A/N: Remember kids; EQ isn't less important than IQ in this world, and it should be valued the same. (Also - even if someone is 'less intelligent', that doesn't mean that they are worth less.

Personal notes about this chapter:
I don't feel the need to constantly talk while I'm studying, but if I'm having trouble with certain tasks, it does help me a lot to work through them while voicing my thoughts out loud. This made exams really hard for me, because teachers will easily accuse you of cheating while that wasn't my intention at all. Even during my exams at college I still mouthed my ideas while I was considering my answers, but at that poined I had trained myself not to speak out loud, not even in whispers.
I do switch to talking out loud while I'm thinking sometimes, and won't notice it myself. You can imagine that I have a very short brain-to-mouth filter :p This may 'stand out' less because it's important to me to speak the truth as much as possible, so it isn't really a problem seeing that the people I'm talking to will always get the same info

Please drink enough water and don't forget to wear your mask when you're going to the store! I'm very excited to see what you guys think about the story so far ^^