Tendo was a strange boy. A monster that was heavily avoided by other students - based on his looks alone. Truth be told, it was damaging to have to sit and watch the people he thought were his friends at a young age grow out of him and whisper such hurtful things.

“Monster.”

“Freak.”

“Lizard-face.”

It was… getting to be too much. Even through his first and second years of high school, it hurt. Sure, he had a few friends, he had his teammates, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew the name they had given him was just as cruel. He knew the innuendo that was Guess Monster, he knew how sleezy his teammates found him.

His only real friend was Ushijima Wakatoshi, and even then he felt like a burden to the boy. The way he’d find himself clinging to him if it was a particularly bad day was never enjoyable for him - he was never sure how Ushijima felt because the stoic boy barely ever said a word, regardless. That only made him feel worse. It made him feel sick how dependent he was.

But it was weird - you nearly pushed him to rely on you, coming to his and Ushijima’s shared dorm every morning to wake him up for classes, or even make him eat before he had a match - which you started coming to. Part of him knew that he was getting scarily attached; he found himself looking for you at their matches, texting you during class, he couldn’t sleep anymore unless he had the shirt you had left in his room (which he’d never give back).

And part of you knew. Part of you knew so deeply that he was reliant on you, and you didn’t mind. It was comforting, in a sense, just how much he needed you. Maybe you had issues, too. Maybe you couldn’t sleep without knowing he was safe in his bed, asleep with your shirt (which you knew he had kept, even when he told you that he returned it). It was twisted in some kind of way, but whether he was a monster, or a strange boy - it didn’t matter.

All he needed was some kind of love. A person that was stable in his life that wasn’t just Ushijima, and he found that person with you. You’d grown to learn one very true fact from the redhead.

He’d love you, even with his eyes closed.