Work Text:
It was raining loudly outside after practice, their court was filled with tired volleyball players who just finished practicing. Some decided to be left behind playing while others took a break.
The ones on a break sat in a corner that was quite far yet near the the rest of the players who were left behind playing.
Tanaka: Guys, I'm quite bored.
Nishinoya: Me too!! I feel like I needed a break, this rain is gonna take forever to stop!
Kageyama, a player who was practicing with Shoyo, turned his head towards the players who were on a break. He was intrigued by their loud voices.
Kageyama: Can you guys at least shut up?
Nishinoya: Gosh, Kageyama, don't be such a kill joy, we're just bored.
Shoyo turned his head to the ones on a break as Nishinoya spoke. He walked away from Kageyama's direction and approached them
Shoyo: Yeah, I'm quite bored too. Playing with Kageyama makes me feel smarter than usual.
Kageyama: Shut your mouth!
Tsukishima, walked towards them, he stood next to where Nishinoya sat down.
Tsukishima: I have to be honest, I can finally agree with you guys. I'm bored.
Tanaka: I'm surprised you'd agree with us for once.
He said with a grin on his face, his tone was a teasing tone.
Tsukishima: Shut up
Kiyoko was quite disturbed by their noise as she and their other manager were mopping leaks from the storm that had leaked through the roof.
Kiyoko: Could you guys lower down your tones? Me and Yachi are trying to concentrate.
Tanaka: Of course!! Want help with that?
Kiyoko: Sure.
Yamaguchi, Tsukishima's bestfriend, slowly approached him and the other players in the corner.
Yamaguchi: Seems like you guys are bored, I'm as bored as you guys.
Yachi turned her head to their direction while mopping. She noticed their boredom, so she made a suggestion.
Yachi: If you guys are bored, play marry, kiss, or kill!
Nishinoya: What?! I wouldn't marry, kiss, or even kill anyone!
KKageyama Stupid.
Tsukishima: Gosh can't take a joke
Kageyama rolled his eyes, obviously quite pissed, but Shoyo's voice interrupted.
Shoyo: Lets play now!
After a few minutes of playing, it was getting quite fun. The sound of rain was still getting louder, but their voices were covering up the noise of rain pouring.
After maybe another 5 minutes, Yamaguchi's name finally became an option whether to marry, kiss, or kill.
Shoyo: Marry, kiss, or kill Tadashi???
Tsukishima: Marry.
Yamaguchi: Huh?
Nishinoya: What!?
Suga, the setter who was playing volleyball, turned his head towards them. He heard what Tsukishima said even though it was quite low. Even though the ball hit Suga's head, he still stared.
Suga: Did he just say marry?
Kageyama: Seems like the beanpole likes someone.
Tsukishima realized what he had just said out loud. He was quite embarassed and turning a bit red, maybe from embarrassment. Tsukishima finally pulled himself together and said something.
Tsukishima: Can't you guys just shut up? I'm just trying to appreciate me and Tadashi's relationship.
After 20 minutes, the rain faded away. Most players already left and only a few were left behind. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi exited together and walked home together.
It was quite awkward walking because of the silence, but after a few minutes, Tsukishima had something to say.
Tsukishima: Yamaguchi, dont think of what I said in a bad way. I meant that because being friends with you is great.
Yamaguchi: I know Tsukki, dont worry, I already know. Being friends with you is great too, might even be awesome.
Tsukishima tried ignoring him, but his voice seemed like music to his ears.
Tsukishima: Thank you.
Yamaguchi: Of course, Tsukki!
As soon as Yamaguchi got home, he changed into comfortable clothes then quickly laid down on his bed. He really couldn't get the thought of Tsukishima saying marry off his mind.
Tadashi grabbed his phone then opened Yachi's contact. He quickly messaged her, Yachi knew Yamaguchi's feelings for Tsukishima, judging from what Yamaguchi says about him.
Yachi kept telling Yamaguchi that he liked Tsukishima, but Tadashi kept denying, he was just "admiring" Tsukishima. But at this point, he knew he wasn't just admiring.
He knew he liked him.
Yamaguchi messaged Yachi right after clicking on her contact. He was hesitating, but he knew he shouldn't. Considering the fact that he trusts Yachi.
Yachi, did you hear what Tsukki said earlier???
Of course!! He likes you back!!
What do you mean, "likes you back"??I don't even like him!
Whatever you say, I've got to do homework.
Tadashi stared at her last message before he turned off his phone. He put it aside and just laid down on his bed staring at his ceiling, thinking about everything, or should I say Tsukishima.
He quickly drifted off after minutes of thinking.
In Tsukishima's point of view, he was also thinking about Yamaguchi. He caught himself thinking about his bestfriend that he "didn't care for" multiple times.
