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Chapter Text

Yamaguchi stood fearfully still as the three other kids continued to walk towards him. 

“What’s up pizza face?” One of them sneered. They all had malicious smiles plastered on their faces as they surrounded Yama. 

“When are you gonna get rid of the dirt on your face!” The brown-haired brown brushed his fingers over his cheeks subconsciously, eyes narrowed. 

He had put up with this treatment for months. They called him names and pushed him down. They kicked grass in his face and continued to harass him. 

He never got used to it. 

One of the kids took another step closer to him. Yama didn’t step back.

 He had thought about fighting back for a long time. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. But maybe he could still try and stand his ground.

The kid only pushed him over instead. His bookbag fell off of his shoulders when he hit the ground, items spilling out of the bag onto the concrete. His pencils and loose-leaf paper laid strewn on the ground, notebooks and other things accompanying them. The concrete felt cold and rough on his skin. 

He sucked in an audible breath, his words seeming to leave straight out his mouth, leaving him silenced. 

He sat up, looking around to see a blond boy enter the area, his eyes lingering on Yamaguchi. 

He was tall, taller than any other elementary kid he had seen. He had black slick glasses on his face, eyes uninterested and bored. Yama gave him the most desperate look he could muster. The blond only continued to walk, not even bothering another glance as he left the freckled boy to his abusers. 

He felt betrayed, even though he didn’t even know the kid. But he just left him… he knew no one was gonna stand up for him. He had to do it himself. If he didn’t, it would only continue. He would only get more bruises, more cuts, more hurtful words thrown at him. 

He stumbled upward, legs unstable from his fall, bones shaken. He took a few deep shaky breaths of the crisp fall air. He could do this. 

He took a step forward, the wind whisking as he swung his arm as hard as he could into his assailant. The kid whimpered at the hit, stumbling back. He held his cheek, face twisting from a sneer to a look of surprise. The three kids stilled, looking at Yamaguchi with shock in their eyes.

Yama wasn’t paying attention to them. He was too busy staring at his hand, still feeling the tingle of pain in his knuckles. He could feel the rush of blood under his skin and the trickle of adrenaline enter his veins. 

When he did look back up at the three kids looked startled, scampering away like he was the big bad wolf.

He stood there for a moment, the wind blowing past his skin, taking dead leafs with it. He could feel a bruise of some kind start to form on his hand. He felt a weird sense of power. He felt free almost. He had fought back. He didn’t have to lie down and take it. He could use his fits instead of begging for a break. He could do what he wanted. It felt amazing.

He walked home that day with two new things. A bruise on his knuckles and a new fire seething in his bones.

——————

Tsukishima waltzed lazily down the hall, his white headphones blasting music into his ears so he wouldn’t have to hear the hallway chatter. His eyes were trained in front of him, but he wasn’t really paying attention as he walked on autopilot to the courtyard. 

The sky was clear and sunny, a few other kids already enjoying their lunches outside. Tsukishima sat down at one of the tables, fiddling on his phone while he took out his own lunch. He sat by himself, not minding the quiet one bit. That was until he heard a commotion nearby.

 It was from a table a little ways away from his own, two guys standing in front of a brown-haired boy sitting down at the table. None of them looked happy.

“This is our table! We always sit here!”

“Well I’m sitting here today” the delinquent boy turned from where he was sitting, Tsukishima getting a better look at him. He had freckles across his face, eyes slightly downturned and narrowed. He had multiple ink-black piercings along his ears, his brown hair was slightly messy. His shirt was unbuttoned to show his undershirts and his shoes weren’t the standard-issue school model they were supposed to wear, 

“But we always sit here!”

“It’s not like you own the table”

“That doesn’t matter!” Their bickering continued, to two boys getting progressively angrier while the other only looked irritated.

Oh, this would be good.

It escalated to the point where one of the guys put a hand on the freckled boy, the boy only shrugging him off. “Don’t touch me” he hissed with deadly malice. This made them back off. In fact, they just plain left, not before throwing some insults first. Tsukishima soon knew why. When the delinquent turned around He could see the intimidation seep out of his face. It wasn’t a pretty look.

Tsukishima chuckled to himself. All that fuss over a silly table. Though, this made him wonder about this kid. How was he not expelled yet? There had to be a good reason since he was breaking the dress code and overall seemed to be a nuisance. 

Whatever the reason he knew he didn’t want to get involved with this guy. He would only bring trouble and that’s the opposite of what he wanted. But apparently Lady Luck wanted to bitch slap him today because the delinquent caught him staring. 

“What the hell are you staring at?”

Tsukishima just sighed. “Some kid with a bad attitude” this only seemed to further irritate the freckled boy. The male stood up, sauntering over to him with a scowl on his face. Now that he was closer he could really see the details in his face. He could see the sheer amount of tan dots on his cheeks. He could see he had about four earings on either ear. Some of them were on the helix, one an industrial, and the rest on his earlobe. 

He slammed his hands on the table, “you got a problem?”

“Not at all” Tsukishima jeered, “except you ruined my rice ball” the other boy looked down to his hand, seeing rice all over his palm. He sucked in a breath, obviously at a loss at what to do. The blond just pulled his food closer to him, not wanting the rest of it to get demolished.

“How about you just leave me and my food alone” he got a heated glare from the boy but surprisingly the other obliged, turning on his heels and walking away in a huff

Good riddance. Now he could finally eat in peace. Too bad it took the cost of a rice ball.

——————

Tsukishima wondered why he even bothered to come to volleyball practice today. Both Kageyama and Hinata were extra rowdy than usual and practice hadn’t even started yet. They were already insulting each other. Their voices were loud and obnoxious enough for him to still hear with his headphones on. He sighed to himself. He hoped they would calm down. Today was a nice day and he didn’t want these two to be screaming the whole time.

He entered the gym and was met with yet another surprise. The boy who had smashed his rice ball was talking to Takeda sensei. Tsukishima had a bad feeling in his gut. He knew something was going to happen, something that was gonna change things. He had a sneaking suspicion of what that would be but he hoped it wouldn’t happen.

It happened anyway.

Once all of the team was in the gym Takeda made an announcement, “everyone! This is Yamaguchi, he will be practicing with us today. He’s thinking about joining the team so show him what we got!” The black-haired teacher threw a hand in the air for extra effect.

So the delinquent's name was Yamaguchi huh? He just hoped he could bother him too much. 

The other first years seemed to be hesitant of the new boy, eyeing him suspiciously. The third years, however, didn’t waste any time introducing themselves.

“I’m Daichi, the team captain”

It seemed to be going good enough but Tsukishima knew that something would happen and Yamaguchi would lose his temper. Just like what had happened this afternoon. He wouldn’t mind watching it. 

After all of the third years, it was the second and first years turn to get friendly. Only none of the first years looked like they wanted to introduce themselves. But Noya and Tanaka were having none of it. They both pushed the first years in front of their new team members, introducing them as well.

“This is Kageyama, Hinata, and Tsukishima!” The smaller out of the two second years chimed. 

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow and for good reason. Kageyama was glaring and subconscious using one of his many terrifying faces. Hinata looked about ready to jump into a fighting stance like the new kid would just start a fight at any time. And Tsukishima, well, he knew what he looked like.

Yamaguchi just nodded, not looking like he cared all that much. He was standing with his arms crossed, a blank expression on his features.

Coach blasted his whistle, the high pitch shredding through the air. “Alright, let’s see what you got Yamaguchi” the boy sauntered over, grabbing a volleyball from the basket. He twirled it a few times in his hands, fingers tapping the smooth surface of the ball. Their shoes squeak against the floor as the rest of the team took their places too, Daichi, Tanaka and him getting in position to receive. The freckled boy took a spot behind the white line, preparing to serve.

He took a few steps before jumping, hitting the ball with barely any power. 

Was what that? Does he even know how to serve?

It glided through the air just barely over the net, making his way right to him. Tsukishima made a move to receive it, the weird thing was that he couldn’t receive it. It didn’t look like it had that much power behind it but it wobbled in the air and just dropped out of nowhere. Leaving him to stare at the ball now at feet.

 Yamaguchi did the same serve, only this time Daichi was barely able to get it.

“Well I’ll be damned, is that a jump float?”

“Yes sir” the rest of the team looked at their coach in utter confusion. Even Tsukishima, who never thought he would see another surprise today, had one thrown right at his face, literally.

Hinata sparkled at his new teammate, still hesitant, but less so. “That was cool Yamaguchi!” 

“Tch” is all Tsukishima could get out of his mouth when Hinata complimented the other boy. 

So this is what the new kid had up his sleeve. 

“Is that all you can do?” Barked Kageyama, arms crossed over his chest.

Practice went over pretty smoothly after that. They practiced their receives, spikes, and serves. 

Yamaguchi was only really good at serving but even then he was sloppy with that jump float. He was alright at everything else. He just needed some cleaning up on his form and technique. 

“That’s all for today, you can go home!” Coach then made his way out of the gym, leaving the team to clean up. Tsukishima sighed as he put away the balls for today. For once Hinata and Kageyama didn’t stay late, making it so they could put everything away right now. 

Once the gym was clean they were allowed to leave, the third and second years drifting to the exit. Tsukishima looked over his shoulder to see Yamaguchi talking to Takeda, the teacher carrying a box as he talked to the younger boy. The boy asked something and the box switched hands to him, a small smile on his face.

Yamaguchi was a change he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to.

——————

Tsukishima was minding his own business as usual. He was sitting at the same table as yesterday, today was a bit cloudy compared to the day before. Everything was calm, as he liked it to be.

Too bad he could already hear Hinita arguing with Kageyama down the hallway. Their boisterous voices carried a long distance in the echoey halls, making their way to the blond. Could they be any louder today?

They eventually were in the courtyard cursing at each other for whatever reason. It was even worse when they started to make their way over to Tsukishima’s table. 

“Tsukishima! Tell this idiot that he can’t climb the vending machines!”

“I can! I did it yesterday!”

“Yeah right, you probably fell down and hit your head!”

“Hey!”

God, they were infuriating. They both sat down across from him, the bickering not ceasing for a solid five minutes. Only they did they calm down and have a normal conversation. “You know that kid from yesterday, Yamaguchi?”

“Yeah what about him?”

“He’s kinda scary”

“You're scared of everything” 

“Am not!”

“You are!” and they were back to arguing. Did the two of them ever get tired? Tsukishima couldn’t imagine how much energy it would take to argue so much.

“I’m surprised he’s not scared of you Kageyama” the blond got a glare for his words, but it was worth it. The two other boys chatted a while longer, Tsukishima slipping on his headphones. The music flooded his ears, allowing him to ignore everyone and everything around him. He subtly tapped his finger on the table, the metal against his figure tips as he used his other hand to take a bite of his lunch.

He could hear Hinata and Kageyama get quiet all of a sudden, not having the soft sounds of them insulting each other in the background of his music. He took off his headphones, preparing to tease them when he noticed why they went quiet. 

Yamaguchi was walking right towards them. He had a bag in his hands that was colored blue. His stance was still as thuggish as ever. He stood in front of their table, the two other first-years becoming noticeably tense in his presence. Tsukishima side-eyed the male, wary to have him around, especially from how he acted last time they interacted at lunch. 

“Hey Tsukishima, I wanted to give you this” he set the box down onto the table, making a soft thud against the metal table. The blond eyed the box curiously, hesitantly bringing closer to him. He unwrapped the box to reveal a container of rice balls. There were four in total, and they looked handmade. 

 He looked back up to the delinquent boy.

“Sorry for messing up your food”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, “thanks, but just don’t yell at me this time” the other boy growled, jaw clenching as he scowled. 

“Hey! I’m just trying to be nice” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Nice my butt, what are you up to!” the ginger really didn’t know when to shut up.

 “Yeah! You have something up your sleeve!” neither did Kageyama.

The delinquent boy seemed fed up and he had only been there for a minute or so. He soon stormed off, not wanting to lose his temper. 

Tsukishima looked back down at the box. He removed the top off of the container, examining the four rice balls. Some were wrapped in seaweed and others had peas mixed in with the rice. He took one out, taking a bite. It was light and fluffy with a hint of salt. It had a pickled plum filling that felt pleasant on his tongue. It tastes fresh, delicious even. 

Did Yamaguchi make this himself?

He must of. There was no way he couldn’t have bought something that tasted so fresh. But that only raised another question in his head.

What was Yamaguchi up to?

——————

Tsukishima blinked rapidly, resting his head on his hand as he stared blankly at the whiteboard. His eyes were narrowed into thin slivers, only opening them just enough to see. His glasses were crooked on his face, his hand the cause of it. He felt like he was about to fall asleep. He knew he wouldn’t actually let himself fall asleep but it was a nice idea to play around with. It was his last class of the day. He only had ten minutes left until they would be released.

One of the windows was open, blowing a soft breeze of fresh air into the room. It was comfortably warm, the wind serving as a nice way to cool down. It was sunny again today, rays of light lining the classroom as the afternoon went on. Tsukishima could smell a faint whiff of pollen and some kind of pine as he sighed. He just wanted to go home.

The teacher droned on, her words all blending together into a static blur of noise. The blond tapped his other hand on the table, needing to find something to do.

“Tsukishima, What's the chemical formula for the process of photosynthesis?” he jerked upright, looking at the teacher cluelessly. 

“H2O + CO2  → CHO + O” 

“Almost, Yamaguchi why don’t you fill in what he was missing”

“6H2O + 6CO2  → C6H12O6 + 6O2”

“Yes, that's correct. That should be a review for-”

The teacher’s voice faded into the background as Tsukishima had to resist the urge to whip his head around when his teacher said the delinquent's name. Sure enough, when he sneaked a peak to the back of the class he saw Yamaguchi.

How did Tsukishima not notice the boy was in his class? To be fair, he didn’t talk to anyone and was in and out of the classroom as soon as he could be. And whenever they weren’t doing anything he would just put on his headphones and ignore everyone. So maybe it wasn’t such a surprise he hadn’t noticed him.

