Kuroo's eyes trail Tsukishima's retreating form. Confusion and a little remorse pool in his stomach, he probably should've been more careful with his word choice. The guy looked like he was enjoying himself, but his mood immediately shot down when Kuroo brought up Hinata. Do they have some sort of beef? Kuroo doesn't think so. They do argue, and Tsukishima looks like he wants to die just standing next to him sometimes, but they both just seem like argumentive people and argumentive people argue, it's sort of in the title. They mesh well together otherwise. Or, sometimes they do. He's kind of contradicting himself. Tsukishima and Hinata get along fine, Kuroo doesn't think there's any bad blood between the two. Nothing bigger than annoyance.
Tsukishima's eyes had glazed over and his entire body went still, meaning he stopped flexing his fingers at his sides and his eyes stopped darting all over Kuroo's face like they hadn't a clue where to look, like he was thrown into a flashback. He swayed a little, too. It concerned Kuroo, who thought he'd be carrying a lanky beanpole back to the first gym, where the rest of his team were practicing. He doesn't know where Karasuno's dorm classroom is.
Just when Tsukishima turns out of their view, Bokuto speaks. "Aw, man!" He drags his hands down his face, they rest just below his chin before he fixes his posture and looks back to Kuroo. "C'mon, Kuroo. I thought you had better people skills than that!" His tone is teasing and his face is smug. Kuroo sighs.
Akaashi fixes him with a flat state. "You have got to stop prodding at people's weak points. It's a wonder you have any friends."
"Wha- HEY!" Kuroo crosses his arms over his chest and tries to stutter out some sort of retort, but comes up empty. Instead, he simply glares as Akaashi snickers at his sputtering. "First of all, I am a delightful person! My friends are blessed to have me!"
"Blessed is a bit of an exaggeration." Kenma quietly cuts in from where he stands at the edge of the court. He doesn't lift his eyes from his phone. Lev is standing over him, Yaku right next to him, inquiring about every aspect of whatever mobile game Kenma is so engrossed in. Yaku seems less interested in Kenma's game and much more interested in trying to get Lev to move his lanky ass back to the court so they can practice their receives because Lev still sucks and one fluke every fifteen tries won't cut it in a real game.
"Don't listen to Kenma, he's an unreliable source." Kuroo uncrosses his arms. "Anyway, I didn't know he would react like that."
Bokuto tilts his head and moves his hands to his hips. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's obvious Hinata's a serious threat on the court, and he's improved a lot since the last games we played, but he's got a lot to learn still, y'know?" Kuroo isn't lying. With Hinata's wicked speed, agility, raw talent, and stamina he's genuinely a force to be reckoned with, and with every match Nekoma plays against Karasuno, he seems to grow and grow. "Tsukishima on the other hand is way taller and much smarter than him, I think if he put his mind to it he could be a force to be reckoned with, but I think he thinks he's inferior to Hinata."
Tsukishima seems steady. He's on a steady road of improvement, and he too picks up new tricks when they go head to head on the court. Kuroo knows that with the right push, he'll grow his wings and fly with the rest of his team, but he doesn't seem interested in that. He seems so aloof, Kuroo sometimes thinks he doesn't even like volleyball.
"Dang, depressing."
Yeah, Bokuto is right. Depressing seems to fit Tsukishima's whole vibe.
(Stuck up too.)
---
Karasuno's third years, Daichi, Suga, and Asahi sit with second year Tanaka on the slope of Shinzen's grassy hill, eating the watermelon they were so graciously provided by some sort of Gods and Goddesses known as the Shinzen High PTA. Beads of sweat roll down their foreheads, and if Kuroo were being totally honest their legs looked amazing, presumably from all the running they've been forced to do, but he won't comment on that.
"Daiiiichi!" Kuroo greets him with a wave, drawing out his name. He crouches in front of the group. "I want to apologize for yesterday."
Daichi hums and raises an eyebrow, eyes curious. "What for?"
"For upsetting Tsukishima. We were practicing with Bokuto and Akaashi last night and I might've said something that sort of set him off. He got all gloomy and left."
He didn't just get gloomy, Kuroo knows there was something else.
He still feels remorseful. He hates it, but he does. He wants to apologize to Tsukishima himself, but he's been avoiding him.
(He's making an attempt at hiding it, yeah, but every time they make eye contact Tsukishima will pointedly turn away and tense up with a sour look on his face that makes Kuroo feel even more guilty than he already had. He's totally being guilt-tripped, whether the party guilt-tripping him actually realizes it or not.)
His curiosity about what had happened the night before, or what caused it besides his own apparently poor word choice, is also still biting him in the ass. He figures that one of his best bets for getting some sort of answer would be to talk to Tsukishima's senpai, the people he's crouching in front of now.
"Oh." Daichi blinks, as if he's processing the information laid out in front of him. "Wait, he practiced with you?" Seemingly completely ignoring Kuroo's apology out loud, his eyes are telling him he should talk to Tsukishims instead. He kind of admires Daichi's ability to say what he wants to say with judging looks alone, but he also finds it incredibly annoying and frightening. Simultaneously.
Kuroo pulls a face that he's sure is the embodiment of deadpan confusion.
"How'd you do it?" Tanaka cuts in, only adding to a growing list of questions Kuroo has about this God-Forsaken first year middle blocker. "Tsukishima will always attend practice and he'll work with the rest of us, but getting him to do more than the minimum he needs to succeed is like... totally impossible."
Kuroo clears his throat awkwardly. "I just taunted him, said his blocking could use some work."
"I should try that." Suga hums, a finger on his chin. Daichi looks like he wants to say something, to object, but he holds his tongue.
"What did you say?" Asahi asks, he doesn't look keen on letting that conversation continue. Kuroo shrugs. He knows what he said, he just unconsciously wants to have a casual and chill demeanor that allows the people he's sitting with talk freely among themselves because he has a terrible eavesdropping habit.
"I said Hinata would probably pull ahead of him if he didn't start practicing harder and then he got all gloomy and self-deprecating."
Asahi seems to understand that, but it gives the rest of them a pause. All for different reasons, judging by their expressions. Tanaka looks confused, Kuroo can almost hear him murmur "But he's always so... stuck up and infuriating," and then something dramatic about how terrible a senpai he is for not noticing his kohai are upset or depressed. It's pretty sweet, but Kuroo thinks he may be taking this a bit far. Daichi and Suga both wear concern on their features, but it quickly fades when Asahi speaks again.
"Oh, yeah." Oya, oya? He thinks out of habit. Kuroo grunts for him to continue. "I kind of noticed that earlier. Tsukishima talks like Hinata is this unstoppable force and he's just a stepping stone on his way to stardom and that he'll never be able to surpass him. I brush it off as his usual snark sometimes, but other times it's like he's about ready to give up."
"Give up?" Tanaka seems appalled. "Nuh-uh, no way José! If that damn beanpole tries throwing in the towel on us I will personally drag him back by the ears. He committed the minute he handed in his form and lost that three-on-three against me and the freak duo!"