Tsukishima was very mad at himself, he was gaslighting himself that he didnt care for Yamaguchi, he was convinced that he just saw him as a great friend. Just like what he said earlier.
The next day at school, it was a normal day, everything just went naturally like the way it goes.
Until Nishinoya, approaches Tsukishima.
Nishinoya: Tsukishima!!
Tsukishima slowly turns his head slowly as he sees Nishinoya stand there confidently. He was just thinking Noya was coming up with another one of his stupid questions.
Tsukishima: What?
Nishinoya: You wanna marry Yamaguchi?
Nishinoya asked with a teasing smirk on his face. Noya always assumed that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were together secretly.
Tsukishima was quite furious as he says that. He thought that everyone forgot about what he said during the stupid game.
Tsukishima: I said that in a friendly way. I dont mean anything else, I just appreciate our friendship.
Nishinoya: Are you sure?
Tsukishima: Gosh, what do you even wanna hear? It's true! I appreciate Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima walks away towards the gate. He couldn't stop thinking about it, what if he just admitted the truth to Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima just didn't want to ruin the friendship between them. If he chose to confess, the tension between them would be awkward, or they might not even be friends anymore.
As Tsukishima was walking home, he spotted Yachi and Yamaguchi in a coffee shop near their school. They were seated closely next to each other.
He noticed that Yamaguchi was studying with Yachi, but he also noticed how close they were. Tsukishima quickly walked inside the store towards Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi notices Tsukishima as he steps up towards their table slowly.
Tsukishima: You know, you could've asked me to help you instead.
Yamaguchi: Sorry Tsukki, I couldn't find you earlier. I decided that Yachi could help me instead. Me and her are in the same class after all.
Yachi knew what she had to do. She wanted to see how Yamaguchi would react if she'd let Tsukishima teach him instead.
Yachi: Tsukishima, if you want to help him you can, he's very hard to teach.
Tsukishima glanced at Yamaguchi, then switched his glance to Yachi, who was staring back at him.
Tsukishima: No. You should teach him instead. i still have some work to be done.
Yachi: Oh, alright.
Tsukishima walked out of the small shop quickly. He had to decline the offer of teaching Yamaguchi since maybe he'd be too obvious.
Well, he already taught Yamaguchi multiple times since back then, but now that he has some kind of.. feelings for him, it seemed quite weird.
As soon as Tsukishima left, Yachi started looking at Yamaguchi with a huge smile on her face. She knew she failed to make it work, but at least she gave it a try.
Yamaguchi: What were you thinking?
Yachi: I was trying to help you.
Yachi was starting to feel the stomach ache, or basically the anxiety she felt when she was first introduced as Karasuno's manager. She thought Yamaguchi would be furious with her.
But luckily, Yamaguchi wasn't very much upset at what she did. He quickly smiled at her as he knew she was starting to get badly nervous.
Yachi: Wait.. So.. You're not mad?
Yamaguchi: What? No, why would I be?
Yachi let out a loud sigh after what Yamaguchi said. She quickly got up and stated that she needed to go head home because she also had stuff to work with.
Her and Yamaguchi exchanged goodbyes as she heads out of the coffee shop.
Yamaguchi quickly packed up his stuff and decided to spend some time in the coffee shop since it was quite silent.
He grabbed his phone and he saw a message from Tsukishima.
Are you home now? Do you still need help with your lessons?
Yamaguchi quickly replied seeing that Tsukishima just texted him 2 minutes ago.
No need, Yachi already helped me out.
Whats your relationship with Yachi? You've been hanging out more with her than me.
Whats wrong with that?
Do you like Yachi?
What?!!! Ew, no, shes just my close friend.
Alright.
*(Yamaguchi's thoughts) Is he jealous? Why would he be?*
The next day after all that happened, Tsukishima spots Yamaguchi and Yachi hanging out with each other again during lunch.
*(Tsukishima's thoughtWhy is he with Yachi? Normally he'd be hanging out with me by this time.*
Tsukishima quickly headed to Yamaguchi and called out his name. Yamaguchi turns his head and sees Tsukishima slowly walking towards him.
Yamaguchi: Tsukki? What do you need?
Tsukishima: You want food from that coffee shop near our school? I'll treat you.
Yamaguchi: Sorry but me and Yachi already has plans for this lunch
Tsukishima: Oh, I see.
Tsukishima slowly walks away from Yamaguchi's direction. Yachi quickly looks at Yamaguchi with a shocked expression.
Yachi: Tell him you wanna yo with him!
Yamaguchi: Why should-
Yachi ignored Yamaguchi completely and called out Tsukishima's name, he turned his head slowly to see Yachi pulling Yamaguchi out of his seat
Yachi: He said he wants to go.
Tsukishima stared at Yachi for atleast 4 seconds, then looks at Yamaguchi. Yachi stands there nervous and hoping for him to say something.