Even then, how did Yamaguchi get into advanced classes in the first place? Wasn’t he known to be a delinquent? A bad boy? Why on earth would the teachers put him in the higher up classes then? Unless he was actually smart. Now that he thought about it, he had remembered seeing his name in the top five when test scores came out. 

He turned himself back around, letting his mind wander for the rest of the class period. What else would he do? Actually pay attention?

The bell shrilled, taking him out of his thoughts. He gathered his things together in one swift motion. His backpack was already on his shoulders when he stood up, making his way to the door. However, he slowed down. He looked over his shoulder to the freckled boy in the room who was talking with the teacher rather disgruntledly.

He needed to know more about this guy or his mind would kill him with theories.  

Yamaguchi caught him staring, again, which finally made the blond realize he was still in the classroom. He strolled through the door, making his way down the hall.

He could hear footsteps behind him as he walked. The hallway was just as sunny as the classroom, a few windows open as well.

Before he realized it Yamaguchi was walking right next to him. 

“How did you like the food?” The boy said with an emotionless expression. The sunlight danced on his hair and skin, seeming to soften his punk-ish look.

“It was fine. I didn’t think you knew how to cook”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” His face morphed into a snarl and Tsukishima couldn’t help but smirk. 

“It means I didn’t think delinquents could cook” the other boy grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up even though Tsukishima was taller than the other. “Oh? Did I hit a nerve?” He cooed.

Yamaguchi's brown eyes burned with something he hadn’t seen before. It was like he had a forest fire burning in his irises. But for some reason his grip on his shirt loosened, eyes drifting to a color that looked more like a dull piece of driftwood in a lake. His jaw was clenched and his muscles tensed.

Yamaguchi pushed him away, spitting on the ground where the blond was standing. “Don’t get fucking cocky” he put his hands into his pockets, head upturned to meet Tsukishima's eyes. “Because those who get cocky are the ones who get pounded”

The taller boy only scoffed, arms crossed over his chest. “You must know from experience huh?”

“Whatcha say?” He closed the space between them once more but before he could do anything a teacher called out to them.

“Are you two fighting?! Get over here this instant!” The brown-haired boy grumbled as he looked over his shoulder at the woman.

“Tch, look what you got us into” the shorter boy faced him again only to be met with another call from the teacher. They both lugged their bodies towards the older woman with great disdain.

She stood in front of them authoritatively, her black hair clipped into a tight bun. 

“You boys know better than to fight!” Yamaguchi wasn’t even looking at the teacher, eyes elsewhere. His hands were still in pockets, the first few buttons on his shirt undone, and he had on a spiked belt that definitely wasn't dress code. His earrings were different today too, he had added a red ruby stud to his earlobe and his industrial was fake gold with small red flowers on the bar.

“Tsukishima, I expected more from you” he didn’t even do anything. Well, maybe he did provoke the other but it wasn’t his fault the delinquent had a bad temper. He knew he was up to something. Maybe this was his plan, to get him in trouble, that’s why he tried to sweeten him up with food.

“As punishment, I’m assigning you to clean your homeroom classroom for a week” both of the boys were now staring at her like she had sprouted a tree on top of her head. 

“ What? ”

“You heard me. Now leave before I make it two weeks” Yamaguchi glared at the woman before stalking down the hall. The blond followed suit even if he wanted to be as far away from the other as possible. The walk was mostly silent as they slowly approached the gym.

Tsukishima walked ahead of the other boy, bumping shoulders with him. “Next time control your temper”

He could practically feel the irritation radiate off of Yamaguchi. “Whatever you say Tsukki, ” he said through closed teeth as they entered the gym the rest of the team already getting the court ready.

The blond looked at him over his shoulder, gaze smoldering. The third years must have sensed their frustration towards each other because Daichi and Suga pulled them away to do things on opposite sides of the court.

But they couldn’t be kept apart for too long since they still had practice. It wasn’t a hard day, but they were kept busy enough that they didn’t have time to butt heads. That couldn’t stop them from sending each other looks periodically.

Sadly Tsukishima was paired with Hinata and Kageyama to practice revives. Kageyama was the one serving while the two of them had to try and receive it. 

Hinata was terrible as always, having trouble receiving the serve thrown at him. It was amusing though to watch the black-haired setter yell at him.

Tsukishima wasn’t doing half bad but Kageyama was trying especially hard with his serves. His arms stung lightly, a red tint beginning to flower on his skin. He groaned as he messed up his form, making him lose the ball. He could hear someone snickering, turning his head to find Yamaguchi was the source of it. 

“Why don’t you come over here and try and receive Yamaguchi?” The blond put on a tight-lipped fake smile, tilting his head to the side.

“Maybe I will” before any of the third years could intervene the freckled boy was already on the court preparing himself. 

The boy watched Kageyama intensely, eyes focused on the ball as he came barreling through the air. He dashed to the side, the ball knocking right into the middle of his arms making the ball fly straight up into the air. Tsukishima barely had time to receive it again, it was going to Hinita who botched it up.

“God damn it Hinita!” Both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi chuckled at the other boy who continued to yell across the court.

“Pay attention!”

The practice eventually ended, Tsukishima was now free to go home. He made his way to the doors before he could be freed. His name was called.

“Tsukishima, come here for a sec.” It was the coach and his tone of voice didn’t sound inviting. The blond sighed and turned to the older man, standing right next to him.

“I heard you almost got in a fight with Yamaguchi” damn, the teacher from before must have come over and said something. It was that or somehow the coach was physic.

The blond shrugged his shoulders. What was there to say? He didn’t even start it. It was Yamaguchi who grabbed him by the collar and insulted him. He was just fighting back with his words, the other boy is who made it violent.

“If you have any problems with him you can come to me or specs” 

He could hear the faint squeaks of shoes on the gym floor, along with soft idle chatter of his other teammates.

“There’s no problem” and with that Tsukishima finally left to go home.

——————

“Tsukishima, Yamaguchi” The class bell had just rung, students trickling out of the classroom.

There was a low light filling the room. Today was cloudy, damp from the rain that had happened last night. It brought an earthy smell to the halls as the outside air seeped in through open windows and doors.

“The cleaning supplies are in the supply closet, you can use this key.”

The blond tip-toed to the woman, worried that she would give him an extra week of cleaning duty if he so much as looked at her wrong. The key was attached to an orange and black striped lanyard. The key itself was cool against his fingertips, the notches on etched in the side of it rough from daily wear.

He turned around, the sight of the delinquent enough to make him sigh. This was going to be a long hour.

He strode out of the room, Yamaguchi trailing behind him. That hallway seemed somber with the little light coming through, clouded sky making everything seem slow and sluggish.

The closest wasn’t too far away but it was still a good distance of a walk to be leisurely. The handle had small droplets of water on it; no doubt condensation from the humidity in the air. He slotted the key in, pushing the door open, wiping his hand on his pants as the door creaked.

The faint smell of cleaning supplies and bleach wafted into his face, various bottles, mops, brooms, and even a bucket lay in the dark closet. 

Tsukishima gathered a few bottles into the bucket, picking it up and handing it to the boy behind him. Yamaguchi took it begrudgingly, arms wrapped around the blue plastic container. The blond picked up and mop and a broom, closing the door with his foot.

They reached their homeroom when Yamaguchi spoke up “I don’t know why you're so rude but if you could hold your tongue we won’t have any more problems”

Tsukishima put the broom and mop against the wall, “Not my fault you have a temper” he pushed his glasses up his nose. Yamaguchi dropped the bucket on a desk. 

“My temper?” His eyes flared.

“I’m not the one who has a sharp tongue”

“But I’m not the one that resorts to violence”

The other boy growled, “I don’t need this” he dumped the bottles on the desk, “I’ll come back when you stop being a dick.” He then stomped out of the room with the bucket. 

Tsukishima eyed the doorway where the other boy left. A groan escaping him as he grabbed the broom and went to work. His movements were lazy and tired. He wasn’t even trying. Like most things, he didn’t want to put much effort into it.

He wasn’t half bothered that Yamaguchi left. He knew he should’ve been glad he was gone but instead he felt lonely in the empty classroom.

——————

Yamaguchi let out a loud, guttural groan as he stocked his way into the bathroom. He swung his arms heavily as the bucket in his hand bumped into the side of his thigh.

“That asshole!”

Who did he think he was? The high king? He bet that tall blond string bean had never been in a fight. Then again, he didn’t need to. What Yamaguchi could tell Tsukishima always held a sort of powerful air to him. He never associated with anyone he didn’t need to, favoring the alternative of ignoring them.

There was also his attitude. It was something in the way he walked like he couldn’t care less if a meteor crashed onto the earth and burned down half of the school. There was also the fact he was just an ass . Maybe that’s why everyone left him alone.

Leave it up to Yamaguchi to be the one person the blond devil would actually put effort into harassing. He had no idea what that guy's problem was.

The only thing he did know was that he needed to get this done cleaning, fast. He had to get home so he could study, make dinner, and lunch for tomorrow. He didn’t have time to clean at school.

He started to fill the bucket with water, the constant sound of the water hitting the plastic almost calming. 

Over the sound of the water, he could hear two sets of footsteps, the voice of girls gossiping just barely audible. Yamaguchi turned off the water.

“I heard Tsukishima got stuck cleaning his homeroom with Yamaguchi.”

“That delinquent?”

“I feel bad for Tsukishima”

“The guy’s such an eyesore”

“I don’t understand why the teachers keep him around”

“I heard he threatened the principle to keep him here”

“I’m not surprised” the girls both giggled, their voices trailed off as they went farther down the hall. The words hung in the air around Yamaguchi. They didn’t hurt him. He was used to the rumors of pathetic girls and guys who liked to pretend they knew Yamaguchi. Like they ever would. 

He knew this was the only way to protect himself. He would rather be feared than be victimized, like how he was in elementary school. But that didn’t mean he liked the way people viewed him. 

He wanted to be viewed as a good boy with a heart of gold. He wanted to be known for the smart student who always studied. He wanted to be accepted more than he wanted to feared. 

Too bad he couldn’t change how people saw him.

He snapped out of his mopey state, taking the bucket out of the sink, making his way back to the classroom. 

Chapter Text

Yamaguchi walked through the door, opening it with a familiar creak. The overpowering smell of cinnamon assaulting his nose. He was used to the scent. His mother did everything she could to mask the musty smell the small apartment had gained over the years. Even overrun that sent with cinnamon.

The floorboards groaned under his feet, making some sort of sound whenever he took a step. He set his bag by the door, bending over to pick up his notebooks and pencil pouch. 

If he used his time wisely he could get a lot done tonight. First, he would study for a short period of time, then make his mother’s and his own lunch for tomorrow. Then study some more for who knows how long. And last but not least, make dinner. He would have to fit cleaning up the apartment somewhere in there since the place was starting to look like a mess. Not that he run down walls and stained piss-yellow glass helped. 

This home wasn’t the prettiest, but it was still his home nonetheless. 

He let out a soft sigh as he set his things on the desk in his very small room. He scooted his chair back, beginning his short study session. Though he couldn’t seem to concentrate. His thoughts could only think about those girls and Tsukishima. Of all people he would be stuck thinking over he wanted Tsukishima to be the last of one. 

He didn’t know why but the words the blond said kept echoing in his mind: “Not my fault you have a temper”, “But I’m not the one that resorts to violence” . It irritated him but it also raised some questions. He had always had a temper ever since his father left him and his mother behind. He always had the urge to fight ever since that fateful day in elementary school. 

He had his reasons and Tsukishima didn’t have the right to question them. He shook his head. He wasn’t going to get anything done this way. He got up, leaving his study materials to sit lonesomely for a while.

He could at least make lunch. 

He didn’t even know what compelled him to make those jackass rice balls. Perhaps it was guilt or just the chance to show he wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be. Too bad that kindness was wasted. 

Before he could actually get to making the lunches the doorbell rang, the dull buzz slightly threatening. Yama set down the food he was preparing, washing his hands before making his way to the door. 

He almost slammed the door closed when he saw who was on the other side. 

“Hey kid, where’s your mom?”

“None of your business” the man only seemed to get peeved at this response, lip curling into a snarl. 

“I said where’s your mom” 

“She’s not here” Yama didn’t move, one hand on the door and the other on his hip. He was still in his school uniform, his punk-ish style still on display. That didn’t seem to phase the man.

“Listen here little’ shit, when your mama comes back I have to have a talk with her, got it?” The man had black greasy hair that was combed back. His skin was sickly tan and he had wrinkles covering his face. His jaw was ticked to the side, uneven, unshaven stubble on his chin. 

“I don’t have to tell her anything” he slammed the door on the guy's face. He couldn’t stand guys like him showing up for his mother. Especially grease balls like him. He could still hear the guy on the other side of the door, yelling incoherently. He relocked the three locks they had on their door and went back to cooking. 

He hoped that guy wouldn’t stay around.

Time went by a lot faster than Yamaguchi thought it would. He was able to make not only two lunches but four, clean up some of the trash and clothes around the apartment, and was able to actually get some studying in.

Now all he had to do was make dinner. He decided to make no hoiru yaki since he had leftover mushrooms that needed to be used and salmon that was going to go bad if he didn’t use it sometime this week. 

He salted the seasoned meat, cutting the vegetables and mushrooms as well. Eventually, he put all of the ingredients onto a sheet of aluminum foil, wrapping it up and putting it on the pan. Now all he had to do was wait.

He could hear the door open with the same creak it always did. The light click of heels hitting the ground making him smile. 

“Hi” 

“Hello sweetie” his mother chimed. He walked towards her, arms outstretched in front of him. She chuckled tiredly, giving him a good squeeze. He melted into the hug. He felt everything from today fade into obscurity as he inhaled deeply. 

“Bad day?”

He nodded as he took a step back from his mother. She smiled back at him, her long brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail, her face in full view. 

He missed her. Even if it was only a day.

“How was the trip?”

“It was alright” she sniffed the air, eyes sparkling at the realization of what it was. 

“Dinner?”

“shake no hoiru yaki” she sighed pleasantly at his words and made her way to the pan.

“It will be done in a few minutes, you can go sit down” she followed the suggestion without a thought. 

