You were one of the many who admired him — it wasn't new.

Oikawa Tooru, after all, is a name that always seems to drift effortlessly through the hallways of Aoba Johsai High. His reputation stretched far beyond the walls of the school, reaching places you could only imagine, but you had known him long before his name carried such weight. From childhood, you had watched him grow — watched the boy with the scrappy volleyball dreams become the confident setter who owned every court he stepped onto. Yet, despite the years that tethered your stories together, the space between you remained vast, like a chasm neither of you dared to cross.

Yeah, well it wasn’t as if he could ever reciprocate what you felt.

He wasn’t oblivious. Those doe eyed gazes and flustered giggles, it was something he handled well at ease. Flash a charming smile and accept their presents, and the girls would erupt into a fit of squeals. Because if there was something that these girls adored, it was a guy who can become the subject of their daydreams. And he just fits that criteria quite well, too well.

You told yourself it was enough to admire him from a distance. It had been that way for years, hadn’t it? You were just another face in the crowd, another admirer lost in the sea of adoration that surrounded him.

“Have this.” He held out a perfectly wrapped chocolate, its ribbon tied in a way that screamed effort and fondness. At the end of the day, Oikawa Tooru, at his core, was genuinely a kind guy. And that felt suffocating. You were the only one who could see this side of him, but you were also one of the many who held feelings for him.

“You look like you need it.” He adds, flashing a smile. “You have a test to take tomorrow, right? Wanna study together?”

This was bad.