Tsukishima: Then, what are you waiting for, let's go.
Yamaguchi: What about Yachi?
Tsukishima ignored the mention of Yachi completely as they slowly walk away from her.
She smiles at Yamaguchi knowing that her mission was a complete success.
Walking towards the coffee shop, it was quite silent, but Tsukishima broke the silence.
Tsukishima: Be honest, what do you think of Yachi? What's your relationship with her?
Yamaguchi: She's just a friend, Tsukki. Why are you so bothered?
Tsukishima: What? I'm not allowed to ask now?
Yamaguchi: Sorry, Tsukki.
When they arrived at the coffee shop, Yamaguchi sat across Tsukishima. Yamaguchi quickly picked up his phone and messaged Yachi.
Yachi, are you stupid!! You got me into this situation!!
I was helping you!!
Tsukishima noticed that Yamaguchi was smiling at his phone. As he tried to glance at it, Yamaguchi quickly turned his phone over and smiled nervously.
Tsukishima: What was that?
Yamaguchi: It was nothing, just a funny video.
Tsukishima: You're chatting Yachi aren't you?
Yamaguchi: What? No I'm not..
He denies what Tsukishima says, but it's quite obvious he was lying. But Tsukishima didn't bother to dig in deeper.
Tsukishima: Whatever you say.
Yamaguchi noticed that he has been very bothered with Yachi. He was hoping that it wouldn't get to a point where Tsukishima would actually stop being friends with him because of Yachi.
After they ate their lunch, Yamaguchi quickly headed to his classroom where Yachi was also in. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and sighed as he walked back to his classroom.
He was thinking that he couldn't have a chance anymore, he thought that Yamaguchi and Yachi were already together behind his back.
Back to Yamaguchi's point of view, he sat next to Yachi immediately.
Yachi: So, how was it?
Yamaguchi: I think he thinks I like you.
Yachi: What?!
Yamaguchi: Yeah..
Yachi: How did he come up with that?!
Yamaguchi: Neither do I know.
Yachi: Doesn't that mean he likes you.
Yamaguchi: Dont teach me how to be delusional!
He says in a low yet loud voice, he was already delusional. He just didn't know.
Yachi: Hey, I was just joking you know.
Yamaguchi: Of course.
After class hours, Yamaguchi walks back home, but instead of being with Tsukishima, he was with Yachi. Tsukishima noticed that he headed out the gate with Yachi instead of him.
Tsukishima was quite.. mad. He knew he couldn't act like that if they were just bestfriends, now that he's acting like that, he couldn't deny that he likes Yamaguchi.
Kei knew he would be devastated when Yamaguchi would find out. But, why was he worrying so much? He was supposed to be the guy who would judge everyone and just be the rude and serious one.
Tsukishima finally knew he had a weakness, what makes it worse it's his best friend, Yamaguchi. Being in love with his best friend made him feel ashamed of himself.
As Tsukishima arrived home, he opened his phone immediately. He opened Yamaguchi's contact and blocked him. After he blocks him, he puts on his headphones and lays down on his bed.
Tsukishima knew that all of this was because of a game, a stupid game. He wanted to go back in time and change everything, well it was too late for that.
In Yamaguchi's point of view, as he arrived home, he opened his phone immediately, he was thinking about Tsukishima the entire walk with Yachi. He forgot that Tsukishima and him walked to get her after school everyday.
Maybe he didn't forget, he was just nervous to be around him.
As Tadashi opened his phone, he saw that Tsukishima's contact was not able to be messaged, he knew he got blocked.
Yamaguchi's eyes started tearing up and he didn't even notice. He tried sending messages again and again, thinking that he just didn't have any signal or something.
But after countless tries, he wasn't able to send one successfully.
He was devastated.
Tadashi didn't notice that tears were rolling rolling down his cheeks. He didn't wanna lose his childhood best friend over some girl.
Yamaguchi regretted talking to Yachi, he didn't know that Tsukishima would be that sensitive over a girl, because through the years they were together, this is the first time Tsukishima blocked Yamaguchi over something like this.
Yamaguchi saw messages from Yachi, asking whether if he wanted to hangout tomorrow because it was a Saturday. He left her on seen, he didn't know what to do anymore.
On Monday, when school resumed, everything didn't seem normal to him anymore. He tried approaching Tsukki but he was only hanging out with some random boys from his class.
When Yachi tried approaching Yamaguchi, he ignored her, pushed her aside. Yachi knew that it had something to do with Tsukishima, but because of her nervous system, she had no idea how to approach Yamaguchi again.
After classes, Yamaguchi was walking alone towards the gate as he saw Tsukishima walking with the same guys he saw him with earlier. Yamaguchi was afraid he'd never be friends with Tsukishima again.