Suga laughs and holds out a hand for Tanaka to shake. "You take the left ear, I'll take the right?" He proposes. Tanaka slams his hand into Suga's and shakes it, hard.
"You got it, partner!"
"If Tsukishima quits that's his decision." Asahi reminds them. Suga sticks his tongue out while Daichi nods.
"I'd hate for it to happen because I know for a fact he does like the sport, but he's got to make his own choices in life."
"Yeah, yeah." Tanaka waves them off. Kuroo hears another Oya, oya, oya in his mind. He concludes that he's been given brain worms by Bokuto and Akaashi. They infected him. "Anyway, I don't know if it's relevant but back when my sister went to Karasuno there was a guy named Tsukishima on the volleyball team."
Suga brings his finger back to his chin. "Maybe an older brother?" He wonders aloud.
"It came up after the first training camp Nekomata invited us to. She asked if he had an older brother. It could just be a coincidence and they just share the last name, but I don't know, I kind of thought it'd be important to bring up."
Kuroo makes a note of that. Possible older brother who played volleyball. His mind writes. He wants to ask him about it when he gets the chance.
---
A hand on his shoulder shakes him awake. He doesn't bother to see who it is before taking in his surroundings.
The moon is still high in the sky. The stars are either twinkling brighter than before or his eyes are being affected by a shroud of sleepiness. The floor he sits on is freezing, he suppresses a shiver that he can feel sitting at the end of his spine. He isn't in a futon. The ground he's sitting on is much too hard to be a futon. He fell asleep outside, where he had gone to sit and calm down.
Kei blinks. Once, twice, three times. The shroud of sleep leaves his eyes. His glasses are awkwardly pressed against his face at an angle that suggests one of the arms had probably been dislocated as he slept. He takes them off and snaps it back into its correct place with ease.
He looks over to the person who had shaken him awake. Akaashi is crouching over him, a slight frown tugging at his lips.
"Why are you sleeping out here?" He asks.
"Didn't mean to." Kei responds, voice cracking in the middle of his short sentence, like the traitor it is.
"Okay, then go back to your futon." Akaashi taps the door Kei is leaning against. He grunts his acknowledgment but doesn't show any sign of moving. "You're a tall guy but that doesn't mean I can't drag your ass back to it."
"Why?" Kei asks. He wants to go back to sleep, no moving just shutting his eyes again and drifting off to the empty, peaceful abyss of dreamless sleep. He'd been way too tired recently.
"You're asking me why?"
"I can sleep out here."
"And I could easily let you, and your back would hurt like hell in the morning."
Is that Akaashi's way of telling Kei he's being kind?
"I also want everyone we go up against to be in good shape tomorrow."
Kei hums. He'll be in his regular shape. Not even the slightest bit tired. Whether he moves back to his futon or not is irrelevant.
They're both quiet for a second. He knows Akaashi's frown is deepening and he's pretty sure it's out of annoyance.
"Why'd you get so upset and leave earlier?" Akaashi asks instead of telling him to go back to his futon again. "You looked like you were enjoying yourself."
"Oh." Is what Kei blurts out. He didn't mean to, since it doesn't add anything to their conversation.
"Don't let the stuff Kuroo says get to you, he can be a jackass."
"Right."
"Do you want to come jumps blocks for me and Bokuto-san tomorrow too?"
That gives Kei a pause. Instead of numbly blurting some one-word answer or a grunt to respond to Akaashi, he pauses. No. He doesn't want to practice with them again, why would he want to practice with them again? He does fine with the practice he already gets, he's a good player and he doesn't need to strive to be any better than he already is.
Akaashi takes his silence as an answer, but Kei doesn't think it was the answer he was intending.
"You can think it over. It would be nice to practice against new blockers, and I know you would benefit from it as well."
There's a voice in Kei's mind that accuses him of taunting him like Kuroo had, but Akaashi's words lack any bite or malice. He shrugs his shoulders, hoping the second year crouching before him would understand.
He does.
"Are you going back to your futon now?"
Akaashi taps the door he's leaning on again.
Kei nods and sits up.
"Why are you up?" He asks as he stretches his arms above his head. Akaashi stands and turns towards the end of the hallway.
"I needed to pee."
---
"Tsukki!" Someone is shaking him again. He groans. "Tsukki, seriously, get up!" Yamaguchi is whispering close to his face. Kei can feel his face heat up as his friend's hot breath is exhaled onto his cheek.
"Tsukki, you're very bad at pretending to sleep." He tries his best to keep a straight face.
Yamaguchi huffs a breath out of his nose and sits back up. Kei can feel his legs move the futon to curl underneath his torso. He almost mourns the loss of closeness.
"Kei-kun?" Yamaguchi sounds pleading, he can hear the pout that tugs on his pretty lips.
(At this point in their long friendship, he's become an expert at ignoring Yamaguchi-induced pangs in his chest)
Kei's eyes shoot open, his shoulders and chest tense.
(He ignores the snickers that tell him Nishinoya and Hinata most likely stayed behind with Yamaguchi and were currently witnessing Kei melt into a puddle of goo in said friend's hand because it's way too embarrassing to face five minutes after waking up.)
Yamaguchi had called him by his given name when they were still in elementary, but he had stopped that a while ago in favor of the nickname Tsukki that Kei would have really despised coming from anyone else.
Sometimes Yamaguchi would use Kei-kun because he knew it would always catch the oh-so-stoic blonde off guard. He's a little shit who Kei just so happens to love being around and he uses it much more than what's healthy for Kei's heart because he knows he can get whatever he wants when he combines it with a pout.
Yamaguchi has Kei wrapped around his finger, and he thinks that's really lame. Not cool. He doesn't complain though, not to Yamaguchi or to anyone else. Kei knows he's also a little shit who has Yamaguchi wrapped around his finger, so it's not like Yamaguchi has some sort of unfair advantage that tilts the battlefields in his favor.
It feels like he does though, sometimes. Namely when Yamaguchi uses his given name.
"Kei-kun?" Nishinoya sputters through boisterous laughter that bounces off the walls of their room, almost as energetic as he. "Kei-kun is his Achilles heel?"
Hinata tries his best to hide his laughter, but he isn't very good at it. After a moment, he lowers the elbow he was using to cover his face and begins to cackle loudly with Nishinoya, as if they had just witnessed the funniest thing in the world, the funniest thing in the world being an antisocial, stuck up, insufferable Tsukishima Kei having all his efforts of lazing about and sleeping in, ignoring every problem in the world, crumbling at the knees of one Yamaguchi Tadashi, one who is usually much kinder and gentler than he.
Yamaguchi never seemed to be one to enjoy embarrassing others under the watchful eye of strangers, but Kei supposes Nishinoya and Hinata are their teammates and Yamaguchi would have no grievances about humiliating Kei in front of them. It's like he's being bullied. Yamaguchi was bullied, maybe he picked up a thing or two from those stupid elementary schoolers. A thing or two being public humiliation. Kei has never felt a sense of betrayal and despair bigger or deeper than what he is feeling now.
