Chapter Text
[6:45 PM]
Yams: u were staring again today in the club room
Tsukki: Shut up. I never should have told you.
Tsukki: Is it that obvious?
Yams: lol
Yams: I mean not too much. especially since u were glaring. u just looked mad
Tsukki: That's my face, Yamaguchi.
Yams: anyway ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿
Yams: u should tell him how u feel
Tsukki: Are you fucking mental?
Yams: C'mon, we're seniors! what have you got to lose?
Tsukki: My pride. I've already clearly lost my sanity, so I don't want to lose anything else.
Yams: but think of what u could gain!! ( ᐛ )و
Yams: a bf :')
Tsukki: Still no.
Yams: :’(
[6:57 PM]
Yams: Hitoka-chan i need help
Hitoka: Sure, Tadashi! With homework?
Yams: nope! with Tsukki
Hitoka: Aaaaaah I'm so sorry for automatically assuming you needed help with homework I'm really sorry!! (°̧̧̧ A°̧̧̧ )
Yams: It's ok!! No worries. ( ᐛ )b
Hitoka: ((´∀`;))
Yams: so. Tsukki likes someone
Hitoka: Really?!? Who?!!? (。･o･｡)
Hitoka: If it's ok to ask! I don't mean to pry!!
Yams: It's ok! Just don't tell anyone else! promise!!
Hitoka: Yes!! I promise!!! ( ' ▽ ' )b
Yams: It's Hinata!! o(^◇^)o
Hitoka: ?!!!?!!!!!??!!??!!!
Yams: yeah so I was thinking we could work together to you know, get them together! ( ᐛ )و
Yams: but if u don’t want to that’s absolutely fine!!
Yams: Hitoka-chan?
[7:11 PM]
Yams: Kageyama do u have a minute to text?
Kags: yah
Yams: ok so I'm just gonna get right to it. you're Hinata's best friend right?
Kags: i guess
Yams: does he like anyone?
Kags: Hinata likes a lot of people
Yams: I mean like.... like-like
Kags: he like-likes volleyball. we were just playin
Yams: .......nvm
Kags: k
Tadashi felt like throwing his phone, but he resisted the urge. It was just too frustrating! His best friend was hopeless, Hitoka wasn’t texting him back (which was actually a little concerning since, knowing Hitoka, she could’ve fainted), and Kageyama was the opposite of helpful.
He settled for calling Hitoka, since he really was starting to get worried. It’d been nearly 10 minutes since she'd last texted him.
She picked up on the third ring.
“Hi Hitoka-chan! I just wanted to say, you can really just forget about my texts. I’m sorry for trying to put that kind of thing on you.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine! I’m sorry for not responding earlier. My mom came in to tell me something! She…”
Tadashi, who had already played out at a minimum of 4 of his potential lifespans, each reflecting a reason as to why Hitoka hadn’t responded right away, sighed in relief. After all, in one of the lifespans he played out in his head Hitoka had been so offended by the texts he’d sent that she told all of his family and friends and basically everyone in the world that he was a cold, insensitive jerk, so he had to retire to the mountains in isolation to become a potato farmer. Tadashi didn’t even know if potatoes could grow in the mountains, much less how to plant them. He was neither cut out nor prepared for that kind of life. In another of his imagined lifespans, the reason Hitoka hadn’t responded to his texts was because she had been kidnapped by the Yakuza, and he’d had to go undercover to save her. He had to shave his head and get some tattoos and his alias would be “Slim Jim”… no that was terrible, wasn’t that a type of food?
“…but then I told her I liked the purple one best! So it was no trouble, after all!” Hitoka was saying.
Shit. He hadn’t caught like, any of that.
“Yeah!” Tadashi said.
“Right?! But anyway, yeah, uh, if you wanted my help, I could, um…”
“Really, Hitoka!? You’d be willing to help me? That’s be so amazing!” Tadashi felt like crying. With her help, they might be able to pull it off.
“Of course, Tadashi! I just don’t know how I’d be much help… What would I even need to do?”
Tadashi told her.
-----
Kei was in A Mood. To be fair, he was always sort of in A Mood. Tadashi told him it wasn’t very Captain-like, but Kei couldn’t help it.
He couldn’t help it that some dumbass bright orange ball of annoying energy had barreled into his life headfirst, completely unaffected by all of Kei’s snark and overall bad temperament. No, Hinata had somehow overlooked all of Kei’s awful qualities that kept the majority of everyone away. He had complimented Kei over and over again, especially when he was doubting himself most. Kei had never been good with people. He hadn’t had a friend until Tadashi, and even then, in his darker moments, he’d thought Tadashi only stuck around because he felt bad for him.
Hinata, though…. Hinata was different. He made Kei flustered… and he hated being flustered. Hence why he’d been an asshole to Hinata, especially in their first year. But Hinata had also made Kei feel appreciated and valued. By their second year, Kei had come to the horrifying realization that he had a crush on Hinata Shouyou. And now, yet another year had passed, and he still had this stupid crush.
He felt so fucking pathetic; pining over someone who would never have any interest in him. Not that anyone would ever have any actual romantic interest in him. As his dad had told him once: “You have a knack for driving people away, Kei.”
Kei pulled himself from his thoughts as his phone buzzed. He picked it up.
[12:20 PM]
Tadashi: Come hang out? Senior get-together at the ramen place! \(^3^)/
Kei didn’t particularly feel like spending his Sunday afternoon hanging out. But on the other hand, if he went, he could see Hinata.
Ok, then. He definitely wasn’t going.
His phone buzzed again.
[12:21 PM]
Tadashi: Tsukki, you’re coming, or i’m gonna tell everyone that when we watched the Land Before Time together in middle school you cried like 8 times
Kei’s mouth twitched. Lies. It had only been 7.
Still, having his peers know that he had bawled over cartoon dinosaurs at the age of 13 was not something he was too keen on sharing. Dammit. Why did Tadashi have so much dirt on him?
This is what you get for only having one friend, a pesky voice in the back of his head told him.
“Shut up,” Kei said to no one in particular.
He shoved his phone in his pocket and headed downstairs.