Take Me Home (Tendou x Reader)

Chapter 12

After you had finished pestering Tendou to eat some more, since he really ate only a disturbingly small amount, you felt the imminent goodbye creeping up on you.

You cleared off the dishes and awkwardly stood by as he gathered his stuff into his backpack. As he checked his phone you cleared your throat.

"I guess it's time for you to go." You said, trying to sound as casual as you could.

"I still have a little time." He said while lifting his head and he gave you a scrutinizing look. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah!" You said, trying as much to convince him as yourself.

"But not really." He said, signifying that your attempt had been in vain. "Did I do something? If it's about the food, I swear it was good. I just really don't eat a lot, I must have a small stomach or something."

"It's not about that, you didn't do anything." You said and realized that you had just given away that you were lying about everything being alright. It had probably been useless trying to hide it from Tendou anyway, the more you got to know him, the more you realized he was actually very perceptive.

"Then what is it? Or is it not something you feel comfortable sharing with me?" He asked and his question made you wonder.

You had, in fact, no problems sharing your problems and tiny grievances with him. You had done it before and were ready to do it again right now. 

With your previous friends, you had also complained about the fact that your parents were away from home a lot and how they would buy you stuff to make up for it. But you would only tell them you would find it annoying or that you wished things were different.

You had never told them about how it made you feel. About the loneliness and the feeling of being unimportant, unwanted sometimes even.

But when you were with Tendou you felt the need to get into a deeper level of conversation with him. As if just telling him 'My parents suck' wasn't enough. 

Maybe it was because he was arguably worse off than you, or maybe just the fact that he shared similar grievances as you, no matter if they were worse or not.

So you told him. It was something you had never told anyone since, on top of not being comfortable enough to share, you also didn't want them to feel bad for you every time they left.

"I hate it when my friends leave after coming over." You stated simply in the beginning and he listened to you quietly, putting his bag back down on the table.

"The house is so lively when someone visits and I have a lot of fun, and then when I shut the door behind them after they leave, there's just this suffocating feeling of emptiness. It's all quiet, nothing is moving, and all of that good atmosphere that was there just moments ago all vanishes.

It's such a harsh reminder of the fact that I'm always on my own in here, enough to make me not want to have anyone over anymore. I have this big house and lots of money and yet what do I feel? Loneliness." You were amazed that you had gotten this far without getting emotional but getting the next words out proved to be difficult without your eyes tearing up. "I just... I wish my parents were here sometimes. I wish I wasn't so alone all the time."

You wiped at your eyes once, making sure no tears would spill in front of Tendou, and you found that you couldn't quite manage to look him in the eyes.

It remained silent for a little while before he took his bag and started for the door.

"I'll be right back okay?" He reassured you and you could only nod. You followed him into the hallway and watched him leave through the front door. You poked your head outside, befuddled, and saw that he had gone the opposite direction from the station.