That's an exaggeration, but he's allowed to exaggerate because he doesn't publicly humiliate his friends!
That's petty.
And dramatic.
Kei slows his train of thought, then dumps it into the riverbed he sends all his unwanted or no longer needed thoughts to drown in.
Instead, he chooses to think about how much he hates people, how much he hates their voices and their laughs and whoops of joy at his expense. He hates interacting with people. He wants to sleep in his own bed. He hates futons in classrooms turned dorms that have chilly drafts that he can feel on his face as he sleeps. There is a lot of hatred in his cold, undead heart.
"It's like I can almost hear your thoughts." Yamaguchi looks amused. Kei's cheeks heat up as he glares at him. Yamaguchi chuckles, Kei's glare deepens.
If looks could kill, he'd probably be a mass murderer and Yamaguchi would be the only one who he hadn't managed to deliver a deadly enough blow to. Not yet, anyway. The future is undecided.
Not that he would kill his one friend and the person he happened to see just last night right before the time of death, officer! No, he would never.
Then, in this weird serial killer fantasy of his, Kei is arrested. He is arrested because his alibi sucks and his DNA was found all over the crime scene and, most importantly, because he's snapped back by Hinata, who, much to Kei's dismay, had begun to speak.
"We stayed behind to make sure you didn't kill Yamaguchi for waking you up, you seem like the type to do that. Someone gets on your nerves, you strangle them, you get arrested because your alibi sucks and your DNA is all over the crime scene, and then you rot in jail." Apparently, Hinata is a telepath, or a psychic, or an esper. Whichever term Kei saw fit in a second when he could actually think about that because the confusion as to how Hinata seemed to know exactly what he was thinking just moments ago was pretty distracting. "We can't lose our pinch server! Yamaguchi, oh what would we do without you?!" Hinata laments.
"We can't lose one of our most level-headed blockers either! No murder and no jail, new club rule!" Nishinoya adds. Do they think of anything but volleyball? Kei doesn't think so. Maybe they think it's some sort of common ground they all have, but that's a little too hopeful. They're all obsessed.
Yamaguchi finds it funny, so he laughs. Kei can't laugh. His face is too sour, too set into a scowl, he thinks it may actually get stuck. That wouldn't be a bad thing, he would definitely come off as even less approachable than he is now. That would be a good thing.
He'll know if he goes too far with his not-approachable trait if Yamaguchi starts avoiding him. He'd probably die of remorse before he could fix the problem, though. The ideal scenario is to perform well in volleyball while remaining best friends with Yamaguchi while also chasing everyone else away. It hasn't worked at all this year, so Kei has his sights set on their second year. He will be a hermit when he graduates.
"Is there a story here?" Nishinoya asks with a Cheshire cat-like grin, his pupils are literally in slits. Kei finds it disturbing how he can do that, how his entire team can seem to do that like it's some sort of skill they just picked up the moment they set foot into Karasuno grounds. He wonders if he does it too.
"A story to what?" He asks. Nishinoya's grin drops into a deadpan frown.
"Don't zone out your senpai, Tsukishima Kei!" He barks. "I asked if there was a juicy, dramatic, embarrassing story behind the Kei-kun thing!" Nishinoya is a gossip friend. He loves gossip. He loves embarrassing his friends with stories like they're his children or siblings as well. Kei doesn't know whether to love it or hate it.
He definitely hates it when he's under the spotlight, but his opinion varies from person to person.
The question was directed at Kei, but upon seeing his frown and instantly registering it as an 'I'd rather die than answer that even though it isn't embarrassing and it's too inconsequential to be considered blackmail' type of expression, Yamaguchi takes it upon himself to answer.
"Not really." He rubs the back of his neck. "We called each other by our given names in grade school, but stopped and traded those for Tsukki and my last name sometime through middle school." Yamaguchi stands up, Kei follows him. "Sometimes he uses my given name, but I stored it in an arsenal of weapons I can use to get Tsukki to do what I want!" He seems too smug. Kei's best friend is an evil, evil man.
Hinata relays his thoughts. "You are a genius, Yamaguchi!" His eyes twinkle and he isn't wording it so but by just using a few context clues Kei can presume he's calling Yamaguchi a bastard. Because he is.
"Evil. An evil genius." Kei grumbles. He sits back down to rummage through his bag for the light blue toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste he brought along in a plastic sandwich bag. He kind of admires Yamaguchi for this 'arsenal of weapons,' as much as he acts like he despises it.
"Out and, uh, at 'em?" Nishinoya pauses for just a moment. He raises an eyebrow but quickly settles it as he continues. "Something like that. Tsukishima! Brush your teeth after we eat! My dentist says you should brush your teeth after every meal and there's really no point in brushing your teeth and then eating and then brushing them again not even an hour later!" Nishinoya and Hinata nod at each other. Kei half expects them to leap and bound out of the room, not bothering to wait for him and Yamaguchi to catch up, but they don't. Instead, they wait.
Yamaguchi nudges his side with his own. Kei drops his toothbrush back into his bag and follows at he begins towards the classroom door. Hinata and Nishinoya leave after them. They talk about how gracious the managers are for preparing their meals every morning. It sounds boring, but with the way they are talking Kei'd think they were religious nuts praising some sort of made-up God that commanded everyone like in cults or something. Yamaguchi chimes in occasionally, but he isn't as extreme.
For the half of their walk between point A and point B, Kei is quiet. He takes in the sky, the stars he can very faintly see among the scattered clouds, the sun that's rising towards its peak, how the wind twirls and dances with the blades of grass. He listens to their footsteps, his companion's chatter, and the occasional caw or chirp.
He's dragged into their conversation by a question he can hardly hear right as they pass by the third gym.
"What?" He asks Yamaguchi, who is looking at him expectantly.
"I asked if Akiteru's coming back soon." He repeats. Kei's heart clenches. Akiteru is coming home soon, and he doesn't want to think of that at all. He hates the boulder of dread that it sets in his stomach.
"You can't date my brother, Yamaguchi." He says, choosing to answer with a quip at Yamaguchi's gay awakening crush on his brother instead of answering seriously. It chips at the boulder in his stomach, he feels just the slightest bit lighter.
Nishinoya cackles, Hinata makes a confused noise, Yamaguchi hides his face in his hands and grumbles.
"Damn!" Nishinoya barks. "How hot is his brother, Yamaguchi? Scale of one to nosebleed." Kei grimaces. His brother is not hot, and he really doesn't need to hear about how hot Yamaguchi thinks he is. Keyword thinks. Kei's brother is not hot, and he hates that that's what Nishinoya took from his joke. He should've stayed silent.
"God hates me." Yamaguchi bemoans with eyes squeezed shut and hands shaking at the sky. Kei snickers.
"Aren't siblings supposed to be alike? Who would want to date a Tsukishima?" Hinata wrinkles his nose at the mere thought of it.
"You literally have a sister." Kei waves him off. "Akiteru and I are nothing alike."
Yamaguchi makes a disagreeing grunt, but he doesn't elaborate.
