Refuge in Your Eyes

Always Close By

"So, are you... looking forward to the training camp?"

"What kind of question is that? It's just another bunch of practice games. No different than anything we've done before," Tsukki replied, staring straight ahead. 

It was true after all. They'd had practice games before. Why would going to Tokyo be any different? Hell, they'd had a practice match the other day against their own team. It was exactly what it sounded like right? Another way to practice. Why should he be looking forward to something like that. 

After a moment of silence, he heard Yamaguchi say, "I know you don't mean that, Tsukki."

Tsukishima stopped and looked over at Tadashi. His eyes were sharp, like they were looking straight through Tsukishima's front and piercing into his inner-most self. Tsukki hid a lot behind his honey colored eyes, but no one dared look close enough to read into the things he said. Well, not until Tadashi. Of course, Kei Tsukishima didn't keep much from Yamaguchi, but until this moment he hadn't realized that he couldn't keep anything from him. Tadashi could read him like a book, maybe he'd always been able to. He'd never been afraid to dive into the complicated human that Tsukishima was. But for some odd reason, this didn't bother Tsukki in the slightest. In any other setting he would have felt vulnerable and defensive but with Yamaguchi, he only felt calm. Maybe Tsukishima should have felt intimidated by the boy's stern expression but instead, he only smiled.

"Can't hide anything from you. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," He replied smoothly, pulling his headphones over his ears to distract himself from the way his heart was beating. 

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Early the next morning, Tsukishima made his way back at Karasuno's gym. He hadn't gotten all that much sleep. Maybe it was the fact that his mind was running a hundred miles a minute or maybe it was that a certain brunet would be waiting for him when he turned the corner, but the lack of sleep wasn't fazing him.

As he approached, he noticed a small red head bouncing all over the place, talking about how excited he was to leave in the middle of the night. Tsukki was exhausted just watching Hinata bounce around. How did that boy possibly have so much energy?

"Must be nice to be a simpleton," Tsukki jabbed as he passed the boy, "You can fall asleep anywhere." 

He wasn't exactly a fan of Shoyo Hinata. There were the obvious reasons of course, but there was just something that irked him about that little ball of energy. 

He ignored Hinata's sad excuse of a comeback and continued over to a very tired looking Yamaguchi. His eyes were half closed and he was staring at nothing in particular. Tsukki wondered if he'd gotten enough sleep. Something about the way Yamaguchi's eyes looked glassed over took Tsukki back to a certain day in middle school.

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It was Tsukishima's first year at Amemaru Middle School. He and Yamaguchi had already been friends for a little while at that point. They'd started walking to volleyball club together every day after class and Yamaguchi always seemed to find Tsukki during lunch despite the two being separated during the day. Tsukki never would have admitted it but he really looked forward to seeing Yamaguchi during lunch hour. He always bounced over to Tsukki with the biggest smile, his freckled nose scrunching ever so slightly as he did. He'd talk nonstop about his day, never forgetting to ask Tsukki about his own. But today, he was nowhere to be seen. 

Tsukki stared at his lunch but he didn't want to eat it without Yamaguchi around. He stood up and began wandering the school to look for him. He turned a corner and walked along a hallway that lead to Yamaguchi's classroom. Maybe something had just held him up. He glanced outside as he walked and spotted his friend curled up on a bench near some of the school's vending machines.