Yamaguchi walked along quietly beside his friend. It was an uncomfortable silence that accompanied them for most of the walk.
Tsukishima didn't find it uncomfortable, he had his headphones on but for Yamaguchi it was absolute hell. He hated any kind of silence because it left him alone with his thoughts. The same thoughts that constantly refused to shut up about his blond friend. His mind was always on the blond male and he couldn't get that to change. He's tried and failed many times.
He's had a crush on his best friend for years and still refuses to tell him for fear of ruining their current relationship.
Tsukishima wouldn't like him back, he knew that. He was an anxious wreck with horrid freckles littering his body. He hated his freckles with a passion — even if his friends said they were fine, hell even if Tsukishima said they were fine.
His eyes were such a dark chocolate brown, you could easily mistake them for being black.
He just wanted to look better, at the very least, then maybe he'd have a chance with someone even if it wasn't Tsukishima.
He could stare into Tsukishima's golden-brown eyes for hours, admiring how beautiful they were compared to his own. The only reason he didn't was that he hated making eye contact with the blond. His heartbeat sped up every time, forcing him to look away again.
He saw Tsukishima's house coming up in the distance and a small smile spread across his face. At least he got to sleep over tonight, even if his feelings would screw him over. They always slept in the same bed and it never affected the other male but bugged him. They were so close together in that bed, he could always feel Tsukishima's body heat without touching him.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by someone tapping his shoulder. His head snapped up to look at his friend.
They made eye contact.
'Fuck.'
He'd never averted his gaze faster in his life. Mentally taking note that they'd arrived, he began following his friend.
They entered and both took off their shoes at the entrance. Akiteru appeared around the corner soon after hearing the door.
"Hey! How was practice?" Unsurprisingly, Tsukishima ignored his brother completely. Yamaguchi watched the blond retreat upstairs without uttering a word.
"U-um Tsukki! Oh- It was fun. H-hey, wait!" He made some effort to respond to Akiteru as he scrambled to keep up with his friend. He heard Tsukishima's brother laugh downstairs at his efforts but it was more of a sympathetic laugh than an amused one.
Tsukishima opened the door to his room and walked in, holding it open lazily until Yamaguchi got inside before he closed it. Yamaguchi dropped his bag near the door and flopped onto the bed.
It smelled like Tsukishima.
'No shit Sherlock, it's his bed.'
He would've laughed at his thought but it would be weird to just laugh out of nowhere. Of course, he could explain himself but how the hell do you explain that you were thinking his bloody bed smells like him.
The level of 'what the fuck?' energy he'd receive from Tsukishima would be rather extreme.
"What should we do?" He turned around to sit up and look at Tsukishima.
"Well, first of all, change out of our uniform." He deadpanned as he looked in his cupboard.
"R-right.." Yamaguchi got up and walked over, bending down into a crouching position to look for clothes to wear. He'd been to this house so many times that he kept spare clothes here. It was always at bottom of the cupboard but he didn't mind. It would certainly be bothersome if it were at the very top, where only Tsukishima could reach.
Tsukishima walked off to the bathroom to change since he was the first to get his preferred outfit. They had a system, the first to get their outfit goes to the bathroom, and the other changes in the bedroom. It worked out since whoever was in the bathroom didn't come out till they knew the other was done. It wasn't long before Yamaguchi found an outfit and changed into it.
"Okay!" He yelled to signal he was done. The blond came back in and sat on his bed.
"Alright, now the question from earlier is valid," Tsukishima smirked at him and he blushed lightly.
'Why is he always so attractive when he smirks like that?! My heart can't with this man!'
He looked away in time to hide his blush and pretended to examine the room for anything to do. Though he could feel a pair of eyes burning into the back of his skull.
"Uh... S-should we just play a game like we usually do?" Yamaguchi gave up after a little bit and turned to face Tsukishima again.
"Oh yeah, I got a new one." He seemed excited for some reason. This was a dead giveaway that it was about dinosaurs. His friend always liked them for some reason. Honestly, Yamaguchi could understand their interest in them. They were cool. He didn't like them himself because they were kinda scary but it was cute seeing Tsukishima get uncharacteristically happy whenever dinosaurs were involved. This interest had resulted in Yamaguchi having watched the Jurrasic Park movies multiple times just to be able to understand Tsukishima going on tangents and rants about what they could've done better or what he liked about the dinosaurs.