"Oh, good! Then, in that case, Yamaguchi you have my permission to do whatever you want to do with Aki-something!" Hinata beams, he walks with his hands balled into fists on his hips.
"Seriously, how hot is he?" Nishinoya's face is like stone as he asks, like he implied with his words, he looks completely genuine. Kei wishes the ground would swallow him whole, and judging by the exasperated groan Yamaguchi lets out in response to Nishinoya's question, he's longing for the same thing.
"He said he'd be back in a month if everything goes well." Kei decides to save both of their sanity. Sanity is important, and it already depletes just standing around his bothersome teammates so he needs as much of it as he can get his hands on to put up with them. "And my brother isn't hot." He slouches his shoulders and glares daggers at the ground in front of him.
"Yamaguchi, if you want me to approve of this mystery man you're bringing home he has to be hot, and as a bonus, shorter than me."
Kei wishes he had it in him to slap Nishinoya right across the face.
"Well..." Yamaguchi begins. He takes a second before starting again. "He's pretty-"
"Oh my God." Kei stops him there. He wants the ground to swallow him whole and to leave just a little bit of blood behind. Then they'd have no choice but to talk about the murder they had just witnessed instead of how attractive Akiteru is. "Shut up, Yamaguchi, please, before I have to rip my ears off of my head."
"Sorry, Tsukki!" He's laughing. He doesn't sound apologetic.
His laughter gets Kei's lips to quirk up in a tiny smile, though. He has no gripes with it.
"Like that one artist!" Hinata says, excitement radiates from him like he's sharing something he only recently learned. "Van Gogh? Right?" Nishinoya taps his chin and furrows his brow.
"Didn't that guy make that one painting that's supposed to be a guy screaming?" It's painfully obvious their brains are hurting as they try their very hardest to push out whatever knowledge Nishinoya and Hinata have stored in there. It's really a sight to see, and it's so obvious that they think of nothing but sports that it physically hurts.
"No, that was Edvard Munch. You know Starry Night? Van Gogh made that one!" Yamaguchi loves art history. Van Gogh was someone he found particularly interesting. Kei can fondly remember long nights spent talking about the mystery behind his death, his relationship with his family, his mental health. Yamaguchi could talk for hours on end about Art History, Van Gogh in particular, and Kei could talk for hours on end about every version of Zoology. They're both huge nerds, but that's probably why they've stuck by each other's sides for so long. Mutual hunger for knowledge and great (albeit occasionally selective) listening skills.
"Edvard." Nishinoya repeats with an accent that sounds like a terrible Dracula impression. "Anyway, we expected you to bite Yamaguchi's head off after he woke you up, that's why we stayed behind, so what the hell happened?" Nishinoya completely derails their conversation with a single question, effectively cutting Yamaguchi off before he can even begin nerding out. Kei is a little disappointed.
"Don't sound too disappointed." Yamaguchi sighs.
"There were witnesses. Couldn't get away with anything then, if you wanted a murder you should've gone ahead." Kei shrugs his shoulders and bites his bottom lip to hold back a smile as Yamaguchi scoffs.
"You're all bark, Tsukishima, no bite." Hinata tuts his tongue and shakes his head. "I can't believe I ever thought you were scary."
"You thought I was scary?" It takes everything out of him to suppress a smirk.
"You couldn't kill me if you tried!"
"Ah, you're probably right." Kei says. He turns his head to face Yamaguchi, who is walking right at his side. "But it's not that I couldn't, more like I wouldn't." He doesn't look away fast enough to avoid an unusual red tint filling Yamaguchi's cheeks as he gapes at him. It tugs at his chest, but he pointedly ignores that and thinks, very dramatically, about how much he longs to live a life devoid of all confusing emotions.
"FAVORITISM! This is like..." Nishinoya makes a few angered grumbles as he searches for whatever word is on the tip of his tongue. Hinata stays surprisingly quiet. "Nepotism! Best friend privileges!" Kei hardly understands his outrage, but it's amusing nonetheless. "Pretty privilege, best friend privilege, Yamaguchi you are really getting on my nerves!"
"Pretty privilege?" Yamaguchi blanches.
"Have you seen your face?" Hinata finally speaks. His silence was dragging on for too long, Kei almost thought that he was deep in thought.
"Is that a compliment?"
"Duh! You have freckles, Yamaguchi! That's really cool!"
He's right, but there's no way in hell Kei will acknowledge that and reveal how very attractive he thinks Yamaguchi is in front of Hinata and Nishinoya, who are constantly looking for ways to bring him down a peg, trying to find all of his weak spots. They should talk to Kuroo if they want that, he thinks bitterly. He regrets it a little bit, the thought stings his stomach, but he brushes it off and turns his attention elsewhere to a clearing he can just barely spot past a thick wall of trees.
The walk to Shinzen's cafeteria is hardly five minutes long. The campus is huge, and its size alone has Kei wondering how long the school's passing periods are.
Nishinoya and Hinata rush towards the table Tanaka, Narita, and Kinoshita are sitting. Yamaguchi and Kei stand together in silence for a moment, scanning the cafeteria for a nice place to sit. Yamaguchi fidgety at his side, like he wants to ask something. Kei wants to coax it out of him, but before he can even turn to meet his eyes Akaashi appears before them.
"Have you thought about it?" He asks. Kei raises an eyebrow. Thought about what?
It takes a second, but then he remembers. The previously raised eyebrow settles back down above his eye.
"Thought about what?" Yamaguchi asks. Akaashi simply shrugs in response, momentarily tilting his body to make eye contact with him.
"He asked me if I wanted to block for him and Bokuto tonight."
Yamaguchi acknowledges his words with a hum and a nod, but nothing else. Kei is very grateful for that. He knows that if Nishinoya and Hinata had stayed behind long enough to hear the offer he was given, they would push him into accepting it.
If he's being completely honest, he has no idea whether or not he wants to go with Akaashi and Bokuto to practice with them. Bokuto is loud and annoying, and while Akaashi is much quieter and gives off a peaceful vibe that pretty much makes up for how excitable and outrageous Bokuto is, that doesn't change much in his eyes. Kei wants to laze about after their matches today, but he isn't going to deny he needs to improve if he wants to stay in the starting lineup.
(Why does he want to stay in the starting lineup so bad? It's probably nothing, and it most definitely has nothing to do with the fact that he enjoys playing with this team or with what happened to his brother. No, nothing like that. These thoughts hardly tug at his attention, so they aren't important.)
"I just woke up." He says. Akaashi gives him an incredulous look, asking 'so?' "Haven't had much time to think."
Akaashi stares at him for a moment that drags on for way too long. Kei shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot when he finally looks away to Yamaguchi, who he bows to, before turning back. Before he can leave, Bokuto skips over to them, a hand shot up into the air in a wave.
"Tsukki-poo!" He calls. Kei cringes, Yamaguchi stiffens beside him.
He doesn't like it when other people call Kei 'Tsukki' for some odd reason. Kei assumes it's because Yamaguchi knows he doesn't like it, but Yamaguchi's motives elude him.