Yamaguchi could a few faint scattered bruises on her arms and legs as she walked past. His heart is almost breaking. He wanted to get his mother out of the two jobs she had but Yama couldn’t work. Not when he had to study. Not now that he had volleyball. 

His mother wanted him to join because she said he was ‘wasting his teenage years away’. He had only agreed because he also felt so tired of doing the same thing all the time. Too bad he had to clean his homeroom with Tsukishima was a change he didn’t like.

He left that thought right there. He needed to serve dinner.

——————

Yamaguchi almost busted a vein when Tsukishima continued to tease him. He was trying to do a new technique with his jump float but it wasn’t coming out as he imagined it. And Tsukishima was enjoying his failures. ‘Let’s see what that blond fuck says when I beat his ass’ he thought but didn’t humor himself anymore, focusing on the task at hand.

He took in a deep breath, letting his hands trace over the thick skin of the ball. All he needed to do was hit it a little harder than usual but not so much that it would spin. He needed to just go far enough to the back for it to be difficult to revive.

He tossed the ball up in front of him as he took four steps in rapid succession, letting his arms tilt back as he jumped up as high as his legs would allow him. His eyes locked onto the ball, his arm pulled back to gain some energy, bringing it forward as the ball began to come back down. The satisfying slap as the ball connected with his hand was enough for him to forget about Tsukishima, his mother’s bruises, and the guy that was at his door last night. 

He swore he could feel lightning run through his body as the ball glided through the air. It did not spin, it didn’t even seem to be that much faster than his usual jump float. But It dropped exactly where he wanted it to, right next to the line, still inside.

As his feet hit the ground he could feel the swell of excitement in his heart at his hard work finally coming together. He pumped his fists into the air “yes!”

Luckily, Tsukishima didn’t feel the need to comment on his serve. 

Be tried again, and again, and again. He did it till his palms stung and his thighs screamed for mercy. He decided taking a small break wouldn’t hurt. He walked to where his water bottle was, taking a large swig before looking around. 

“Hinata that’s not how you serve!”

“Well, then how do you do it?”

“Ugh! Like this!” Kageyama and Hinata were lively as always. He slowly drifted towards them, just watching for the time being. He must have been starting intensely because Kageyama turned around after his serve to look over his shoulder. The black-haired boy only narrowed his eyes at the sight of Yama, turning his head back around to do a serve.

Kageyama did his thing, the serve was pretty solid. “Nice one Kageyama” he must have said it wrong because the setter spun around and glared at him.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you do one then?” The delinquent Just raised his hands in front of him at the hasty comment. Maybe he needed to work on his tone.

“No, I actually meant that as a-”

“Oh, so you're too good to serve huh?”

“That’s not what I-”

“Is that how you really want this to go?”

The boy just sighed, putting his hands down defeatedly. He should just do the stupid serve, get things over with. Maybe then the other boy would calm down a little. 

“No jump floats” 

“But that’s no fun.” He tried to be playful, but Kageyama took that the wrong way too. He just shut himself up and served. It wasn’t half bad, but it wasn’t an overwhelming good serve either.

“could be better” is all he got out of the setter, Hinata still being in a somewhat defensive stance. Yama didn’t know quite what to do with these two. They definitely didn’t like him, but anytime he tried to be friendly they got hasty. 

Hinata seemed tenser but also more approachable than the black-haired setter. He had even been somewhat impressed with his jump float when he first saw it. 

He decided to ask a question that he had on his mind for a while. “How do you guys pull off those quick attacks?”

“What do you mean?” The orange hair chirped.

“How did you figure it out?”

“This idiot just happened to be fast enough to be able to hit my sets”

“Hey! I’m the only idiot that hit your sets”

“Yeah but you close your eyes!”

“That’s because I know you're gonna set it perfectly!”

Yamaguchi found they're arguing charming, chuckling at their antics. This only drew both of their attention off of each other and onto Yama. This time they didn’t seem to be as offended. 

“What’s so funny?”

“You two sure do fight a lot” he only laughed more which led to Hinata giggling and Kageyama yelling at him again,

Yamaguchi could feel a weird warmth rumble in his chest. He laughed with the two boys in front of him.

 Maybe joining the volleyball team was a good idea after all.

——————

Yamaguchi was almost done making dinner when the haunting ring of the doorbell disturbed him. He looked over his shoulder at the door, then back to the food he was cooking. He turned the heat down on the pan and went over to the door. 

When he opened it he already knew he made a mistake. 

“Ey kid, you’re mom home?” The same greasy guy from before was leaning against the door frame, peering into the apartment. He was wearing similar clothes from last time, only these ones looked somewhat cleaner. He blocked the door with his body. 

“No, go away” he tried to close the door but the man scrunched his foot between the door and the frame so he couldn’t. Luckily for him his mother was already home. Maybe that’s why this guy came much later, so he could try and run into his mother. Yama wasn’t gonna tolerate any of that.

Bless his mother but she was being sweet at the wrong time. “Honey who’s at the door?”

The man smirked.

“Oh, you little fucker” he rammed his shoulder into the door, taking Yamaguchi by surprise. The boy fell back, stumbling on the way. The man loomed over him with an irritating smile on his chapped lips. His mother walked into the hall only to see Yama on the ground and the guy standing over him. She panicked.

“D-don’t hurt him!”

“Hey, doll,”

His mother’s body shrunk considerably, eyes narrowing into a steely glare. Yamaguchi scrambled back up on his feet, getting in front of his mother. He didn’t know what this guy wanted but he sure as hell wouldn’t let him touch his mother.

“Move” the man boomed.

“Fuck off”

This earned him a knuckle sandwich, the man decking him right in his left eye. The boy grunted, his mother whimpered, hands on his back to steady him.

“I told you to move '' Yama only kicked the guy back, slamming his leg into the guy's groin area. He could see the pain form on the man’s face as he knelt down. He kicked him again, this time in the stomach, and for good measure one more time in his face. It felt nice to be able to kick the shit out of this guy.

He took quick breaths as he finally realized how fast his heart was beating. The rush of energy made his hunger to fight burn brighter. He looked back at his mother, giving her a smile. 

His mother and Yamaguchi both dragged the guy to the door, where Yamaguchi kicked him one last time to get him out of the house. They locked all three of their locks after that, even putting a chair under the doorknob just in case.

“Oh sweetheart I’m sorry” she gingerly touched the bruise now forming over Yama's left eye. He flinched slightly.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything.”

“But that’s the problem”

“I would rather be safe.” Her smile warmed. He leaned up and kissed the boy on the forehead, her soft hands on either side of Yamaguchi's cheeks. 

“What did I do to get a son like you?” Yamaguchi felt a warm blossom of pride bloom in his chest, it seemed to numb the aching pain of his eye. If he couldn’t be the good boy at school, he could at least be the good boy for his mother. He would be her knight in shining armor.

“Let’s get some ice on that” She led him to the refrigerator, wrapping a bag of ice in a towel and gently placing it on her son's eye. 

“I’ll finish dinner, you need to rest”

He couldn’t really argue with that, so he got one of his textbooks and studied for a solid twenty minutes. Then the savory smell of dinner wafted into the room as his mother brought two plates of food with her.

 Yama happily ate it.

“So who was that guy?” He said in between bites. His mother was visibly tense and he regretted asking.

“He just a dickwad who thinks I owe him something”

“Do you?”

“No” he left it at that, not wanting to make his mother anymore uncomfortable. Though she continued to talk on her own accord.

“He used to be an old friend of your father”

Father… the word sounded so bitter on his mother’s tongue. He had a hard time even mentioning him after he left when Yama was only seven.

“He isn’t worth our time then” his mother nodded and they dipped back into silence. Only his mother had stopped eating, staring blankly at her half-full plate. 

“I wish I could protect you” Yamaguchi blinked at the comment, taken aback by the abruptness of his mother’s words.

“I wish I could be more of a parent” Yama could see the water pool at the rim of his mother’s eyes. He could see how her lips trembled even though she was trying her best to keep a tight-lipped smile. He could feel his heart crack at the sight of her. He silently wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest. He kept his hold firm but gentle, using one of his hands to pet her hair,

She didn’t cry, but she did stay in his hold for a long time. 

That night they both went to bed early.

——————

Yama got many looks as he walked down the hall. More than usual and it was all thanks to the black eye he was now sporting. He could hear guys and girls gossiping as he walked past. 

“I heard he got in a fight with a gang”

“I hear he beat up a third-year”

“I heard he got pummeled for screwing someone's girlfriend.”

They all flowed through one ear and out the other. He had heard it all before, it was nothing new. The same rumors remixed and reshuffled to fit the situation. They would never get to know the real reason, so they would make up their own. Not like it was any of their business in the first place.

He had his hands in his pockets, back slightly slouched as he sauntered down the hall. He wasn’t following the dress code as usual. His wrists had spike bracelets on them, shoes were the wrong color, and piercings more outrageous than usual.

All he could see was hostile faces of students he didn’t know whisper his name, blurring together into nameless tormentors. That was until he saw the familiar Hinata and Kageyama with an equally familiar tall blond.

“Woah what happened?” Hinata seemed partly scared and curious about him. Though his curiosity must have been stronger. But Yama was glad the boy cared to some extent, even if it was shallow.

“Someone punched me” 

“So those fighting rumors are true?”

“I wouldn’t say that”

As he talked to Hinata he could see Tsukishima stare at him out of the corner of his eye. Yamaguchi could feel his back muscles stiffen. If the blond wanted to say something, he better say it.

“How did it start?” Yamaguchi was surprised to hear Tsukishima say that. He was always cold, always disconnected. He never seemed interested in anything. Even now he seemed like he was going to pay attention half-way.

Yama stammered before he could actually get a sentence out. “T-The guy was being a dick.” 

This seemed to do something to the blond.

“How so?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it” Yamaguchi crossed his arms over his chest defensively. He knew the blond would just give him shit about the whole situation so he would rather not deal with it. Oddly the blond seemed to be a little emphatic, letting the silence take over.

Hinata and Kageyama went on their merry way, leaving the two boys to stand awkwardly next to each other. “Who was the guy?” It took Yamaguchi a minute to respond.

“Some grimy grease ball” that surprisingly made Tsukishima chuckle. 

“I wonder how greasy”

“S-shut up”

This sent him into another chuckling fit. Yama stared at his cheeky expression as he had his face, a weird softness blanketing him, how come the other was much nicer than usual?

It was odd, the other wasn’t as harsh as usual today but maybe he just didn’t want to waste his breath on Yama.

He didn’t seem to mind the states either. They were both getting looks from upperclassmen and students in their grade. It was an odd sight, a delinquent with a smartass loner. But it still made some semblance of sense in the big picture.

They had most of the same classes, in the same year, and we're both on the volleyball team. Was it that surprising that they were interacting?

Before he could finish exploring that thought a petite girl had patted up to them. She was twiddling a note in her hand and looked nervous in every sense of the word. Yama knew what she was going to ask before the words even came out of her mouth. 

“Tsukishima? Can I speak to you alone?” She said barely loud enough for him to hear over the hallway chatter. 

Yamaguchi decided it was time for him to leave. When he shifted his weight to begin walking away the girl finally noticed him. Had she not seen him right next to Tsukishima? Perhaps she was so laser-focused on the blond to even see him there. 

She seemed spooked at the sight of him, taking a step back. “Oh Nevermind I’ll-“

“I was just leaving” Yamaguchi smiled genuinely, but that only seemed to scare her more. So he just left, not wanting to cause them any more trouble.

——————

Yama had gotten a few stares from his teammates because of his black eye, not that he was surprised. If anything he would be more surprised if they hadn’t. 

He was quite tired of hearing rumors all day so he was glad to have practice to take his mind off everything. He just hoped no one would stir up trouble for him today.

Not like he had the chance to as coach was already in front of him before he took more than three steps into the gym. The older man's eyes were narrowed, hands on his hips as he stared down at Yamaguchi. 

“What happened to your face?” the boy gulped inaudibly at the coach's comment, knowing he had to answer this carefully.

“I had an accident” this only seemed to make the man more suspicious but he left it that. Though he did say one more thing before he left.

“Meet me after practice” 

Yama just nodded, rolling his shoulders back as he began to help the others set up the court.

Practice went by faster than he wanted it to. He wanted it to last forever so he wouldn’t have to handle whatever coach was going to say to him. He was used to the talks about how respect was a two-way street and that if he wanted to be treated right he had to do the same to others. It was all said before, but even then he found himself still nervous to meet up with the blond man. He was intimidating after all. Not in the same way some guys from gangs were that hung around his apartment, but more in a ‘tough uncle’ kinda way. He felt like he was gonna get his ass beat.

Once they were done cleaning up Yamaguchi looked around for the coach. He was tempted to just leave but knew that would just get him into even more trouble, so just to be safe he decided to look for him. He could see Kiyoko off to the side, writing something on her clipboard. Maybe he could ask her where Coach was.

Yamaguchi hadn’t expected so much trouble would come from talking with Kiyoko. He had just tried to talk to her for a second to see if she knew where Coach was.

“Kiyoko, do you know where-”

Both Noya and Tanaka sprung into action at the sight of Yama interacting with the black-haired beauty, putting themselves between them. Their arms were outstretched and Yamaguchi had to try and not look too confused at the situation.

“Stay away from Kiyoko!”

“Yeah! She is our precious angel and is too good for you!” Tanaka said teeth snarled out like he was about to bite Yamaguchi. Ah, so this is what this was about. To be honest he had no interest in Kiyoko in that way. Sure she was pretty but she wasn’t really his type. He liked high riding confident girls who could spit some venom and hit the same way. Or guys that fit the same description. Sadly, none of those kinds of girls existed at Karasuno and he was pretty sure none of the guys wanted to date him. However, there were many good girls like Kiyoko, not that he minded. He needed to focus on his studies and volleyball anyway.

“Chill, I just wanted to ask a question.”

“Question my ass! You're trying to get with our goddess!” despite Tanaka looking like a delinquent he sure did have a soft spot for their manager.

“Listen, she’s not even my type-”

“What do you mean! Are you saying she is ugly!” would Noya just let him talk or was he gonna be interrupted every other sentence? He felt like he was digging his grave but he wasn’t sure how to safely retreat out of this situation without being rude or making a fool of himself.