'Did I just describe this tall stick of sarcasm as cute? I've fallen head over heels, haven't I? Oh god. Ignore your feelings sir, he's your friend.'
He was snapped out of it when the start-up sound of a game played and he walked over and picked up a controller. He set himself at a comfortable distance from the other as he scanned over the cover of the game. It was a dinosaur game. A survival game. Ark Survival or something. He knew he was going to die within the first few minutes but he ignored that fact and glanced at Tsukishima.
"This looks cool!" He chirped happily at the blond.
"Yeah, that's why I got it," Tsukishima smirked at him and he changed his focus to the screen to avoid blushing again.
---
"Uugggh!" Yamaguchi dropped the controller onto the carpet and hid his face in his hands.
"And this is why we don't jump off random cliffs." Tsukishima chuckled. It was rare for him to laugh so Yamaguchi blushed in his hands and stayed there like that until he calmed down.
"Okay, I think that's enough of that." Tsukishima saved their progress and switched off the game.
As if on cue someone knocked on the door.
"Yeah?" Tsukishima called to whomever. Yamaguchi predicted that if it was Akiteru he'd probably ignore him. The door opened and revealed Tsukishima's mother.
"Hey boys. Dinner is made so you'll have to come to fetch it." She smiled softly as Tsukishima stretched.
"Y-yes thank you!" Yamaguchi scrambled off the floor to bow.
"Oh! No need to be so formal about it!" She laughed,
"You're basically part of the family." Ms. Tsukishima smiled at him. He blushed furiously at the thought of it.
She then left them to their own devices and they made a silent agreement to go downstairs and fetch their food. It was toasted sandwiches.
Akiteru was standing in the kitchen staring at a wall as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. Though he turned to look at them when he heard someone walk in.
"Oh! Kei can I talk to you for a sec-"
"No." Tsukishima picked up the plates and shoved one into Yamaguchi's hands.
'Didn't even let him finish his sentence. You're salty about something he did but I still don't know what because you never tell me anything! I also know it's not just the thing about the spiker lie.'
"T-Tsukki! What if it's important!" Yamaguchi grabbed him before he could leave.
"Why do you care?" Tsukishima snapped and pulled away from him. Soon after vanishing around the corner and retreating to his room. A loud bang of the door signaled he'd gotten there.
"A-ah.... shit." He cursed under his breath. He shouldn't have done that.
"Language," Akiteru mumbled playfully to lift the heavy atmosphere slightly.
"Damn, he's really mad now." Akiteru leaned back against the counter and messed up his hair.
"How do you know?" It felt like a stupid question and it probably was.
"He never slams his door unless he is extremely pissed." Akiteru sighed.
"O-oh..."
'I really shouldn't have said anything.'
"W-well I'll got-talk to him!" Yamaguchi smiled at Akiteru and ran off. The older male made no protests so he assumed it would be fine.
Hopefully.
His pessimistic side disagreed with that thought process very heavily. Once he reached the door he wondered if he should knock. It's Tsukishima's room so he thought, yes, he should.
He used the back of his knuckle to knock lightly and heard a faint 'come in' from the other side. So he opened the door and went inside, closing it behind him.
"T-Tsukki?" He looked at Tsukishima timidly only to find absolutely no emotion on his face. That was normal. Yamaguchi averted his gaze before eye contact could be made.
"S-sorry Tsukki." He walked over to the bed and sat next to him.
"That wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you." Tsukishima mumbled as he was fiddling with something in his drawer. Then he closed it and flopped onto his side.
"I'm going to bed." He huffed, clearly irritated despite his blank expression.
"W-what? It's only 6:45!" Yamaguchi pointed at the clock.
"Goodnight Yamaguchi." Of course, Tsukishima didn't care. Why would he? He can go to sleep whenever he wants. That's got nothing to do with Yamaguchi.
The freckled male thought over his options between joining Tsukishima to sleep or going back downstairs and asking what Akiteru wanted to talk to his brother about. Eventually concluding that it had nothing to do with him and lying down next to Tsukishima, facing the other way so their backs were facing each other; once he was lying down, the lamp was switched off.
Tsukishima had been paying attention to what he was going to do. That was weird. He realized that going to talk to Akiteru may have been the worst possible idea if he'd gone through with doing it.
After a short while of lying there pretending to sleep, he managed to fall asleep.