"You're jumping blocks for us tonight, right?" Bokuto asks. Kei shrugs. Half of him thinks it'd be funny to just say 'no' and walk away, leaving a dejected Bokuto to pout at his answer behind. He doesn't do that though, because he is a good person who is certainly not a dick to others. Never in a million years would that ever happen.
Sometimes, Kei thinks that if sarcasm were a liquid like water he would've flooded the Earth the moment he was conceived.
"I think I should be allowed to eat before everyone starts bombarding me with questions all at once." He avoids Bokuto's question and looks away towards the kitchen, where he can spot Kiyoko and a few other managers from the Tokyo schools serving breakfast. A meal consisting of rice, miso soup, and meat, with optional fruits and vegetables sitting in baskets nearby.
Bokuto raises his arms and shakes his head. A frown forms on his face. "Alright, but I'm asking you after our matches today, too!"
And with that, Bokuto and Akaashi take off towards a table sitting a few Fukurodani members, Kuroo, and Kenma.
Yamaguchi brushes Kei's elbow with his own. He nods towards the relatively empty table Daichi and Suga are sitting at, like he's suggesting they go there. Kei grunts to acknowledge him, then starts towards the kitchen with Yamaguchi trailing just slightly behind.
---
Karasuno stands before Ukai and Daichi, looking at them both with expectant eyes. After losing a match against Nekoma and running their penalty laps, the two had called them over for some kind of team meeting during the short time they had before the next match.
"Okay, now, look." Coach Ukai begins. He crosses his arms over his chest and leans his torso back so slightly it'd be unnoticeable if Kei hadn't been paying attention. His crossed arms and his posture suggest he's feeling guarded. "I know you've taken quite the beating from these other teams, but that doesn't mean you're not improving." He uncrosses his arms. "You're all doing exceptionally well, we aren't a bad team, it's just that these teams specifically are better at keeping the ball in the air than we are, which means they're good practice. Don't let our losses discourage you."
The team knows this. Kei knows they're all well aware that they're improving with every match. The fact that they haven't won anything yet doesn't mean much to them.
Kei thinks it would be nice to win once or twice. He hates the penalty laps. He hates the moments he has to take every time they run to catch his breath, he hates sending a concerned Yamaguchi to run ahead of him. It would be nice to relax, just once. His legs feel like they're on fire.
"Uh, if I may?" Yachi slides into their circle next to Daichi. The team looks to her expectantly. "You've all improved a lot since we came here! I mean, I-I know it's only been two days, and the penalty laps you keep running are probably really tiring you out, but I think it's all going to be worth it!" She takes a moment to catch her breath or to think of her next words. She seems uncomfortable with everyone's attention on her, but she pushes through that to praise them. Kei thinks it's sweet. "Kageyama's setting is getting a lot better, not that it wasn't already great but it's changing! I-in a good way, too! And Hinata is beginning to rely less on crazy accurate sets to hit the ball, and that synchro attack is really coming along great, and Yamaguchi, you're serving is getting a lot better! That isn't to say it was bad before, but-" Yachi peeks into the notebook she's holding close to her chest. Her cheeks are tinted a light pink, she looks like she's about to panic. Kei assumes she probably thinks she's not saying the right things, but judging by the tears welling up inside of Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata's eyes she's hitting all the right notes.
Daichi places a steady hand on her shoulder, but she only tenses up more. He removes it, instead opting to awkwardly rub the back of his neck as he speaks. "Thank you, Yachi."
"Yeah, thanks Yachi!" Hinata's voice cracks, Nishinoya pats his back while holding his free arm over his eyes to hide dramatic tears. Yamaguchi, who stands at his place next to Kei, looks like he's feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions thanks to the praise Yachi had given them.
Kei really doesn't get it, but there's something in his chest that feels very vaguely like a kind of familial pride. He can't say what it was caused by, but he thinks it may be because Yachi's speech had contained the most words she had ever spoken to the entire team at once, and apparently Kei has a sort of soft spot for her.
Yachi bows her head an unnecessary amount of times, murmuring something to herself before she half runs half walks with composure that looks like it's about to break away.
Daichi claps his hands together to get their attention. When it doesn't work, he clears his throat. That doesn't work either. Kei almost laughs as he waves his hands over his head in defeat and walks away. Suga waits a moment before loudly laughing at his actions and going to follow him.
Yamaguchi and Kei wordlessly go to pick up their water bottles that are sat on a bench nearby the doors to the gym. They don't notice Asahi following them until they stop and lean against the wall to the left of the gym doors.
Asahi and Yamaguchi begin to compliment each others serving. Kei doesn't chime in.
He feels a little out of place just listening to them.
Only when their conversation dies out and Asahi relaxes against the wall next to Yamaguchi does he speak.
"Isn't it annoying?" Kei begins. He starts out quiet.
"Isn't what annoying?" Asahi asks.
"That Hinata is trying to eclipse you. I saw what happened earlier, and we all know he wants to be the ace."
Asahi hums.
"Annoying isn't the word I'd use. It makes me feel a little nervous, yeah, but it helps me motivate myself. Like, I'm not going to let him surpass me, you know?"
Not really. Kei would prefer to just sit back as Hinata rises through the ranks. Stopping him would be impossible.
"I know it's my last year here, last year with this team. I don't plan on playing volleyball past this, but while I'm still here I'd like to keep my position as this team's ace. I want to be the guy you all know you can rely on, and if that means I have to fight against guys like Tanaka and Hinata to keep my spot I'm not going to back down."
There's something fierce in his eyes as he speaks. Kei doesn't want to admit it, but something about it makes him want to start pushing himself just a little more. It's pretty random though, and Kei is much too stubborn to actually begin to try harder on a whim.
"Do you feel threatened by him?" Asahi asks.
Kei hesitates.
He wants to say no, but he isn't sure how Asahi will react to that.
He doesn't find Hinata threatening in the slightest. He's just annoying, like a fly that won't leave you alone no matter how much you swat at it.
"He's probably your closest competition. The kid's always striving to do better and to improve, and since you're both middle blockers you're probably feeling the effects of that more than any of us wing spikers are."
"Not really."
"Why not?"
"I know he's improving. I'm not blind. It's more annoying than threatening."
"Why do you find it annoying?"
Why? The child asks its mother. She answers. Why? The child continues to prod. The mother can feel her patience dwindling.
Kei hopes Asahi knows he sounds like a five-year-old.
"It just is." He shrugs.
Asahi nods, but his expression is riddled with a sort of doubt that seems condescending. Kei knows he's probably not trying to come off that way and he's probably just being defensive, but he still hates it.
"Think on that, maybe?"
His doubtful expression turns hopeful as Kei snaps his head around to fully meet Asahi's eyes.
"Are you trying to stir something?"
"No! Not at all! I'm just saying..."
He trails off. A whistle blows. Daichi calls them back inside.
Kei just misses Yamaguchi's contemplative expression as they enter the gymnasium.
---
Yamaguchi approaches him as he's picking up his water bottle. There's a towel wrapped around his shoulders and he's preparing to leave.
"Do you want to practice serving with me?" He asks.