“She is the most beautiful woman in the world, you are just blind!”

“Hell yeah she is!” Tanaka barked.

“She is pretty, I’m just saying-”

“So you are after her?” Kiyoko looked just as fed up as Yamaguchi was. The freckled boy really just wanted to curl up into a ball and not be there. That was until someone rescued him from this situation.

“Yamaguchi, come with me” the older man’s voice was cold and booming compared to how exasperated the two second years' voices were. 

The freckled boy felt partly relieved and partly nervous. He scampered away from his teammates and followed the coach outside of the gym. He fiddled with his hands as he stood in front of the coach, leg bouncing slightly as well. 

“I’m gonna get right to the point, is someone at school bothering you?” Yamaguchi blinked at the male's question.

“N-no” well, it wasn’t really at school, but the coach didn’t need to know about that. Coach only narrowed his eyes again, obviously not believing him, but he didn’t call him out on it either.

“If anyone does cause any trouble you come to me alright? I don’t need you getting suspended and missing practice.”

The boy nodded, feeling like a weight was slowly being lifted on his shoulders.

“Alright, you can go” Yama took this chance to bow and apologize for any trouble he caused, scurrying off once more to get his things and get the hell out of there. 

Coach just sighed, meeting back up with Takeda. He sighed as he leaned against the wall.

“That Yamaguchi kid sure is something.”

“He’s just got a lot on his plate, give him time”

Ukai just let those words rest in mind, letting them wander as he stared at Hinata and Kageyama still practicing their serves.

——————

Today was going to be stressful. They had a practice game set up with a neighboring school team. They weren’t amazing or anything, but it would still be a challenge to beat them. 

They were up against Hironishi. They were known for their sporadic play style and fast pace plays. But so was Karasuno.

Either way, they were all pumped up and anxious to some degree. Even Tsukishima who was calm in every situation could feel the slight jitters. Since this was their first practice game of the season it would set the tone for the team for the whole month. They had to win.

They had everything set up, volleyballs set in order and each of them changed into their uniforms. Now all they were waiting for was the other team. They were late. Not really trying to set a good first impression huh?

Tsukishima just stood idly, thinking about what he was going to do when he went home. He was broken out of his thoughts as Hinata rambled on loudly about something to Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi looked like he was about to be sent to his death. Maybe that’s why he wanted to talk to Hinata. He was fiddling with his fingers subconsciously, eyes batting around like he was a caged animal. He was bouncing his leg, making the rest of his body shake. And most obvious of all his face was almost turned green. Tsukishima didn’t know why he was getting so worked up over everything.

Daichi walked behind Yama and gave him a pat on the shoulder “Calm down, you’ll do great” ah, their good old captain doing what he does best, giving empty promises. He knew the rest of the team probably needed to hear it too, especially Hinata and Kageyama. They somehow looked worse than Yamaguchi.

Before he was able to comment on it the other team finally got there. They held an air of confidence that professional athletes had and it showed. Despite the fact they were a new school they had already made a good reputation for themselves.

Their uniforms were orange and blue, not the best color combination to Tsukishima. Though the sight of them just stressed out the whole team, Yamaguchi taking in a shaky breath. This boy needed to calm down.

The teams did the usual things for a practice game, the team chant, the captain's shaking hands, and lastly bowing to either team. Tsukishima never liked bowing, it felt so unnecessary to him. But alas he would have to do it anyway. 

They took their positions after this, Tsukishima being the starting lineup. He could catch the sight of Yama on the bench, still looking nervous but less so. He was bouncing his leg vigorously. He looked away before he could see the boy do anything else with his nerves.

Then the game was in motion. The beginning was a blur of revives and excitement filled spikes. Both teams were just trying to figure each other’s weaknesses and strengths as well as taking on the challenges each of their plays made.

There was one player that stood out to Tsukishima. It was their number five, a spiker with even more spunk that Yamaguchi or Tanaka. He had an attitude, even with his plays. His spikes were powerful but predictable, an easy type to block. If only Tsukishima could bring himself to put more effort into it.

It was just a practice game, what was there to lose? Some pride? 

His thought was interrupted by the ball being slammed into the ground by his feet. He heard the triumphant howl of that damn number five. 

“Is that all you got giraffe boy?” The boy had the cheekiest shit-eating grin on his face as he stared at Tsukishima. His brown hair was shaved on one side, the other flopping over to his cheekbones. His teeth looked almost sharp and pointed. His eyes were slits with black voidless vortexes that looked so alive as he taunted Karasuno’s number eleven. 

Oh, this jackass was gonna have another thing coming to him.

Tsukishima kept his cool like usual, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a little ticked off. Though he wasn’t allowed to act on that irritation as he was called to be switched out.

He held back the urge to snicker as he saw Yamaguchi standing there like he was about to be eaten alive by a pack of wolves.

The blond took long strides down the court to the freckled delinquent, making sure their hands didn’t touch the others as he took hold of the number sign. 

Tsukishima kept his eyes trained in front of him, not sparing the smaller boy a second glance. With that he walked next to Suga, the setter giving him a bright smile.

He watched as Yama took his spot behind the white line, body practically shaking in nervousness. He got a few cheers of encouragement from Suga and Daichi, and even one from Hinata. 

This didn’t seem to ease his mood. 

Soon the whistle was blown and the boy now had eight seconds to do his serve. He took his first step, it was hesitant and shaky, it barely being a step at all.

The next two steps were more confident, the repetition of his practice kicking in as he threw the ball upward. He crouched on the fourth step, leg muscles tightening as they prepared to throw Yamaguchi’s body up. He jumped with a ridged, practiced motion. 

Tsukishima could feel something was off even before the ball connected with Yamas's hand. 

The ball slammed right into the net and no one was able to receive it in time. Tsukishima could see the sheer amount of guilt and shame take over Yamaguchi’s face. The utter desperation in his stare.

The way his eyes turned down was heartbreaking. How his eyebrows furrowed downward and upward at the same time. His lip quivered slightly and for a moment Tsukishima forgot all about the time Yamaguchi had grabbed him by the collar, or when he spit hostile words at others for whatever reason, or any other time they were rude to each other.

All he could see was the boy in the park he had left that day in elementary.

Chapter Text

Yamaguchi almost tripped and fell onto his face as his foot caught a crack on the sidewalk. He was barely paying attention to anything around him, his mind in the clouds. Not for anything good though. 

After his absolute disastrous flunk at the practice game made the rest of the match clunky and messy. 

They lost that game. Not a good way to start off the season. 

Yamaguchi had felt so guilty about the whole ordeal that for the next two days were a hazy blur where all he was doing was apologizing. Mostly to the team but to other people too. It threw some people off, surprise covering their features when they heard him being polite to them.

Today was the third day of his misery and he was feeling particularly tired. He was barely picking up his feet as he walked. His posture was slouched, eyes lidded, and limbs heavy. 

He couldn’t help but feel like they lost that game because of him. It was somewhat true. The rest of the team had started to flail after his failure and it made Yama feel like shit.

He dropped his bag by the door once he entered his apartment, standing there for a few moments before deciding on what to do. 

He lugged himself into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator door and scanning the shelves for anything he could use to cook.

He would have to go grocery shopping with his mother this weekend since they barely had any food left. He just hoped they had enough money to last them this week.

Yama was debating on getting a job so they wouldn’t have to worry about money, but that would be difficult because of volleyball. Maybe he could do some shifts on the weekends, not like he had much else to do.

He began to prepare food for tomorrow’s lunch, he just needed something to do other than studying. 

It was pretty late in the day, the open window in the kitchen showing the cover of black taking over the night sky. Stars were starting to poke through the sheet of dark, a subtle breeze entering the kitchen. Yamaguchi could smell the scent of smoke and mold not only from the widow but the apartment itself. No matter the amount of cinnamon his mother had to douse on the house it would never be fully free of the atrocious smells it had developed.

He was so busy looking at the scenery outside the window that he accidentally let the knife he was using slip, the sharp metal cutting into the surface of his thumb. He cursed under his breath, dropping the knife and putting his thumb in his mouth.

He took his finger out of his mouth, groaning as he went to the closest to try and find a bandage. He wrapped the thin bandage around his thumb, sighing as he closed the closet. 

That’s when he heard it. It was two or three people talking right behind the front door. He could recognize one of the voices of Mr. Grease Ball as he so affectionately had named him. 

He must have brought his buddy’s to try and scare him and his mother. Good thing his mother was off on another trip for her job, though he had a sneaking suspicion they would do even worse things to him since his mother wasn’t here. 

They started banging on the door violently. 

Yama could feel the heat of adrenaline form under his skin, clouding his sense of touch as the door rumbled. He stood wide-eyed, a terrified shiver taking hold of the bottom of his spine and crawling sickly up to his neck. The hairs on his skin stood straight up, his heart thrashing in his rib cage.

“Little shit! I know you're in there!”

Yamaguchi was so glad he locked the doors. He tried to take quiet steps to his room but he almost fell down in the process, his legs shaking from the thoughts of the thugs barging into the apartment.

He clung to the wall as he made it to his room, legs no longer as unstable as a newborn foal. He closed the door silently, propping his desk chair under the doorknob. 

He ran his hands through his hair, tugging out a few strands because of how hard he was pulling.

“Fuck fuck fuck”

He was unsure of what to do, bumbling around his room like he was running away from an imaginary monster.

Then an idea struck him, eyes lingering on the window in his room. This would have to do. He opened it with great disagreement from the window itself, eventually prying it open. 

He looked down at the fire exit just outside the window, night cover still as all-consuming as before. He took a sharp breath and looked back into his room, grabbing a bag and stuffing some clothes and blanket into it before throwing himself out the window. 

He felt the cold rush of the night air tackle his face, his muscles screaming for him to move as quickly as possible.

He could still hear banging on the door when he left.

——————

Last night left him more than exhausted. He had slept on a bench in a park a few blocks down from his home. It wasn’t the coziest place to sleep but he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He didn’t have close friends he could crash with and he certainly wouldn’t sleep at the school. So this was one of the few options he had.

He awoke with stiffness in his body and the realization of what happened. He knew that he would have to go back to get his book bag and other things. 

It was a hassle but it was what he had to do with the situation at hand.

He got up from the bench and shuffled out of the park. When he did get his bag he decided just to go to morning practice a bit early. It was about six-thirty, the sky changing into a dusky yellow as the sun began to rise. Yama felt every rock he stepped on beneath his beaten and worn shoes, the walk somewhat calming to his senses. 

Once he had finally made it to the gym he sighed, knowing it would take him a good while to set up the court by himself. But he wouldn’t be anywhere else but here, this was his last home that wasn’t invaded. 

He just hoped it stayed that way. 

He turned on the lights, set up the net, and got the volleyballs out. He then began serving. Over, and over, and over until he was panting like a dog.

He bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He could feel the cold sweat drop down his jaw, hair soaked and stuck to his head and face. He could feel the light tic of his muscles twitching, an aching burn in his whole being.

He didn’t seem to notice the tall blond watching him until he was already preparing to do his next serve. 

He jumped, dropping the ball he was holding. 

Tsukishima just snickered at this, Yama feeling blood rush to his cheeks.

“What the hell are you doing here!”

“I could say the same for you” the blond was as insufferable as always. He just glared at Tsukishima, picking up the ball he just dropped.

“Why are you here so early? Trying to redeem yourself?” Tsukishima teased.

“Oh shut up” Yama did a serve a few seconds after his words, not in the mood to listen to any more of Tsukishima’s bullshit. This seemed to silence the taller male for a little while, watching him as he continued to practice.

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but feel weird at the stare the other was burning into him. He felt like he was being stalked by a lion that was gonna tear him limb by limb.

“What?” 

“You told me to shut up so I’m shutting up,” Tsukishima said, a ping of irritation pricking at Yamaguchi’s skin.

“Why are you staring?”

“Am I not allowed to stare?”

“You're freaking me out”

This led to both of them glaring at each other. Tsukishima gave one of his signature tight-lipped fake smiles.

“Maybe you're just scared of me”

Yamaguchi threw the ball at the wall, it bounced onto the ground as he stomped over to the blond. He slammed both of his hands on either side of Tsukkishima, trapping him between his arms. 

Yamaguchi could only hope he looked intimidating even though he was craning his neck up to look the other boy in the eye.

“Alright, listen the fuck up. I’m not scared of you, or anyone in this school and you better get that through that thick skull of yours”

“Sounds like what a coward would say” Tsukishima’s voice was a vile coo like he was saying a compliment, only he wasn’t. 

With all that Yama went through he knew the last thing he would be was a coward.

Yamaguchi’s nails dig into the wall,

“I don’t know why your so fucking rude but sooner or later no one’s gonna stick around for your sorry ass” Yama knew he had to step up his game somehow so he stood on his tippy toes to get more height. This didn’t really help his case.

This just led Tsukishima to snicker, a wicked grin lining his lips.

Yamaguchi stepped back, upset once more and utterly fed up with the middle blocker. He trampled his way back over to his ball, serving it as hard as he could. The solid sound of his hand pounding the ball into the floor ran in his ears.

Tsukishima just kept that shit-eating grin on his face, still watching Yamaguchi with his arms crossed over his chest.

Yamaguchi was sure Tsukishima was a literal devil in disguise.

He kept on serving until he was panting again, breaths short and deep.

“If you keep in doing that you’ll have no energy for practice”

Yamaguchi turned to the other boy, done with him talking.

“What if I don’t care?”

“Then keep going”

Yamaguchi squinted at him. Like hell he would listen to him, but he did feel really tired… Ugh, he hated when smartasses like him are right.

He walked over to the wall and sat down, letting his breathing settle. His skin felt sticky against his clothing, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. Tsukishima stayed standing, looking down at the freckled boy.

“Why are you here so early?” The blond asked once more.

“I just needed to take my mind off things”

“What things?”

“Why are you so fuckin’ nosy?”

The blond snickered at Yama’s comment.

