Chapter Text
Tadashi’s joy about his team’s victory in the practice match died when he felt a tug on his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin and looked up to see who had decided to scare the living daylights out of him, and his blood ran cold when he saw Sugawara’s devious smirk staring down at him.
“Hey, Tadashi, great service ace at the end there!”
Tadashi remained silent, knowing there had to be more coming.
“But if you ever flub 5 receives in a row thinking about some guy again, I’ll tell Tsukishima just what has you so distracted, ‘kay?”
Tadashi’s mind went blank and his jaw slackened.
You have got to be kidding me. Was I really that obvious?
“To answer the question that is written all over your face, no, you weren't that obvious. I just happen to know my bench buddy better than anyone else,” Sugawara said, zipping up his track jacket with a serene, knowing grin.
“Suga, Yamaguchi! Just because you guys won doesn’t mean you get to slack off, now get this gym cleaned up!”
“Alright, alright Daichi,” Sugawara called across the gym, then turning to Tadashi, “you need to tell Tsukki and Yachi, it’ll go fine.”
With one final shoulder squeeze, Sugawara sauntered across the gym to Daichi, leaving Yamaguchi standing in the corner of the gym, staring dumbfounded at the walking figure. As he slowly came back to his senses, he resolved himself to telling Yachi the truth, no matter how painful and bitter of a pill it was to swallow.
“ Yachi?” Tadashi stopped in his tracks, interrupting the comfortable flow of conversation they had been maintaining on their walk home. Yachi turned to him, her concerned expression illuminated only by the streetlight a few meters away. Tadashi had hoped the cover of night would make this any easier to tell her, but at this moment it felt anything but.
Letting out the breath that he had unconsciously been holding, he worked up the courage to say, finally, “I have somethin-”
“It’s Tsukishima, isn’t it?” Yachi interrupted.
Are you serious?
“I-I… what?”
“I honestly kind of figured this would happen at some point,” Yachi said, refusing to meet his eyes, her shoulders slumped as if Tadashi had dropped a load of bricks onto them.
“How did you know?” Tadashi asked, covering his mouth in an attempt to stop himself, but it was too late. The most pressing, and tactless, question had already escaped his lips.
“Look Tadashi,” Yachi began, her voice breaking as she turned toward him, “I-I’m not upset with you or anything. I really like you, and I want you to be happy. But the thing is… you look the happiest when you’re with Tsukishima. Your eyes seem to just… light up the moment you see him. I had been so blinded with excitement when you asked me out that I let myself believe that I was wrong about you two. I hoped so desperately that you could love me more than Tsukishima, but it was too good to be true.”
Tadashi looked helplessly at her. She hastily wiped her eyes.
“Yachi. I’m so sorry. There’s nothing I can do to make up for this. I understand if you never want to speak to me again, I really really messed up and I just-”
“Shut up Yamaguchi,” Yachi said, bopping him on the head, grinning through her tears, “you really are an idiot. I’m not mad at you in the slightest. You have nothing to apologize for, it’s not like you get to choose who you love. Coming to terms with being gay is hard, trust me, I know it first hand.”
“You... You do?”
“Of course, god, you thought that this,” Yachi laughed, gesturing towards herself, “was completely straight?”
A wide smile split Tadashi’s face in two as he looked at Yachi.
Why had I ever doubted this girl for a second?
“Sorry for asking this way, but, uh, what do you identify as? I’m not really sure what to call myself…” Tadashi felt like an absolute moron asking like this, but at this moment he could care less about how ‘cool’ he looked.
“At the moment I’m going with bisexual, although… dating women exclusively wouldn’t be so bad, I mean … look at Kiyoko,” Yachi said, looking wistfully off into the distance, then gracelessly tacking on at the end, “no offense.”
“None taken, I know exactly what you mean. People with glasses in general are just so attractive, like… when Tsukishima pushes up his glasses… SO GOOD.”
“RIGHT OH MY GOD.”
The awkward former couple continued their walk home, laughing and gushing about beautiful people all the way. There was something so… freeing about being able to just be himself with someone. Tadashi hadn’t realized just how suffocating hiding this part of himself was. Although breakups are supposed to be depressing and melancholy, Tadashi couldn’t help but wonder if this was actually the best thing to ever happen to him.
“I’m glad you told me.” Yachi turned to him once they reached the four-way stop that split their paths.
“I’m glad it was you,” Tadashi said in return, “thank you. For everything.”
“Of course! What are ex-girlfriends for?”
The pair glanced at each other, both unsure how to react to that. Instantly, laughter spilled from their mouths, all of the excess tension they’d been carrying from the breakup coming out with it. Every time they attempted to stifle their laughter was thwarted by a single look from the other.
“Now,” Yachi announced once she had caught her breath, clasping her hands together, “I am not letting this breakup go to waste. We’re gonna get you a man!”