Kei raises an eyebrow at him. Instead of answering, he looks over his shoulder to the gym full of sweaty teenagers that are all trying to be their very best behind him.
"I don't get why everyone is trying so hard." He murmurs, just loud enough for only Yamaguchi to hear.
"What?"
"It's just a club, or an extracurricular. I don't get it."
Yamaguchi deflates.
A pregnant pause hangs over them.
"Tsukki?" Yamaguchi speaks up. He seems hesitant, but straightens his posture and puffs out his chest so very slightly that it'd be unnoticeable to an unobservant eye when he sees he has Kei's full attention. "You should start picking up your feet. At the rate you're going, you're gonna end up dragging everyone else down."
Kei gapes at him.
Yamaguchi's previous confident composure completely deflates, he looks shocked at himself.
"Oh my God, wait, I didn't mean-" He laughs, it sounds awkward and forced. "Holy shit, that came out so wrong, I really, really didn't mean that to sound so harsh! I just meant that... that." Yamaguchi moans his annoyance at himself and buries his face in his hands. "Sorry, Tsukki, I really didn't mean that."
"It's fine." Is all Kei finds himself saying.
Did he miss something? Yamaguchi had been getting a lot bolder ever since they joined Karasuno's volleyball club, but Kei didn't think he'd get that bold. He'd never said anything like that to Kei before. He won't complain about it, though. He can't complain about it. He doesn't want to complain about it. It just means Yamaguchi is getting more comfortable in his own skin, and that's a good thing.
"Sorry, sorry! Really, really sorry!" Yamaguchi sighs. "I'm going to practice with Asahi, see you later."
He takes a step away, then stops.
"Maybe, uh, listen to me though?" Yamaguchi turns back towards Kei, there's a fierce determination in his eyes as he meets his. It fades after a second when he begins to panic, again. "I mean, you don't have to, it's probably not my place and you can do what you want, free will and all, you know? Sorry, again, really sorry." He whines. "Okay, I feel like I'm about to explode, I'll see you later, yeah?"
Kei nods.
"You don't have to be so nervous about this stuff, Yamaguchi." He breathes out an airy chuckle. Yamaguchi bites his bottom lip and brings his hands back up to hide his face, but he nods.
Kei listens to him.
His words buzz around in his mind, and he listens to them, but he doesn't approach anyone in their team.
Instead, he leaves for the third, where he knows Akaashi and Bokuto will be practicing.
He hesitates as the gym doors come into view.
Something in his stomach tells him that he should just go to sleep, that it really isn't worth it. It tells him he's practiced enough and he should continue doing what he always does and he should go to sleep or to relax on his futon instead of taking some stranger up on his request.
Or, Akaashi really isn't a stranger. More like an acquaintance that Kei finds much more mellow and more bearable than Kuroo and Bokuto.
He squishes that voice down, represses it to the very back of his mind, sucks it up, and enters the gym.
Akaashi spots him and perks up.
"Tsukishima-san." He greets with a wave.
"Tsukishima!" Bokuto cheers. "You're here! Totally thought you'd be a dick and leave us hanging, hi!"
Kei cringes.
Jeez.
Kuroo stands at the net, hands on his hips with a weird grin on his face.
Jeez.
Kei hates these guys.
(He doesn't, he's just saying that. The word hate has lost all meaning to him. He uses it too much.)
"Do you want to jump some blocks for us?" Akaashi asks. Kei glances around the gym before answering, like he's been invited to some conspiracy that he needs to keep on the down-low lest he wishes to get kicked out within a day.
Lev and Yaku are there, just like they were yesterday, practicing their receiving. A few Fukurodani and Shinzen players stand at the back of the gym, talking among themselves. Kei can't hear anything they're saying.
There's a busted light in the corner that keeps flickering that catches Kei's eye. He narrows his eyes at it, hopelessly willing it to get its shit together.
He looks back towards Akaashi and relaxes his features. "Yeah."
Akaashi grins a little, Bokuto grins a lot. It's almost blinding how bright he looks at Kei's answer.
"You'll be blocking with me then, Glasses!" Kuroo raises an arm into the air to wave him over.
Kei narrows his eyes at him. Shouldn't he be helping Yaku and Lev or something?
(That's petty.)
The two in question are doing just fine by themselves, Lev keeps getting distracted and Yaku has been trying to rein him in a lot but they're doing fine.
"Don't give me that look." Kuroo scoffs as Kei approaches him. "And, uh, look. I don't necessarily get why the stuff I said got to you so much last night, but I'm sorry. My bad, y'know. You alright?"
His concern is confusing.
Kei pulls a face.
"I'm fine. I was just tired last night, that's why I reacted the way I did. You're annoying, but you didn't say anything bad."
Half lie, half-truth. Or is it a white lie? Kei can't remember.
He pushes the memories that try to flood his brain down. All the way down. So far down he hopes they'll never try to resurface again.
He isn't looking at Kuroo directly, but he can see him frown and narrow his eyes.
"You can keep using that excuse if you want, but it's a pretty lousy one."
"It isn't an excuse."
"Sure, Princess."
Kuroo scoffs at him, Kei scoffs back.
Kuroo scoffs again, Kei scoffs in retaliation.
Then they repeat.
And repeat.
And repeat.
And repeat.
Before Kei whips his head around and levels him with a glare that Kuroo seems annoyingly unaffected by.
"You started it." The Nekoma captain huffs.
It's there that Kei decides the word annoying is a perfect match for Kuroo.
"If you're finished..." Bokuto grabs their attention with a voice that's too judgmental and deadpan for Kei to really believe it came out of his mouth.
Akaashi stands next to him with a raised eyebrow and one hand on his hip.
"Are you two toddlers?"
He looks completely serious, but his tone rats him out. He's teasing. Kei wants to rip his ears out of his head.
"Are we going to start?"
Kuroo grunts.
"Yeah."
(The fact that he has fun jumping blocks for them is a secret Kei will take to the grave.)
---
Sometime later, Kuroo leaves to help Yaku and Lev. The latter had taken to doing something dramatic, like screaming or crying or pretending to have a heart attack every time Lev would express interest in something other than receiving. It was amusing but distracting and loud.
So then it was only Akaashi, Bokuto, and Kei. Bokuto didn't let up when Kuroo left.
Kei kind of thinks he started to play harder, focus harder as if he were in a real game.
That could be attributed to the lack of support Kei had all by himself but he didn't think that was very pleasant.
Akaashi seemed smug. Too smug.
When the rest of the Nekoma team followed Kai and Kemna into the gymnasium and began to suggest they play some three on threes, Kei left.
He doesn't go straight to the showers, instead, he wanders around.
It isn't long before he bumps into Yamaguchi, Asahi, and Hinata, who are making their way back to the building where they had been assigned a room to sleep in.
"What are you up to, wandering around in the dark by yourself?" Hinata asks. "Did you kill someone?"
Kei can't see his face, but his tone sounds serious. He wants to laugh.
"You're next."
"All bark, no bite."
"You won't be saying that when I'm twisting a knife into your back."