“I guess I get it from my brother”

“Remind me to never meet him”

——————

Tsukishima felt like a champion as he walked down the halls, long strides bounding to the ground. His headphones were on, music blasting as his eyes were trained in front of him. 

Naturally, he glided through the crowd, his height giving him an advantage. He could hear cut out parts of conversations and laughter over his music. He couldn’t help but see the way people bumbled into each other accidentally or how they interacted and threw each other’s arms over their friend's shoulders.

He never understood why people would want to deal with that. 

People were a bother and he would rather be by himself. No one wanted to be his friend and he had no interest in having one. All friends did was be loud and cause problems. He had his mother and his brother. Who else did he need?

Though some part of him had an aching longing for something more than acquaintanceship. His teammates could easily become more to him but most of them were such a pain to be around. Though, they were fun to tease, especially Yamaguchi. 

He got so riled up over certain things it was almost ridiculous.

The crowd in the hallway was finally starting to thin out, most people either in their class or close to it. Tsukishima was just going extra slow that he usually would, too busy with his music to really care.

However, something in the corner of his peripheral vision caught his eye. He turned his head slightly to check the situation down one of the halls he was passing.

He could see what looked like Yamaguchi arguing with three older boys. He couldn’t recognize any of their faces but they looked pissed. Yama was standing his ground, his demeanor probably the only thing holding these guys from jumping the delinquent right then and there.

He felt a flood of familiarity cloud his memory, a shiver of guilt fluttering up his spine. It’s not like this was his problem. He had grown up now. He could defend himself; Tsukishima didn’t need to get involved.

So Tsukishima walked away, not changing from what he did in Elementary. 

He kept telling himself that Yamaguchi wasn’t his problem. But as he walked by he felt shame bite at his heels as he scampered away like a fool.

——————

Tsukishima felt like he had a storm cloud over his head for the entire day. It was exhausting, to say the least.

The practice came and went and he was soon free to go. He gathered up his things, slinging his bag over his shoulder. It was that part at dusk where the night bleeds into the now setting light, giving a musty gray where the two met.

He looked to the side of the gym, only to see Yama looking cautiously in the other direction, leaning against the wall with his shoulders tense. 

“Hey” the comment made the shorter boy jump, spinning around to face Tsukki. His eyes were wide with panic and his pupils seemed to be set aflame with an emotion the blond couldn’t pinpoint. 

“Jesus, you scared me”

Tsukishima just stared for a few more seconds.

“What were you doing?”

“N-nothing. Hey, could I ask for a favor?”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at the question, hand still wrapped around his bag strap.

“Could I stay at your house for a few hours?” The other boy’s voice was unfamiliarly timid, his eyes averted with the features on his face showing… shame? Tsukishima's couldn’t completely tell.

The corners of Tsukishima's lips turned into a scowl and his eyebrows knitted together. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Why?”

“I’m- I just can’t go home right now” Tsukishima didn’t know what that meant, but he wasn’t going to ask. He could see the way his mouth turned down into a frown and his eyebrows turning upwards. The look stirred something in Tsukishima that he didn’t often feel. Maybe he could give a little pity to him.

“Fine”

The boy immediately perked up, eyes now sparkling compared to the fire he had before. 

“Thank you so much!” He gave a smile, a real genuine smile. It was so bright that he wasn’t sure that it was really Yamaguchi’s.

He decided not to comment on it.

The two of them walked quietly down the sidewalk. It was much darker now, the sunlight nowhere in sight. The only thing that illuminated the road were street lamps standing sturdy from houses or just straight up from the ground. It was chilly but only by a little. You could see lights on through the windows of people's houses and occasional noises from stray cats or people who were lingering around. It smelled freshly cold, the hum of life going on quietly in the background.

Yamaguchi wouldn’t stop looking over his shoulder. Tsukishima wanted to know why but worried knowing the reason would only drag him into it. 

Whatever the case they arrived at Tsukishima's house and Yamaguchi seemed to finally relax. They entered, the blond announcing their arrival.

“I’m home”

He could hear shuffling from the kitchen as his mother came to greet him. Her smile wavered as her eyes landed on Yama. 

“Who’s this dear?” She looked him up and down, no doubt suspicious of his style.

“Teammate from volleyball” he was very careful not to say, friend. He didn’t want his mother to get the wrong idea.

Yamaguchi bowed “Nice to meet you, ma’am, I’m Yamaguchi” this seemed to ease his mother’s nerves.

“Nice to meet you too! Would you like to stay for dinner?” Tsukishima glared at his mother as he took off his shoes. his mother just ignored him. She stood right in front of the freckled boy, patting his cheeks.

“You look so thin! I’ll have to fatten you up!”

“Mom”

“Oop, sorry sorry!” She backed off, skipping back into the kitchen. Tsukishima just sighed, setting his bag down by the door.

The next hour was… awkward. Yama just studied the whole time, which was a surprise to Tsukishima. Though it shouldn’t have, he was in honors classes after all. 

When his father came home from work he only glanced at the delinquent before going upstairs to do god knows what. To top it all off Aki came down and teased him about bringing a guy over.

“Oh, you actually have a friend?”

“Shut up”

“Oh my bad, boyfriend” this only pissed Tsukishima off more, throwing a pillow at his older brother. He only laughed and dodged the attack.

“Well, I leave you two ~alone~”

Tsukishima let out an irritated groan at his brother's words. Yamaguchi didn’t seem to be phased by it, only connecting eyes with Tsukishima for a few seconds before going back to studying. 

“Your brother likes to irritate you?” Yamaguchi asked.

“He just likes being a pain in the ass”

This made Yama chuckle, the warm sound filling the room.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just find you two interacting funny,” Tsukishima scowled at his comment, which only made the other boy laugh more. Oddly he couldn’t help but enjoy the sound.

“Are you just gonna study the whole time?”

“That’s what I planned”

This comment from the other boy made Tsukishima’s eyebrows furrow. Silence took over after that and for some reason, the blond didn’t like it.

“Where did you even learn to serve anyway? I don’t remember you doing any sports in middle school.”

“You remember me from middle school?”

Crap .

“Barely” this rushed answer seemed to suffice Yamaguchi’s question. 

He gave a half-smile before he answered: “I learned from one of my mom's friends that still plays volleyball from their high school days.” Yama hesitated for a moment like he was waiting for Tsukishima to make fun of him. He didn’t.

“His name is Shimada” he left it at that, letting the conversation drop like a pin once more. Though Tsukishima did want to pick it back up, he didn’t have the chance because his mother called them in for dinner.

——————

“So Yamaguchi, How do you know Kei?” Aki couldn’t help but stick his nose into other people’s business.

“From volleyball, but he’s also in a few of my classes.” 

“So you are in honors classes?”

“Yes, I’m actually at the top of my class.”

This piqued the interest of Aki and his mother, both somewhat surprised to hear that.  But Tsukishima just took another bite of his food and tried to disassociate as much as possible. 

“Oh really? What about volleyball?”

“I’m not as good at that,” Yamaguchi said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’m sure Kei could help you out” Aki tilted his head to the side, but Tsukishima knew better than to trust that smile of his.

“Oh, that would be so nice!” His mother clapped her hands together, a soft smile on her lips. Not his mother too.

“Maybe” Luckily Yamaguchi didn’t seem interested in taking up the offer. After all, they didn’t even like each other that much, but he had a lingering feeling thing between them would change either way.

“How long have you known Kei?”

Yama chuckled a little before he spoke, “Not very long”

“You must have become close pretty quick then!”

“Ah no, I barely know anything about him.” This confused both his mother and brother, looking at the blond for answers. Tsukishima wasn’t fully sure how to respond.

“He just needed somewhere to stay for a few hours”

This seemed to satisfy his mother, but not Aki.

“Why? Need a study buddy?”

“Just someplace quiet” Yama looked visibly tense and Tsukishima just wanted Aki to shut up.

Soon they all finished their food, taking the dishes to the kitchen. Yamaguchi helped clean dishes even though he was the guest. His mother found this absolutely wonderful, pulling Tsukishima aside to talk to him.

“Yamaguchi is such a darling! You should bring him over more.”

“No way”

“Why? He’s such a nice boy!” Tsukishima scowled a bit, remembering the time when he grabbed him by the collar and insulted him. Yeah, a really nice boy. Though, his mind went back to what happened at the end of the hallway. How it reminded him of the past. Maybe it was his fault.

His mother stopped bothering about it, saying goodbye to Yamaguchi as Tsukishima escorted him out of the house. He didn’t necessarily want to have to say goodbye just yet, not with a question still in his mind.

“Why couldn’t you go home?”

Yamaguchi's back was to him. He could see his shoulders stiffen at the question.

“Reasons”

“What reasons?”

“Reasons you don’t need to know” there was some bite to how he said it that told Tsukishima that he was pushing into something sensitive. He kept pushing anyway.

“I think I should know after I did you that favor”

The other boy sighed heavily, turning around to face him. His face was slightly illuminated by the porch light, his eyes seeming so much darker than before. His freckles were the thing he noticed after his eyes. He didn’t know why but they seemed so fitting on the other. Maybe if he didn’t dress like a punk and act like one he could actually be quite the ladies man. 

“I saw this sketchy guy at the front of the school when I was walking to Volleyball practice. He came to my house a few times”

“Couldn’t you just scare him off?”

“That’s how I got the black eye, from dragging him out of my apartment.” Tsukishima felt sorry for him but didn't show it. He didn’t know why the guy was following around Yama in the first place but it couldn’t be for a good reason.

“If you ever need a place again, I’ll put up with you” Yamaguchi's eyes widened in surprise at his words, a small, grateful smile gracing his lips. 

“Thank you,” The freckled boy said barely over a whisper. Tsukishima nodded and watched as he watched him walk off to the sidewalk. 

——————

Tsukishima was glad his mother packed him his favorite lunch. More specifically he was glad she packed him some strawberry cake from the other day. That would make any lunch his favorite. 

Though he was unlucky enough to be sitting close to another table of rowdy students, most of them on the high side of the social ladder.

They were jabbering away mindlessly and Tsukishima was starting to get annoyed by how chatty they were. They were talking about how so and so got together and how this other girl was an attention hog. They just spat words into the air. It was all just noise to his ears. That was until he heard a certain person brought up in the conversation.

“Have you heard about that first-year delinquent? I heard Minato and his buddies were gonna teach him a lesson after school”

“Whoa really? I want to be there!”

“I don’t know where they're gonna be but I’ll try to find out”

“Thank god, someone has to do something about him. Maybe they’ll fix his face so it doesn’t look so ugly” this got the whole group laughing.

“Have you seen his freckles? They make his face look dirty”

“I bet that's why no one wants him around” 

“Don’t touch him, he was rolling around in the mud!” they laughed even louder.

Tsukishima didn’t want to hear another word out of any of their mouths. So he did what he did best. 

“High words from someone who everyone finds annoying” Tsukishima’s voice cut their conversation like a cold ice blade slicing the air, tension rising. The girl who he was referring to turned to him, her short black hair clipped behind her ears falling slightly into her face. He vaguely remembered her confessing to him and then insulting him when he turned her down.

“Who are you talking to me?” the girl snarked.

“Oh? From what I remember you had a thing for me” 

This comment made her cheeks burn red.

“Your just some low life asshole who thinks he’s on the top of the world”

“Well at least this asshole knows better to talk about people behind their backs”

This seemed to stun her for a moment, glancing at her friends.

“Why do you care anyway?” a guy perked up, no doubt seeing his friends look and feeling bad. Or maybe it was his pride that he was trying to defend.

“Because you're way worse than him and no one’s talking about you like that. Oh wait, they are,” Tsukishima said.

This only seemed to annoy the other male, standing up to be somewhat intimidating. Not like a baby faced short guy like him would be very scary.

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Aww, did I hurt your feelings?” Tsukishima stood as well, easily towering over the baby faced boy. This seemed to make him back off a little bit. His shoulders shrinking in and hands coming up to his chest.

“Must feel bad to be made fun of” Tsukishiam didn’t know why he was snapping at these sorry excuses for human beings but he felt responsible. He felt like if he just had helped that day, Yamaguchi would’ve turned out differently. 

Maybe he wouldn’t have those guys after him.

The guy eventually backed off, the rest of the group doing the same. They whispered to each other in low voices, no doubt talking about him as they retreated with their tails between their legs. 

He didn’t care. 

He got what he wanted and his strawberry cake tastes so much sweeter because of it.

——————

Tsukishima grumbled to himself as he sat at his desk, wondering why some people just had to be such asswipes. Lucky class ended before he could think too much about it. He swept all of his things into his bag, his bag on his shoulder before anyone could stop him. 

He didn’t see Yamaguchi for the last ten minutes of class. The boy had gone to the bathroom and had yet to return. 

Tsukishima knew something was up

He walked past one of the boy bathrooms hearing some guys chatting.

“You think you're so tough,” Tsukishima stopped in his tracks to listen.

“You're really Just a pipsqueak”

“Look at him! He’s scared shitless!”

Tsukishima peered into the bathroom. Yama was on the ground, back up against the grubby wall. There was a trail of crimson dripping down his chin from his nose, eyes aflame. There were three guys surrounding him, looking proud of themselves for taking down the school's well known first-year delinquent.

“Looks like you're not the big bad wolf after all”

Before Tsukishima could even step in Yama stood up and decked the guy right in his jaw. 

“Say it again you son of a bitch”

This only caused the other two guys to charge at Yamaguchi. 

Tsukishima knew he should stay out of this. He knew all this would get him in even more trouble. He could just leave and not have to deal with Yamaguchi's problems but he remembered how thankful the boy looked when he said he could stay over whenever he wanted. How his eyes softened and his smile brightened.

He pulled back one of the guys that were going to jump Yama, giving the boy time to fend off the other attacker. The student he pulled back swung around to face Tsukishima only to be loomed over. This seemed to intimidate him as he stared at him for a few moments before moving. 

He swung his fist but Tsukishima was able to dodge it before pushing the guy into the wall. Yama had the other guy In a headlock, keeping him in check. Though Tsukishima caught a glimpse of the first guy getting back up. 