He was afraid of going through what he went through way back when he was younger. He knew if it wasn't for Tsukishima, he would've been treated the same way he was when he was still a child. His eyes got teary, he decided to walk away faster, as if he was running.
Tsukishima notices him, as much as he wanted to call out Yamaguchi's name, he couldn't. He thought that Yamaguchi would find out that he likes him.
When Yamaguchi started to fade away from his sight, he left the random guys from his class, he decided to run after Yamaguchi. The random first years watched him run away.
They started calling him rude for just pushing them aside, Kei heard everything, but he didn't care. He just wanted to apologize to Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima gets exhausted from running, he couldn't see Yamaguchi anymore. Yet, he chose to continue running after him and he never gave up. He regretted everything, he knew it was his fault.
As he reaches Yamaguchi's house, he tried calling out his name but no one answered. Yamaguchi's mom was always at work, so was his dad. Yamaguchi was always left alone at home.
Tsukishima knew that Yamaguchi would just leave him outside and never open the door. He tried calling out his name multiple times, no answer. Tsukishima decided to leave, he was disappointed, mad, and quite upset.
Meanwhile, Yamaguchi, stared at himself in the mirror for minutes. He ignored Tsukishima's calls, he knew he shouldn't, but he did. After he heard Tsukishima's voice stop coming in from his window, tears started rolling down his cheeks.
Yamaguchi quickly ran down stairs, tears still coming out of his eyes. He ran down the stairs, he didn't care if he was tripping down the stairs. He swiftly ran and called out for Tsukki's name.
Tears and sweat were coming off of him as he ran very fast, he didn't want to be made fun of every again.
As Tsukishima heard a familiar voice calling out a nickname only one person could call him, he turned his head. He saw Yamaguchi running towards him.
Tsukishima was shocked, he thought he'd never be forgiven after blocking him, ignoring him, and literally ghosting him.
Yamaguchi stops in front of him, panting. His legs were weakening, his breathing was deep, his hair was messy, and his tears kept running down his face. Tadashi looked down at the ground with his fists clenched on his sides.
Tsukishima saw his face filled with tears, guilt was running through him. He regretted everything he had done. He thought that what he did was unforgivable, just like how his brother lied to him.
As Yamaguchi was about to say something, Tsukishima took an opportunity first.
Yamaguchi: I-
Tsukishima: I'm sorry, Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima said in a steady yet frantic tone.
Yamaguchi looked up, he wanted to be the one to apologize, but before he could, Tsukishima took the chance.
Yamaguchi: I should be the one sorry, Tsukki..!
His voice still shakey from sobbing and crying, his tears were still running down his cheeks.
Tsukishima: No, I should be. It was my fault all this happened, I should've thought of what my actions could've done. I'm so sorry, Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi stared at him, his tears finally slowing down, yet he was still crying.
Yamaguchi: I-it's ok Tsukki..
Tsukishima: There's also something I wanna tell you.
Yamaguchi: What is it?
Tadashi finally stopped crying, but tears still ran down his face, but they were slowing down.
Tsukishima: Gosh.. I like you..
Tsukishima says nervously, he knew he'd regret it, he's regretting it even at the moment. He looks away slowly to his left.
Yamaguchi slowly wrapped his hand around his wrist, Tsukishima looks back and looks at him.
Yamaguchi: I like you back Tsukki...
Tsukishima's cheeks were turning quite red, he tried playing to all like it was normal. He then pulled off his wrist slowly.
Tsukishima: Whatever..
He said like he didn't care while he was obviously blushing.
Yamaguchi didn't want things to be awkward, so he kissed Tsukishima's cheek in a panic. Tsukishima was shocked, like flabbergasted. He stared at Yamaguchi, looking annoyed while he was obviously turning red.
Yamaguchi: Sorry Tsukki..
After Yamaguchi spoke, Tsukishima softly pressed his lips on Yamaguchi's. Tadashi's eyes widened, he didn't expect something like this to happen.
Tsukishima pulls away after a few seconds, his shade was turning pink because. He didn't know why he did that, but he knew he didn't regret it.
They we're both blushing so obviously after that kiss. But the silence and awkwardness between them after that was quite unexplainable. Until, a voice filled in for them.
Yachi: What the heck!!
Yachi jumped out from behind the bush she was hiding in a long with Shoyo and Kageyama.
Shoyo: That was so unexpected!!
Kageyama: Tch, you're so obvious Tsukishima.
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were both shocked, they were unaware of being spied on by the people that would definitely tell everyone.
Yamaguchi stood there frozen, but then Tsukishima grabbed his hand, he interwined his hand into his.
Tsukishima: Lets go, Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi: Alright..
The three stared at them as they walk away holding hands.
Shoyo: I wish I could have someone like that to be with.
Kageyama: I could be..
He muttered lowly yet he could still he heard.
Yachi: What?!!
Kageyama: Nothing!