Chapter Text
This can’t be real.
Tsukishima was of the firm belief that he put up with a lot of shit. Just dealing with the Karasuno Volleyball team in and of itself should be enough to warrant him grace with the universe for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the universe disagreed.
"What do you mean that our flight has been delayed by pigeons?"
"Actually, they’re seagulls."
Tsukishima closed his eyes, the absurdity of the correction pulling at his restraint.
"Fine," he amended, glaring at his brother who seemed much too lax about the current situation. "What do you mean that our flight has been delayed by fucking seagulls."
Akiteru clucked his tongue at his brother's language but shrugged as he looked back down at the revised tickets.
"According to the desk, there's a huge swarm of them blocking the runway and they're working on removing them but it's slow going," he responded, texting someone distractedly. Most likely their mother. "Apparently this has happened before, and it took about two hours to get all of them out."
"Two hours!" Tsukishima exclaimed, eyes wide under his glasses. "How does it take 2 hours to get rid of some stupid birds?"
"It's not even that bad," Akiteru replied with a roll of his eyes. Standing from his seat, he gestured away from the gate. "There's lots to do in Haneda, so we should be able to kill time pretty easily."
Tsukishima scoffed, but said nothing as he followed his brother's lead. It wasn't the length of the wait that was bothering him. It was the fact that he was now late.
Reluctantly, he pulled out his phone, knowing that delaying the inevitable never stopped it from coming.
To Yamaguchi:
hey my flights delayed
as in 2 hours delayed
so we're probably going to have to postpone the sleepover
Not that he knew when they’d find the time to actually do that.
Tsukishima grimaced at his messages, and swiftly pocketed his phone when he saw the three little dots indicating that Yamaguchi was about to reply. He didn't want to ignore Yamaguchi, but he wasn't particularly looking forward to letting his friend down after he'd reassured him that this trip to Tokyo would absolutely not intervene with the sleepover that had been a long time coming. Between all that had happened at the Interhigh, and the training camp they were about to go to, the two haven’t really been able to hang out without volleyball hanging over them.
Tsukkishima would be hard pressed to admit it, but he missed spending time with his best friend without the pressure of the sport.
Shaking his head at his thoughts, he nearly flinched at his brother's intent gaze as he raised his head.
"Did you need something?" Tsukishima asked, purposeful in his attempt to seem unbothered.
"Did you...have something waiting for you?" Akiteru asked. The unspoken something volleyball related hung heavy in the air, and Tsukishima narrowed his eyes.
"No."
Not that he'd tell his brother anyway. Hell, he didn't even know that Tsukishima was going to be back in Tokyo in just a little over a week for a training camp he hadn’t even ask to go to.
"Someone then?"
More than the words themselves, the sly smile on his brother's face threw him off more than anything. Tsukishima felt heat rise on his cheeks – even though it wasn't someone, it was Yamaguchi of all people – and as his brother's grin shifted into a shocked gape, he felt the heat spread to his ears.
"Wait, do you really--"
"No!" Tsukishima denied immediately, well aware that the answer was too vehement to truly convince his brother. Almost on cue, his phone started vibrating in his pocket - likely Yamaguchi texting him back.
Akiteru glanced at his brother’s pocket, but Tsukishima refused to even flinch. If this was a contest at keeping cool, he knew he’d long outlast his brother. Seeming to realize this himself, Akiteru turned away from him, though a maddening smiling refused to leave his face.
“I’m sure whoever it is—”
“I just said it was no one,” Tsukishima replied coolly, though he did feel a twinge of guilt at referring to Yamaguchi as no one. But the idea that he could be whatever it was that Akiteru was implying caused his stomach to twist in a way much too uncomfortable to deal with at a stupid airport.
He didn't know why he didn't just tell him it was Yamaguchi though. His brother knew about his best friend, had ended up an overexuberant babysitter for the both of them countless times growing up, and it would stop his pestering. But verbalizing that it was Yamaguchi he was talking to after reacting how he did felt too damning.
Whatever.
Definitely not something to be dealt with at an airport.
His brother shrugged at him again and pulled ahead as he tried to navigate the huge airport. Once he was sure his brother was truly focused on the trying to figure out the many signs, he discreetly pulled his phone from his pocket to check Yamaguchi’s texts.
From Yamaguchi:
2 hours?? is everything okay??
but that’s fine you can still come over
unless you’ll be too tired??
which is super cool, no worries!
Tsukishima furrowed his eyebrows, shot a quick glance at his brother, and replied:
it was just seagulls
which is apparently enough to delay our flight
that means i’m landing at 8 and probably won’t be in miyagi until 9
if that works for you then that works for me
Tsukishima ran his finger along the edge of his phone as he waited for Yamaguchi’s response. He had seemed almost nervous in his earlier texts. Which hadn’t been uncharacteristic of Yamauchi when they were kids, but Tsukishima thought he’d been outgrowing that habit.
Suddenly, the Interhigh flashed in his mind, and Tsukishima felt his face pull into a scowl.
This is why he chose to treat volleyball as just a club. Yamaguchi had been doing so well at treating high school as a fresh start, and now the progress he’d made was being set back by a moment that took less than a minute of his life. A moment that costed them only a single point but seemed to hang over his best friend like an impenetrable cloud.
And Tsukishima wasn’t great at comfort, but he’d hoped they could use the weekend to at least take their minds off volleyball before they were surrounded by it for a whole week.
He was brought out of his thoughts by his phone’s vibrations.
From Yamaguchi:
yeah come over at 9, my parents won’t care and i wasn’t gonna asleep anyway
were you gonna eat at the airport or should i save you dinner??
also wtf??? sea gulls?? how???
actually forget the how, i officially hate those stupid sea pigeons
Blinking, Tsukishima reread the texts before a soft smile crept on his face. It was dumb of him to think that Yamaguchi would be set back so much from a single game.
Typing out a quick response letting Yamaguchi know that he a) wouldn’t need dinner and b) agreed on the classification of the birds as pigeons, Tsukishima suddenly realized his brother was being too quiet.
He shot his head up, but his brother seemed to just be preoccupied with the sign in front of him. Letting a small breath of relief out, he adjusted his headphones over his head, and scanned the sign to see what food kiosks were nearby.
In front of him, Akiteru bit his lip harder to stop the smile threatening to spread. Who’d have thought the day would come when his stoic kid brother would actually get a crush.