“Watch out!” Is all he could manage, but Yamaguchi understood. He let go of the guy he had in a headlock and spun around just in time to sock the first guy in the face once again. 

After this was all said and done Yama grabbed Tsukishima's arm and bolted like hell out of the bathroom. The blond didn’t really like that he was being dragged around but he would excuse it because of the circumstances.

Yamaguchi leaned against a wall once they stopped running, only to jump when he heard the sounds of guys yelling down the hall. He grabbed Tsukishima's arm once again and dragged him into an empty classroom. He closed the door and put his back to it, panting while staring at the taller boy.

“Thank you” His face softened into a smile similar to the one he had the night before.

Tsukishima just nodded, taking in gasping breaths. He wondered if running was really necessary but that thought was silenced by the angry yell he heard from somewhere behind the door. There was no way those guys would not be in trouble for screaming their heads off in the hallway. 

After the voices could no longer be heard and they both caught their breath Yama slid down the door, sitting down on the floor.

Tsukishima got a good look at the cut now forming on the other boy's lower lip, as well as the smeared trail of blood down his chin. He looked rough. 

“Assholes” Tsukishima cursed under his breath as he realized the damage they had done to Yama. Yamaguchi just let out a breathy chuckle at that, coughing a few times. 

“I never thought you could hold a fight Tsukishima” 

“I didn’t really fight, I just helped you”

“you actually have the capacity to feel?” 

“Don’t make me regret it”

“I won’t, but thank you again” the delinquent stood up, legs wobbling as he did so. He brushed off his pants, turning the door.

“Why did you help anyway?” Yama said The blond hesitated for a moment at the question, eyes clouding over for a mere second. 

“You remind me of someone,” 

Yama opened the door and checked the hall before stepping out of the room.

“Let’s get you cleaned up so you don’t look like you crawled out of a dumpster”

“Wow, thanks Tsukishima"

Chapter Text

The loss they had faced against Aobajohsai was crushing. Half of the team was unhappy and sluggish, while the other half were angry and hungry to get better. Yamaguchi fell under the unhappy and sluggish half.

He had flunked his jump float for the second time and Tsukishima couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had seen how hard he practiced and how much he had wanted to redeem himself. He had been so distracted at practices. He dropped the ball constantly, fumbled, made simple mistakes, overall he just wasn’t doing so good.

This was affecting the rest of the team. Making some of their plays sloppier than usual. Coach and Takeda were having a hard time getting the team out of their mood. So when they announced the team was going to Tokyo for a training camp they all perked up.

It was enough to get everyone out of their funk. Now all they had to do was wait for a few days, though Hinata was making it awfully difficult to forget since he was bringing it up every five minutes.

“I’m so excited! I can’t wait to go!”

“Make sure you keep your test grades up so you don’t miss the camp” Good thing they had Dachi or things like this would never be brought to fruition.

“G-grades?”

While they were doing that he could catch Yama starting out the gym door, eyes wide with obvious panic. Before he could ask about it Yamaguchi darted out of the gym, no one else noticed since it happened so quickly. Only the ghost of the boy's shadow left in his wake.

Tsukishima followed the freckled boy, watching him stand in front of a small group of older, unkempt men. They didn’t look happy.

He could hear some of the conversation from where he was standing, the men being fairly loud.

“So you thought you could run away from us?”

“Why don’t you just leave me and my mother alone!” Yama said.

“Awww, that's real cute kid, but your mom owes us”

“She doesn’t owe you shit!”

This comment seemed to only piss off the guys even more, taking a much more aggressive stance. Tsukishima knew this would escalate. He needed to get Coach or Takeda immediately. But his feet didn’t get the memo right away. He was stuck in place as he watched Yamaguchi argue with these men, that was until one of them took out a metal bat.

Tsukishima's legs finally decided to work, jogging across the court to Takeda. The teacher looked up at him, facial features morphing into concern at the sight of the blond.

“Is there something wrong?” Takeda’s voice was soft and gentle as usual and Tsukishima wasn’t sure if he should try and get Coach since Takeda wasn’t the most intimidating person.

“Yamaguchi is in trouble”

The teacher's eyes widened at the comment, seeming to understand immediately. 

“Daichi! Get Coach Ukai!”

Tsukishima had never heard Takada yell like that before. It was full of urgency and a sense of power he didn’t know the gentle male had. He strode across the court with Tsukishima while Dachi hurried off to get the Coach.

“Where is he and what's happening?”

“Outside the gym and there are some suspicious guys-” before Tsukishima was able to finish both of their ears were met with the sound of metal clashing against metal. It was a horrid sound but luckily they weren’t met with a horrid sight. Yamaguchi was unharmed, having doughed out of the way of the attack. He was standing a few feet away from the group, breathing heavily. The group of men was now stalking forward slowly, sadistic smiles on their faces. Tsukishima could see how Yamaguchi’s eyes were dilated. How his limbs shook ever so slightly. How his mouth hung agape with words that seemed to be lodged in his throat. He looked terrified, more scared than he had ever seen the male.

“What the hell are you doing here? I could have you arrested for trespassing on school property!” Takeda’s voice was loud and booming, seeming much scarier than he actually was.

The men stopped walking and turned to the shorter black-haired male. Their stares were intense and cold. The gold chains around their necks and pants glimmered from the light coming out of the gym. They looked like imaginary monsters in the low light, parts of their faces obscured by shadows.

Takeda didn’t budge, standing strong and not moving an inch.

“And who the hell are you to tell us what to do?” one of the guys slurred.

“I’m a teacher, which means I have the right to send you to jail”

This only further irritated the group, but they didn’t have the chance to act on it as coach Ukai finally came around. His intense aura seemed to make them reconsider for a moment, Coach having on one of his chilling smiles.

“Gentlemen, I think it would be best if you left” 

Tsukishima always was cautious around Coach Ukai and for good reason. This was a good reminder to never get on his bad side.

The guys looked disgruntled but saw how more people were now getting involved and decided to back off. Their eyes looked between Yama and the adults. They must've decided it wasn't worth it since they slowly retraced their steps, eyes glued to the two adults as they made their retreat.

This made all of them let out a collective breath they were all holding in. Tsukishima could practically feel the tension escape the freckled boy. The way his shoulders relaxed that he could tell the boy had eased up.

“Yamaguchi, what the hell was that?” Yama spun around to the coach, seeming tense all over again at the question thrown at him.

“I-I-I’m so sor-rry”

“Ukai, let me handle this,” Tadeka said, pushing the blond man back towards the gym. He walked towards the boy, putting his hand on the small of his back.

“You can go back to practice now Tsukishima.”

——————

Yamaguchi was practically trembling when Takeda took him to the staff room to talk. He had sat him down and went to go get some drinks, leaving the freckled boy all alone.

He looked around the staff room to try and calm down. He could see sticky notes plastered all over Takeda’s desk, papers and pens strewn about the surface of the desk. Despite the mess, it looked like Takeda had everything together. He had a small filing cabinet under his desk, the smooth gray container slightly agar and full with vanilla colored folders.

The other desks in the staff room had varying levels of messiness. Some being fairly neat while others look like a tornado had ripped through them. The low light from the windows was calming. It started to grow darker as the afternoon came to a close, sun descending behind the trees.

Takeda came back with two bottles of water, giving one to Yama as he sat down. 

“Yamaguchi, I know you and your mother both have problems and you don’t want me to get involved. But because of what happened I need to know your situation.”

Yamaguchi’s fingers dug into the plastic of his water bottle, making a light crackling sound. His eyes were trained in his lap, refusing to look the older male in the eye.

“They… they used to be friends with my dad before he…” Yama trailed off, Takeda just nodding and letting him continue.

“They think my mom owes them something, she doesn’t”

The boy finally raised his eyes to Takeda’s.

“I-I don’t kn-know what to do. They keep coming to my house. I'm afraid they will hurt my mom…” his voice cracked at the end of his sentence, eyes brimming with liquid at the edges of his eyes. His lip trembled and he exhaled a shaky breath.

Takeda’s face softened, standing up and walking toward the boy in front of him. He bent down and smiled at the boy.

“Hey, I’ll take care of it okay? You just focus on this training camp and I’ll make sure your mother is okay”

The boy nodded at his teacher's words, tears spilling onto his cheeks. He tried to wipe them away frantically. “Thank you,” he said between sobbing breaths. Takeda was one of the only teachers here that respected him. That actually cared for him. The one adult in this school that didn’t just put up with him because of his outstanding grades. He actually encouraged him and wanted him to be better. 

He was the only adult in this school that he trusted. The only adult, -other than his mother-, he felt comfortable with. 

He just wished he could be better for his teacher.

——————

Yamaguchi felt a sort of weight lifted off of him the next day. He was still cautious when he left the house, but less so. Luckily his mother had found a friend's house to crash at for a few weeks while Yama was away. Now all he had to do was survive for a few days and they would be in Tokyo. Where he would be far far away from those grease balls as possible.

The only thing is he had a bad feeling in his stomach. He knew he couldn’t go home today. They would be waiting for him. 

It haunted him all through practice.

By the time they were cleaning up Yamaguchi was already figuring out which bench he would sleep on tonight, but that thought was interrupted as he saw Tsukishima collect his things. Maybe he could ask for another favor…

“Hey Tsukishima, could I stay over at your house tonight?”

“What?”

“I know it's a weird request, but I’m fine with sleeping on the floor.”

The blond stared at him for a moment. No doubt analyzing his options in the matter.

“Fine”

He hadn’t expected the other boy to agree so quickly. He was expecting he would have to go through a little bit of a hassle but that didn’t seem necessary. 

The walk there was just like last time. Only this time Yama wasn’t looking over his shoulder every five seconds. He was calm and relaxed. Now that he realized it, Tsukishima had probably never had friends over before since his brother and mother were so surprised to see him bring Yama in their home. What would they think now that he was staying over?

He still didn’t know a lot about the tall blond, but maybe this was a chance to do just that.

Before he was able to linger anymore on his thoughts they had already entered Tsukishima’s home again. It was just the same as last time. Same smell, same lighting, same everything. It felt nice that nothing had changed from the last time he was here. 

Tsukishima’s mother was in the kitchen again but the blond just walked past her, going up the stairs to what Yama could only assume was his room. Yamaguchi didn’t follow immediately, staying in the kitchen for a little longer just to enjoy the smell of the food.

Tsukishima’s mother turned around, a smile reaching her lips as her eyes landed on Yamaguchi.

“Nice to see you Yamaguchi! Are you here to study again?”

“Yeah… actually I was hoping I could stay over for the night”

The woman only smiled brighter at his comment.

“That would be wonderful! Were having yakizakana, udon, and fried rice for dinner”

“Can I help?” the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

The older woman seemed to be a little taken aback by the question, but she seemed more pleased than anything.

“I would love that!” she beckoned him over with a wave of her hand, showing him the broth she was preparing for the udon. 

“You can help me with mixing up the rice” he nodded at her words, doing just that. She kept on giving him task after task, not letting him stay idle for long. 

Something he didn’t expect was that Tsukishima would be watching him. He hadn’t noticed the other boy until ten minutes of staring from the blond.

Yama jumped when his eyes met with Tsukishima’s across the room. The taller male was leaning against the doorframe, glasses no longer on his face and his clothes casual. Yamaguchi blinked a few times, absorbing the sight of the other boy.

“So you do cook,” Tsukishima said.

“Y-yeah, I thought you knew that already”

The blond just hummed, ending the already short conversation. Tsukishima’s mother was smirking as she looked between the two of them and Yamaguchi wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Good thing dinner was practically finished because Yama was able to escape the situation by taking some of the food to the dining table. He made sure to take his sweet time setting it all up as well though he was able to hear a small clip of a conversation from the kitchen. 

“So he was the one who made those rice balls?~”

“Mother”

Yama couldn’t help but chuckle, feeling his face warm as he entered the kitchen. 

Once they finished setting up they were finally able to eat. Akiteru and their father coming down for dinner. They all chowed down, the food slowly whittling down as they all took their share of the dishes.

When it was all said and done they had some dinnertime chatter to pass the time.

“Guess who helped me with dinner?” Hana said. Tsukishima’s mother insisted while they were setting up the table to call her by her first name.

“Not Kei” Akiteru got a glare for his teasing.

“Yamaguchi you are such a good cook! You should help me more often”

“It was no trouble, Mrs. Hana”

“So polite too!”

This went on for a little while longer until Yamaguchi retreated upstairs for a long-needed break. He had hesitantly walked into Tsukishima’s room, looking around curiously. It was a lot cleaner than his own room, well, not that he had really been in it recently. He could see a small shelf of books on one side of the wall, a good portion of them about the evolution of dinosaurs and other things.

Wow, what a nerd.

He could see a few dinosaur plushies as well. He couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of them.

“I didn’t you know you had a thing for dinosaurs Tsukishima”

“I swear if you tell anyone-”

“What? gonna fight me? You know you’ll lose” he stuck his tongue out for good measure. It only seemed to tick off the blond.

“Not when it comes to blocking”

“Alright alright, but at least I'm not a huge nerd.”

Tsukishima glared at him for his comment.

“I'm joking, I'm joking,” Yama didn’t want to ruin what little friendship they had made, but it was fun teasing him.

“Says the nerd who studies all the time” Tsukshima shot back.

“At least I'm the nerd at the top of my class”

Yama wasn’t sure where to sit. Tsukishima was already sitting on his bed so Yamaguchi decided to sit in a chair by the desk. He could see a neatly stacked pile of papers, probably notes on the desk. His room was nice, the light blue walls comforting and occasional posters charming.

“So, what kind of music do you listen to?” he cringed at his own question, not liking how awkward it sounded. It was the only thing he could come up with at this moment. He had often seen Tsukishima coming into practice with his headphones on so he must have been an avid music listener.

The other boy looked at him for a few seconds before answering.

“Whatever I'm in the mood for.”

“Favorite genre of music?”

“Don’t have one”

“You're not making this easy”

“I'm not trying to”

Yama just rolled his eyes, shaking his head. They sat in silence for a little while, Tsukishima sitting on his bed doing whatever on his computer. 

He could get used to just chilling with the other boy. 