"You'd only be able to do that if you could catch me!"
"Then you won't be saying All bark, no bite when I'm chasing you with a gun."
Asahi slaps a hand over his face.
"If Hinata ever goes missing, we probably know who caused it." Yamaguchi says solemnly. "I can't believe my best friend would do something like that! I'll have to rat him out, just to clear my own conscience."
Kei chuckles. "Who says you didn't help me?"
"I'd say you blackmailed me."
"You wouldn't."
"I'm full of surprises."
He almost sounds flirty.
"Didn't Noya make this stuff against the rules? No murder, no jail time?" Asahi asks.
"Rules are not meant to be broken." Hinata agrees with a nod of his head. "We cherish these rules."
"Lord and savior-" Yamaguchi begins.
"We are not worshipping a couple of made-up rules."
Yamaguchi giggles.
By the surprised look on his face, Kei doubts he meant to.
That goes directly to the Yamaguchi section of his brain.
The fact that he can see his features and make out his expressions in the dark of the night with only the moon very faintly illuminating them makes Kei realize he's standing too close. He takes a step away, but Yamaguchi follows him.
That also gets stored in the Yamaguchi section of his brain.
"Tsukishima, you're a good guy, right?" Asahi begins.
"Good describes puppies and flowers. Don't tarnish that word with that guy." Hinata scoffs.
It's playful, and for some reason that helps Kei relax a little more.
He hates when he can't see people's faces, especially when they're in the dark. He's steadily getting better at reading tone, and he's confident enough in his ability to do so now, but he always feels so uneasy when he can't reassure his assumption with the looks on their face or the glints in their eyes.
"I'm a great guy. The best." Kei huffs. "I've no clue why you would even have to ask that." He rolls his eyes. He doubts anyone but Yamaguchi can see.
"Good guys don't threaten their teammates with murder." Asahi's voice is disapproving.
"This is how I let people know they get on my nerves."
"He can't do it in any other way. The words escape him."
Kei feels a deep, dramatic sense of despair and betrayal. Twice in one day, Yamaguchi goes and he says things to expose him to other people! What the hell!
"You could be, like, a Tsukishima translater." Hinata hums thoughtfully.
"Do you want to know what he's thinking right now?"
"Are you a mind reader?"
Yamaguchi takes a close, long look at his face. Kei wills his cheeks to stay the way they are, cool and getting cooler with the way the night breeze brushes against his face. Nothing ever goes the way he wants it to, so he can feel his cheeks heat up. He wants to die.
"Oh, wow! Tadashi's so close, I don't know whether to kiss him or throw him off a bridge!" Yamaguchi exclaims in a high, squeaky voice. Kei wants to die and he wants to take Yamaguchi, or Tadashi, as he's calling him in this scenario, with him. "Your cheeks are red."
Hinata bursts into a fit of laughter. Asahi only shakes his head fondly.
"I'm getting sick. Oh no, I'm going to puke. Oh no, if you don't step away I'm going to puke all over your face." He deadpans.
"No, you want to kiss me or throw me off a bridge. You're going off script."
"I might take you up on the throwing you off a bridge offer. Next time we're near a body of water please be careful with what you say."
"You could always kiss me instead."
"Please, stop flirting. I think I'm going to be the sick one." Hinata groans. Asahi covers his face with his hands. Kei marvels at how gigantic and scary he originally seemed and how timid and small he can actually be.
"Hinata!" Yamaguchi snaps. "He was about to kiss me!"
"No, I wasn't."
"Hinata, you ruined my first kiss."
"Have your first kiss somewhere else!"
Reasonably, Kei knows Yamaguchi is just playing with him, because they're friends and they're talking to their other (reluctantly titled) friends and that's just what people do. He wishes he would choose literally anything else to tease him with, though, because Kei is about to explode. He thanks the heavens Asahi and Hinata can't see his face and he thanks the heavens for blessing him with the ability to keep his composure on the outside when all the alarms are going off in his head and his chest is about to explode.
"I feel like I'm missing something." Asahi whispers.
"Missing what?" Hinata asks.
"Why are we talking about first kisses?"
"Yamaguchi brought it up. Hey, Asahi have you had your first kiss?"
It goes silent.
"Asahi?"
"Don't laugh."
Another silence.
"No."
Hinata slaps his hand over his mouth to conceal his gasp. It doesn't work very well. "But... you're so, I don't know, you!"
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes, that's a good thing! Why does every ask if I'm talking about good things, I'm always talking about good things!"
"Not with Kageyama."
"Nuh-uh, I say plenty of good things about him! He just doesn't say anything back because he's an asshole. I should stop praising him. Never praise him again. If I can't get anything in return he won't get anything upfront or whatever."
"That's selfish." It's not that Kei wouldn't mind if Hinata stopped praising Kageyama on his good sets, serves, etc, he rarely does it anyway, but it is selfish, so he's going to point it out.
"I'm allowed to be selfish. Me first, then Kageyama. I'll think of it as compliment deprivation therapy. If he compliments me then I'll start complimenting him again."
"You rarely compliment him as it is."
"He never deserves them! Anyway, Kageyama is an outlier, I'm nice to everyone else!"
"What about me?" Kei snickers.
"Yamaguchi can make up for every bad thing I say about you."
"I can only do that for you, Hinata. If I had to make up for every bad thing both you and Kageyama said about him we'd be together for a lifetime."
"We'd be together for a lifetime anyway."
"You're flirting again." Hinata warns.
"It's getting late, I'm going to hit the showers and then go to bed, I think I might end up passing out as soon as the water hits my back, though." Asahi stifles a yawn. "You guys should come with, tomorrow's only day three, we need our rest." He gently talks like he's a parent. Kei thinks he would be terrible with kids, though.
"Actually, Tsukki, do you want to explore the woods? I heard some of the others talking about a creek and a clearing nearby, I wanna check it out."
"Guys, seriously I guarantee you everyone else is heading off to bed. It's really late, we should too." Asahi scolds them. Gently, like before, as a good parent would. He'd still be terrible with kids though, Kei doesn't think he'd know what to do with himself. Kei probably wouldn't be any better.
"Fukurodani and Nekoma are doing three on threes in the third gym, it's not that late." Kei shrugs. "Plus, I'm not tired."
"Me neither."
Kei knows that's a lie.
Yamaguchi gets much flirtier when he's tired.
"Who is doing three on threes?" Hinata bounces a little as he speaks.
"Hinata." Asahi sighs, exasperated. "Just don't stay up too late. Tomorrow will be torture if you do."
"Third gym, right?"
"I aimed that last part at Yamaguchi and Tsukishima."
"I have boundless energy, Asahi! I'm going to start jumping off the walls if I can't release it!"
"Hinata, please."
"Suga would let me go."
"I'm not your dad. But, Hinata, think of the games we're going to play tomorrow."
"Also, Daichi wouldn't let you go."
"Thank you, Tsukishima!"
Hinata kicks the ground and mutters something to himself. He reminds Kei of a child whose mother just told him they can't get the candy the child wants.