It felt weird, having a sorta-friend to hang out with. He had friendly conversations with people before, but he had never really hung out with a person his age like this. He just hoped Tsukishima felt the same way.

“Those guys that came during practice… Were those the same guys after you?” Yamaguchi was caught off guard by the question but knew why he asked it. This must have been really confusing for him after all. Not only having to deal with Yama being here but also seeing those guys come for him. Anyone would question that.

He averted his eyes, “yeah… well more like they want my mom”

“Why?”

Yamaguchi hesitated for a moment, biting his lip as he thought about his words. “They think she owes them something, because of my dad.” he looked back up at Tsukishima, connecting eyes with him. He tried to speak but the words died in his throat at how the blond was looking at him.

“Go on” the other boy's voice was cool, almost smooth. His eyes were attentive, brown pools seeming patient as he waited for Yama to continue. He was no longer even looking at his computer, hands in his lap as he listened.

For some reason, Yama had a hard time focusing on anything but Tsukishima’s face. It was stoic, unreadable, but he found it handsome. That was the first time a thought like that popped into his head about Tsukishima and he wasn’t sure he was okay with it. 

“My dad… was into drugs” Yama took in a sharp breath. “He was bad, like really bad. He would use up my mom's savings, took me with him on drug runs and left me in the back of the car…” He could feel his fist clench into the fabric of his pants. The other deserved to know this; he was involved with it after all.

“He racked up a good amount of debt, so he ran off. That's why those guys are after my mom, they want her to pay it off but she wasn't the one who bought the stupid drugs.” he practically whispered the last part, voice dipping into a grumble. 

He had resented his father after he left. Yeah, he made some bad decisions but he could at least own up to them and take responsibility. But maybe a man who buys drugs instead of a birthday cake for his son was never responsible in the first place.

All Yama wanted was these greaseball guys to leave him alone. 

“I'm sorry,” Tsukishiam said.

Yamaguchi raised his head up once again as he heard the other speak. 

“I wish I could help”

“You already are”

This comment seemed to surprise Tsukki. Yama felt like for a split second he could see regret in the other eyes.

“Enough about me, what's bugging you?” he could see the blond physically tense up at his question.

“What?”

“There’s something up with you”

Now it was Tsukishima’s turn to hesitate. He shifted uncomfortably to change his sitting position, looking back at his computer.

“Come on, I told you my emotional baggage, time for you to tell yours” he chuckled a little at his own joke, feeling a smile creep at the corners of his lips. 

“Please?” he begged, letting his voice get a tad higher at the end of the word. He even put on the old puppy eyes to try and lure the other in. It worked because he could see the other look away from his computer and hear him sigh as he turned to him. 

“It’s about… a kid I didn’t help when I was younger” Tsukishima looked at him again, Yama just giving him a nod.

“He was being bullied by a group of boys, and instead of helping I just left him”

Yama narrowed his eyes at him. Why would this be bothering him so much? It was just one time with one kid. So what?

The situation sounded oddly familiar. His thoughts were clouded with the memory of the first time he snapped when the three boys pushed him down. Then the flash of a blond boy walking by. Now that he thought about it Tsukishima reminded him of that boy.

He then realized what the other was getting at.

“Wait so you..?”

“Yeah” Tsukishima's words sounded so defeated and pathetic compared to his controlled tone from earlier. 

“You were just a kid, you didn’t know better”

“But I left you again”

“What?”

“I didn’t help! I still haven’t helped you!” Tsukishima’s voice started to rise, emotions that he didn’t think he would ever see on the other male forming. 

“You're helping me now. Letting me stay at your house. You're helping me!” 

This shut the blond up. His mouth was hanging agape but no words were coming out. He then started to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water.

Yamaguchi got up from the chair, sitting next to Tsukishima on his bed. He bounced slightly as his weight settled into the cushions. He didn’t know if he was pushing boundaries or not but he wasn’t really worried about that right now.

“Listen, I’ll make a deal, you help me out by keeping me company and I’ll forgive you for that time in elementary” he stuck out his hand.

Tsukishima eyed his hand. The corners of his eyes were wrinkled, mouth tilted to the side in thought. He sighed, then shook his hand. “Deal”

Yama smiled at the other boy, feeling a bubble of accomplishment blossom in his stomach. With this all said and done Yama could finally feel how heavy his eyelids felt.

“Now, if you don’t mind me, I'm gonna go get ready for bed.” and with that he excused himself from the room, looking around for the bathroom. He had bought some clothes with him in his book bag since that day he left out the window. He changed into a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, before brushing his teeth and pulling his hair back into a small ponytail.

He had grown it out enough to the point where it was easy to tie it up. He hadn’t really noticed how long his hair had gotten until recently. He didn’t feel like cutting it, not worth the money for something his mother could do. But his mother hadn’t gotten around to cutting it so his hair just continued to grow. He didn’t really care anymore.

He walked out of the bathroom and back into Tsukishma’s room. The blond stared at him as he entered.

“You can take my bed for tonight,” Tsukishima said

“I can’t kick you out of your bed”

“I’m trying to help you”

This shut down what Yamaguchi was gonna say real quick. His eyes now stuck on Tsukishima. 

The freckled boy sighed, “under one condition”.

——————

Tsukishima was extremely uncomfortable as he laid in his bed. He could feel the other boy’s warmth radiating from the other side of the bed. His soft breathing reaching his ears. Why did he even agree to let Yama share his bed? Oh yeah, because he wouldn’t sleep on the bed otherwise. 

Tsukishima wanted to make it up to Yamaguchi but he wasn’t sure this was fully worth it. He didn’t think he would be able to sleep with how close the other was.

Tsukishima was never a fan of being physically close to people, even his family. Touching was never his thing and never would be, but this was somehow worse. They weren’t touching but Tsukishima was very conscious of the extra body next to him. Their backs were to each other, so it wasn’t unbearable, but it was close to it.

He was debating on getting up and sleeping on the floor but decided that he would just wake Yamaguchi up which would defeat the whole point. 

Tsukishima's eyes lingered around the room, his tired mind taking a while to process the dark surroundings. His open window was the only source of light, the pale shine of the moon laying softly on the floor and the wall. He couldn’t help but look at the stars, as faint as they were, they were still pretty to look at. 

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, blinking his eyes closed as sleep consumed him.

——————

Tsukishima hadn’t expected to wake up with an arm across his face, but that's what he was met with when he opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, moving the arm to the side. Yama’s body had moved around quite a bit from where he originally was when he first fell asleep. His other arm that wasn’t lying awkwardly on the sheets was wrapped around his pillow. The side of his face was smushed into said pillow, a trail of drool dripping down his chin from his open mouth.

Oh, this was definitely worth what he had gone through last night. Tsukishima had to hold back a laugh as he continued to stare at the other. He could barely believe this was the same boy known to get in fights and was being followed by a gang. He looked like he was eight all over again. 

He felt himself feel lighter knowing that Yama still couldn’t get away from his childish personality even if he wanted to. 

Tsukishima got up after he snickered a bit, getting his uniform and changing into it. While he tidied up his room he could hear Yamaguchi groan, roll around, and struggle with the sheets. When he looked back he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. The other boy had managed to roll himself into a cocoon with the sheets, trying to wiggle out of the trap he had accidentally made for himself. Sleepy Yama didn’t appreciate being laughed at. A scowl on his face as he tried to wiggle free.

“Stop laughing, help me..” Yama waved his one free arm helplessly, too tired to get out of this himself.

“How did you even do that?”

“I don’t know, just come and help me”

Tsukishma chuckled as he made his way over to the other boy, tugging the sheets Teasingly. He did it again, doing nothing to actually help the boy. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake” Yamaguchi cursed.

Tsukishima had his last chuckle before unraveling Yama. The freckled boy groaned again, stretching his back and letting out a sigh.

“You done?” Tsukishima asked.

“almost” 

The blond just decided to get ready in the meantime, brushing his teeth and doing his whole morning routine. Yama came into the bathroom eventually, yawning loudly as he entered. The boy paused, raising an eyebrow at Tsukishima.

“Are you using strawberry face wash?” 

“Yeah, what's wrong with that?”

Yama snorted. “I didn’t think you could get any dorkier” 

Tsukishima furrowed his eyebrows, scowling at the other male.

“Well you looked like a toddler when you were drooling on my pillow”

Yama flushed a light pink at the comment, a small smirk tugging at his lips. 

“Touché”

They both did their own things after that, going downstairs after they were all set. The smell of eggs wafted into Tsukishima's nose as he sat down at the dining table. His mother brought in not just fried eggs but pancakes as well. Tsukishima already knew that his mother only did this because Yamaguchi was here since she rarely made pancakes. 

“You two have a big day today!” his mother was somehow more enthusiastic than usual. She placed down the last of the food, sitting down herself.

“So I made a big breakfast!” with this they all dug in, Yamaguchi eating much more than Tsukishima thought he would. He never imagined the other boy to have such an appetite, but here he was, eating about three plates worth of food. 

Hana didn’t seem to mind, just smiling at Yamaguchi as he finished.

The two boys went to get their bags after putting their dishes in the sink. They took all the things they needed, as well as an extra bag of clothes. 

The walk to school was quiet, neither of them talked for a majority of the walk. That was until a loud crowd of students passed by.

They could tell they were from Karasuno by their uniforms, the style not really found in many other high schools in the area. They were chatting boisterously, voices carrying down the street even when the two boys were quite a distance behind them.

“So annoying,” Tsukishima whispered, hands in his pockets as he stared daggers into the crowd of students. This is what he was talking about when he said he didn’t want friends. They were loud and irritating. However, the more he thought about the more a question loomed in his head. 

Were Yamaguchi and him friends? 

Tsukishima couldn’t tell. They certainly weren’t enemies anymore but they weren’t super close. Well, they both had told their personal baggage so maybe they were kinda close. Even then there was still lots to learn about the other and vice versa.

Maybe they could become closer friends as time went on. When it came to Yama he didn’t mind being friends with him. Now that they weren’t insulting each other every other sentence Yamaguchi actually seemed pretty nice. He was calm and pretty down to earth. Yes, he teased Tsukishima a lot but so did the blond. It was more playful than anything. 

Though Tsukishima was unsure about where this friendship would go, for the first time he didn’t seem to mind the company.

——————

Tsukishima had no idea that they would possibly get a new manager or that anyone was even interested. The girl who was supposedly testing out the position was a girl named Yachi. She was short, petite, and had blond hair. She looked fine enough, if a little preppy. 

Tsukishima had fully expected a spoiled popular girl but instead of that, they got a girl who was more nervous than a skittish cat.

She shyly introduced herself, voice trembling as she spoke.

“I hope we can all get along!”

Tsukishima could understand why. They weren’t exactly the most friendly-looking because of Yamaguchi, Tanaka, and even Asahi. He didn’t blame the girl. 

Nishinoya and Tanaka were in her space the second she finished her introduction.

Yamaguchi hung back, standing next to Tsukishima, waiting. 

“Do you think she's nice?” Yama asked.

“I think she would be too scared to be mean”

“Tsukishima!”

“I just telling the truth”

After their banter, the two second years had finally left Yachi alone. She now stood anxiously near the wall, tapping her foot against the floor.

Tsukishima groaned as Yama looked up at him, a smile reaching his lips. 

“I'm gonna go say hi”

“I knew you were gonna say that”

“Shut up Tsukki” 

With that, he left the male and went over to Yachi. She seemed to tense up at the sight of him, giving a nervous smile and sputtering for a moment. Time went on and Yachi didn’t look any more comfortable around Yama then before. 

Tsukishima decided to go over there before Yamaguchi scared the living daylights out of the poor girl. Though she tensed up even more at the sight of Tsukki coming over. 

Yama truly was trying his best, smiling and being polite but his look couldn’t be shaken that easily when it came to this girl. Tsukishima just stood, staring at the blond girl with an expressionless face. Tsukishima wasn’t sure how much longer it would take for Yachi to run and start screaming for the hills. She seemed ready to bolt away at any moment. 

“Yamaguchi, you cook don’t you?” Tsukishima said, hoping this would ease the tension.

“Yeah, I was thinking of making some food for the team when we go to Tokyo” 

“Oh, is there a kitchen there?” Yachi said, voice a little less nervous than before.

“That's what Takeda told me”

Tsukishima could see Yachi’s shoulders relax, her posture becoming less defensive. As the two chatted some more he could see smiles creeping onto both of their mouths. Tsukisihima felt relieved that he had defused the situation.

Practice started soon after, the two boys making their way onto the court.

——————

Tsukishima was irritated that he had to help Hinata and Kagayama with studying. They invaded his precious lunchtime to get some tutoring. Lucky Yamaguchi was still in the classroom so he wasn’t dealing with the two by himself, but he still wasn’t happy with it. 

Yama was currently helping Hinata while Tsukishima was left with the king. It was irritating enough having to work with him at practice. Somehow it was even worse trying to tutoring him.

“That's not the right answer,” Tsukishima said.

“What do you mean? There's no other answer that makes sense!”

“Use your brain for once and think about it”

“Why don’t you get off your high horse?”

Their arguing continued until Yamaguchi scolded both of them.

“Would both of you shut up and study?”

This had calmed them down only a little bit, still giving each other glares out of the corners of their eyes.

Eventually, they got into a groove, getting quite a bit done for what short time they had for lunch. Once lunch ended Tsukishima and Yamaguchi sat together, waiting around for the teacher to come back.

“That was fun, watching you get irritated,” Yamaguchi said

“You didn’t have to deal with the king”

“Maybe if you were nicer he wouldn’t be as bad”

“You know that's never going to happen.”

Yama chuckled, “whatever you say Tsukki”

He could feel a ghost of a smile on his lips as he heard Yamaguchi say that.

Chapter Text

Yamaguchi tapped his foot impatiently, his bags snug over his shoulders as he watched the bus drive into the school parking lot. He couldn’t wait to go to Tokyo.

He was glad to finally have a break from everything twisting his life around. He could forget all about those greaseball guys and instead work on improving his skills. And to top it all off he had a kinda-friend to hang out with. 