"Don't stay out too late." Asahi tells them. "And don't fall asleep out here, bugs will crawl in your ear." Asahi shivers and Kei thinks he might've been able to hear a whimper. "No one wants that."
"You sound like a dad."
"A dad and Daichi. A Dadchi."
"That sounds like a pokemon."
"What type would it be?"
"You guys are nerds." Hinata cuts in with a snicker.
Kei raises an eyebrow. Who was it that interrupted a sleepover by repeatedly calling Yamaguchi until he picked up just so he could gush about Pokémon GO? Oh, right. Hinata Shoyo. That's who.
"I'm trying my best here, you three are like little babies who refuse to go to sleep!" Asahi grabs Hinata by the collar of his shirt. "Alright, I think that's enough! We're going to hit the showers. Goodnight guys." Hinata squirms, but he doesn't remove himself from Asahi's grip. Kei thinks he might be pouting by the way he raises his shoulders to his ears and crosses his arms.
"Night!"
"Don't let the bed bugs crawl into your ear."
Asahi drags Hinata away.
Yamaguchi grabs his arm and begins to lead him up the grassy hill they stood before.
"Do you think a Dadchi would be a psychic type?" Yamaguchi asks as he loops their arms together.
"Why a psychic type?"
"He can kind of send telepathic messages, but with his eyes. I thought you would've noticed, he does it to you and Kageyama the most I think."
"Oh, I've noticed." Kei grumbles, balling his hands into fists. "It's creepy."
"I think, if anyone in our team were to be a mind reader, It'd be Daichi."
"I think he can only send telepathic messages, I don't know if he can actually read minds. I think Hinata could do that."
"Why Hinata?"
"He always knows what people are thinking, it's even creepier than Daichi's judgey stare thing."
Yamaguchi giggles, again. It goes to the Yamaguchi section of Kei's brain, like everything else he does. That section is getting awfully full. "Nah, that's probably because he's a lot more socially aware than you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kei takes his arm back and crosses his arms over his chest. He sticks out his bottom lip and glares at the trees in front of them.
Yamaguchi traps his arm with his again. "It's nothing bad, don't get all pouty on me. It's a part of your charm."
"What charm?"
He half expects Yamaguchi to call him out for fishing with that, but he doesn't.
"You're very you. That's a part of your charm, sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"And you're hot, you have great eyes and if you weren't wearing your glasses I could probably stare at them all day because I know I wouldn't get caught, your eyesight is shit. You act like you don't care a lot of the time, but you also take the time to remind me that you do actually enjoy my company and I think that's nice! Plus, you have a hot brother. Like, a really, really, really-"
"Shut up, Tadashi."
He bends over laughing.
Kei takes his arm back and thanks the dark night and the shadows the trees they walk through cover them with for hiding his face. Despite the cold night breeze, he feels impossibly hot.
"If you don't stop taking your arm back I'm going to hold your hand with the tightest grip I can. I'd be aiming to cut off your blood flow."
Wow. He's touchy.
And bold.
And cruel.
Kei keeps his arms crossed over his chest. "You're being too touchy."
"Sorry, is that a bad thing?"
Yes, because his heart is about to sprout wings and fly out of his chest, no shit it's a bad thing. He wouldn't be surprised if Yamaguchi mentioned how loud his chest was, he feels like everyone back in Sendai can hear it, it might even be loud enough for a select few Americans to very faintly hear it as they begin to wake up and go about their day. Someone might even thank his heartbeat for being their alarm since they forgot to set one the night before.
Timezones.
"Not really." He mumbles against his better judgment. Yamaguchi hums and takes his hand.
He gently squeezes it once before letting go and looping their arms together again.
Kei feels like he might die.
Yamaguchi drops his arm and stops. They stand in the clearing Kei had noticed earlier in the morning as they were walking to the cafeteria. A small, shimmering creek runs a little further away.
"Here it is!" Yamaguchi flops down into the grass. "Lay down, Tsukki, we're stargazing."
"There are no stars, though."
"We're cloud gazing."
Kei huffs out a laugh and lays next to him. He pillows his head with his arms and stares up at the night sky, covered by almost black clouds. The moon shyly peeks out from behind one of them, its dim light illuminates the two teenagers laying down in the grass.
"I think I heard some of the Shinzen students say they come here to fuck during the school days."
Kei bolts back up, suddenly feeling like a million bugs are crawling up his spine.
"What the hell, Yamaguchi?"
"Don't touch any white stuff you find."
"Yamaguchi!"
And then he laughs. The bastard laughs. He sits up, throws his head back, hugs his stomach, and laughs.
The bugs leave Kei's spine. He relaxes back into the grass.
"That was a joke, right?" He asks, unwelcome desperation seeps into his tone.
"No. They might just be rumors, though." Yamaguchi very unhelpfully provides. Kei groans.
"Why would you want to come here then?"
Yamaguchi snickers. "Come."
"I'm going to choke you."
"You do seem like the kind of person who likes it rough."
He feels scandalized.
"Shut up, Tadashi."
"Sorry, Tsukki!"
A very welcome silence overcomes them.
Very, very welcome silence.
For a second, Kei wonders who the hell influenced Yamaguchi to be so, so... like this. It's not like it's unpleasant, Kei would be lying if he said he didn't think it was funny.
"Did you go practice with Akaashi?" Yamaguchi asks, snapping the silence like a twig.
"And Bokuto and Kuroo, yeah."
Yamaguchi's smile widens, Kei thinks it might start to hurt his cheeks.
"I needed something to do." He says, like an idiot. Yamaguchi's smile drops and his mood deflates almost instantly.
"Oh."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
Silence overcomes them again, this time it's uncomfortable. Kei itches to say something, literally anything to make Yamaguchi smile again, but he doesn't.
"Ask me why I took you here again?"
Again, it's Yamaguchi breaking the silence.
"Why?"
"Just ask."
"Why did you take me here?"
Yamaguchi giggles. "No idea. I just heard some Shinzen students talking about their partners and how this is a spot where their peers go to hookup and my mind immediately went to you. It's pretty though, right?"
Kei ignores the implications of what Yamaguchi had said in response.
"I can hardly see it."
"I think you might need new glasses."
"The creek is kind of shiny, though. I think."
"Yeah, I think that's the second-best part."
"What's the first?"
Yamaguchi looks at him like he's stupid.
Which he isn't. He's incredibly smart. Not socially, but he's very smart.
Yamaguchi sighs.
"The moon."
"It's behind a bunch of clouds."
"I'd wax poetry and list your similarities to the moon but I think it'd end up coming out very wrong and cringey. I was talking about you, dumbass."
Alarm bells ring in his head.
"That is pretty cringey."
Yamaguchi sits up.
"We should leave. I'm getting tired."
Kei hums. He stands up and offers a hand to Yamaguchi, who stares at it before taking it with a grip that makes Kei think he's being treated like a doll made of glass. He yanks him up. Yamaguchi falls into his chest. Before he can do anything to push him off, he's already on his feet and rubbing his forehead.
"Ow, Tsukki!"
He stifles a laugh.