Tsukishima had agreed to sit with him on the bus if Yama promised to be quiet. Though with how loud everyone else was, he wasn’t sure how well that would pan out. Luckily Hinata and Kageyama had barely passed their tests with the help of Yama and Tsukki. 

The only bad thing is the two of them were arguing very aggressively and he was sure Tsukishima was about to bust their heads in for being so loud. 

The good thing was the bus was here so they wouldn’t have to listen to it for much longer. The bus let out a few strained noises as he screeched to a stop, looking pretty beaten up from god knows what it had been through. The doors opened to reveal Takeda in the driver's seat. He flashed a bright smile as the team hopped into the bus. 

Tsukishima went in front of him, taking a seat towards the front. Yamaguchi sat next to him, the springs under him shifting as he put his bags down at his feet. The rest of the team filed in, Tanaka and Nishinoya making a fuss over something about Kiyoko and some guy flirting with her.

Needless to say, it was pretty noisy. He was pretty sure if he wasn’t in the aisle seat that Tsukishima would be laying down some serious sass to anyone who uttered more than three words. 

He just hoped they all could survive the trip there. 

The first part of the trip was loud and boisterous but they all settled down eventually, all calming into quiet chatter as they passed the time.

Yamaguchi was reading a book while Tsukishima was listening to his music and staring out the window. It was quiet and calm while they all did their thing. That was until Takeda took a really sharp turn around a tight corner.

It jolted the bus to the side, taking most of the people on the bus with it. They all tumbled to the right, Tsukishima jabbing his elbow into Yama’s chest at the sheer power of the turn. Tsukishima scooted back hastily but Yama could still feel the slight sting of the other elbow connecting with his ribcage. “Sorry” is all he could hear Tsukishima mumble.

Though they didn’t nearly have it as bad as Kageyama and Hinata. Hinata was in the aisle seat with Yama so he happened to fall right into Kageyama's lap, which the setter boy was raising hell over.

“Get off of me dumbass!”

“Don’t push me!”

“Don’t just jump into my lap then!”

“It wasn’t even my fault!”

They yelled at each other for a bit longer as Tanaka and Noya laughed their asses off at the two first year’s situation. He could even see Noya take a picture for safekeeping.

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but chuckle, snickering at the ridiculous event, Tsukishima eventually joining in with his own laugh. This only seemed to embarrass Hinata and Kageyama even more, their faces bright red.

They two of them eventually calmed down, the drive being a breeze afterward. They finally made it to the school where the training camp was held, the bus buzzing with excitement as they waited to be let out.

Yama leaned into the aisle and almost got trampled because of it. When the doors of the bus opened, Tanaka and Noya sprinted off the bus like it was on fire. The rest of the team was a bit calmer but Hinata and Kagayama still hurried out of the vehicle with just as much vigor as the second years. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi finally left the bus after most of the team got off hot, warm air surrounding them.

It was very sunny that day, no clouds in sight, only a deep rich blue sky. There was a light breeze that gave a much-needed break from the heat. The trees around the school stood tall with bright green flora and even some blossomed flowers.

It was a perfect day to start off their training camp.

Once everyone got off the bus they made their way inside, the flood of cold air from the air conditioning relieving them from their already sweaty bodies. They weren’t out there that long but they had already begun to feel the heat from standing in the sun so long.

The halls were clean and light gray, empty classrooms with the doors closed as they strolled by. It was quiet as they all chatted, the team's footsteps echoing down the hallway.

They soon found the room they would be staying in, setting up their sleeping arrangements and whatnot. After that was all said and done they were finally able to make their way over to the gym. 

Yamaguchi could hear the sound of volleyballs clashing against the hardwood floor and sounds of voices before he even stepped into the gym. It was a large, well-lit area, clusters of teams practicing receives, spikes, and blocks. It was somewhat crowded with the four teams already there. Yamaguchi couldn’t imagine how they were going to fit in. He didn’t really have to worry since the moment they stepped in they were ushered to an area of the court to warm up.

Once they finished warming up they were finally allowed to play, the first team they were up against being Fukurodani. The team looked solid enough if a little wild because of their captain.

The beginning of the match was fine, each team getting a point right after the other one did. However, Karasuno was falling behind as time went on. Yamaguchi could see how they were trying their best to keep up but overall they just were not clicking. Though once the second set rolled around the team was doing much better. They finally got the hang of what they were trying to do and they started to get plenty of points.

Hinata seemed extra stoked about this from him jumping around like a frog and his excited cheering. Yamaguchi couldn’t help but smile.

Sadly they had lost that game to Fukurodani, leading them to have to do a flying lap. Yama struggled with this but tried his best anyway. He could already feel the bruises forming on his forearms and chest after they finished.

They played a couple more games after that. It was a fairly short day since they had just arrived there. Once everything was put away all of the teams made their way over to the cafeteria. 

The tables were crammed with people by the time Yamaguchi came in. It was mild chaos as Yama tried to find a seat with his teammates and get his share of food. Teams chatted loudly, cracking jokes and letting out bellowing laughter. The staff made out all sorts of food to satisfy the hungry teenagers as they lined up for their portions. 

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but sit down with an exasperated sigh from the line he just had to fight through to get his food.

Tsukishima sat next to him, Hinata and Kageyama across the table. The two other first years were chowing down their food like they never learned how to swallow. Yamaguchi already knew before he looked that Tsukishima had a disgusted look on his face, which only made him snicker. 

“Would you two slow down? You look like animals” Tsukishima sassed.

This only led to Yama laughing more, getting nothing but a head shake from Tsukishima. 

The team soon put their plates away as everyone else began to clean up, leaving an enormous stack of plates for the kitchen staff to clean up. Yamaguchi stared at the pile of plates, then at the clock. It wasn’t that late, he was sure he would have time to help a little. 

He did exactly that, helping the staff clean up the mess the teams had made. Yamaguchi was sent to clean the tables since there wasn’t enough room in the kitchen to have him around. He scrubbed down the tables as best as he could, sweeping the room as well since there was so much crap on the floor.

One by one the staff slowly left, only leaving Yama and Takeda left in the cafeteria.

“The kitchen is all yours Yamaguchi,” the teacher said.

“What? how did you know?”

“I could see it in your eyes” with a wink Takeda left, telling Yama to turn the lights off when he was done.

Yama stood in the kitchen for a while, trying to figure out what to make. He had limited resources because of most of the ingredients needed to be used later that week. He had to make something with common ingredients. 

 Why not some cake? 

It was a simple food to make and all the ingredients were extremely common. Plus it was delicious.

He gathered all the dry ingredients and stirred them together, using a recipe from his phone as a reference even though he had made cake so many times he might as well memorized it. He then mixed in the wet ingredients, whisking the whole thing into a fluffy batter. 

He had to snoop around to find some vanilla extract, putting a few drops of it into the batter. He couldn’t help but sigh at the pleasant smell.

He then poured the batter into a cake pan, letting it settle before placing it in the fridge. He could bake it tomorrow when he wasn’t dead tired and ready to pass out.

——————

Yama awoke the next day by being violently shaken and hearing yelling. He opened his eyes to see Daichi yelling his head off at Tanaka and Kageyama.

Yamaguchi looked around in a confused daze realizing the person shaking him was Hinata. The redhead's expression could only be described in one way, panicked. Yamaguchi opened his mouth to speak only to have Daichi’s yelling fill the room and his ears.

“Why did you think going out late at night was a good idea!”

Yama blinked at their captain's words, still half asleep and barely processing all of this. The captain then spun around to Hinata, yelling at him, and subsequently Yama as well.

“And why didn’t you stop them!”

“Kageyama said they would be back in a few minutes...” Hinata said barely over a whisper.

“Well, they were both gone for two hours and showed up soaking wet!”

With this new information, Yama finally was able to get a grasp on what was happening. So Kageyama and Tanaka must have did something stupid.

The yelling continued until Suga calmed their captain down, saying that he would deal with it. Now that Yama thought about it, everyone from the team was in the room except Noya. Yamaguchi had a lingering theory forming that this might have been all the libero's fault.

This was soon confirmed when Suga was scolding the other setter and wing spiker.

“You two are in just as much trouble as Nishinoya”

Before this could escalate Yamaguchi just got up from his bed on the floor and made his way over to the wall before he could be dragged into all of this. He sure did have good timing because Suga decided to burn his motherly wrath onto Hinata.

This went on for a little while longer until they were dismissed to go to breakfast, the team was tense and a little pouty at all the yelling that had happened. Luckily they were one of the first teams there, putting them at the front of the line. 

Yama yawned as he got his food, liking the change from how chaotic last night's meal was. It was peaceful as Yamaguchi took bites of his delicious food. Though Kagayama and Hinata seemed to be enjoying their food significantly less. Kagayama looked grumpier than usual and Hinata looked like someone had kicked his puppy.

“Hey, cheer up, I’m sure Daichi will forgive you” Yama wanted to comfort them but it only seemed to irritate Kageyama and further upset Hinata. He shut his mouth after that, finishing his food and giving his plate to the staff.

By the time he came back a majority of the tables were filled up and most people were either done or halfway done with their food. It didn’t take long for everyone to finish, leading them to make their way over to the gym for training.

Everyone seemed to lighten up as they played a few sets. Hinata and Kageyama were doing especially good today, racking on point after point for their team.

They finally won a game, cheering up the team significantly. 

After that win, everything seemed to flow nicely. Their plays were on point and they were able to get lots of good practice in. though there was an air of tension with Hinata and Kageyama at points in the game. 

It worried Yama as he knew how important both of them were to the team. He just hoped it was leftovers from this morning. 

Once lunch rolled around they all went back to the cafeteria, waiting in another long line so they could get their food. 

The first years sat in the same seating arrangement as before, the second and third years being close by. Though before anyone could really dig into their food Daichi stood up. 

“Alright, team I have an announcement.”

This caught the attention of everyone, hearing the authority in their captain's voice.

“I talked to Suga and we decided it would be in everyone's best interest to have a buddy system.” This riled up mild protest and mumbles under the team's breaths.

“You will all be assigned a buddy and you will always have to be with them, you are not allowed to go out alone”

Daichi hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Hinata will be with me, Kageyama with Suga….” the list went on until they finished with Yama’s partner. 

“... and Yamaguchi with Tsukishima”

“How come Yama gets to be with his friend?” Kageyama said.

“Because Yamaguchi didn’t go out in the middle of the night and fall in a river”

This made the setter shrink, snatching up his milk carton and drinking it angrily. 

Yama couldn’t help but also question why he was paired up with Tsukishima. Maybe it was because there was no one else left? Or maybe he was supposed to make sure Tsukki didn’t sass someone out of existence.

Either way, this announcement seemed to leave a bitter taste in most of the team's mouth.

——————

They cheered up once they played a few games, everything seems to be forgotten for the time being as everyone focused on the ball.

It was a nice distraction and it eased the tension that was so thick earlier.

Once they got their break Yama and Tsukki made their way over to the bathrooms and vending machines. Tsukishima went into the bathroom while Yama picked out a drink. 

Yama was figuring out what juice he wanted when he could hear footsteps of multiple people down the hall. As he put his money into the machine he could hear someone holler at him.

“Oi delinquent, do you ever think they’ll ever put you in the game?” one of the guys at the front of the group taunted, most likely the leader. He had light brown chestnut hair, puffed out at the top and shaved at the sides. His eyes were narrow and slightly turned upward, a smug smirk on his lips.

Yama just stared at him with an expressionless face even though he was panicking on the inside. “Is that all?” he said.

This angered the group, making the leader step up to the freckled boy. “Who do you think you are?”

Yamaguchi only stepped back, doing a good job of composing himself. This just made the other guy get even closer than before, getting in Yama's face as he spoke again.

“What? too good to talk to us?”

“How about you mind your own business” the voice came from behind Yama, already knowing who it was by the familiar tone. Suga was next to Yamaguchi before he was able to fully process his words, the light-haired boy giving an angelic smile to the group as he placed a hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder.

“Why don’t you leave our underclassmen alone.” Suga's voice was sweet but tinged with threatening malice that made Yama shiver.

The guy backed off, grumbling as he did so. He looked Suga up and down, ultimately deciding this wasn’t worth his time as he and his clique backed off.

“Whatever, we’ll see you on the court, if you ever play” they passed by, snickering and smirking at the two Karasuno crows.

This just made Suga shake his head, turning to give a small smile to Yama.

“Were those guys giving you trouble?”

“A little”

“Be more careful next time” Suga patted his shoulder, flashing another smile before taking a few steps down the hall. 

“Why did you defend me?” Yama couldn’t help but ask.

Suga looked over his shoulder, his usual cheerful smile on his lips. 

“Your part of the team aren’t you?”

This left Yamaguchi stunned as the vice-captain skipped down the hall. He had never thought he was fully part of the team. Well, he had been on the team for a while, but never felt like he was a part of it. He always felt like an outsider intruding on everyone’s time. But now he really was a part of the team. The thought left a weird tingle on his skin.

Tsukishima had finally come out of the bathroom when Suga turned the corner, the blond staring at him. 

“Did you even get your drink?” 

The other boy's words snapped him back into reality, realizing he hadn’t even chosen his drink yet. He fumbled for a little bit before getting a strawberry flavored juice. Tsukishima just rolled his eyes at the whole event, watching him growing impatience. 

Yama grabbed his drink and began to walk with Tsukishima back onto the court. Yamaguchi took sips of his drink as he walked, the blond eyeing the drink as they walked. Yama happened to notice it, smirking to himself at how the other seemed to want a taste.

“We can share if you want” he extended the drink towards the other boy. Tsukishima wrinkled his nose at the action.

“No way, it's got your germs on it.”
“Then why are you looking at it?”

“Maybe I was looking at your face”

“That would be even weirder”

This comment made Tsukishima's cheeks turn red, Yama chuckling at the reaction. He shook the can for extra effect, still offering it to the blond. 

Tsukishima sighed. He took the can from Yamaguchi’s hand and took a large swig, handing it back to him after wiping his mouth with his forearm.

“Happy?” Tsukki said.

“Very”

——————

The next few games were done in a blur. They weren’t as good as this morning, but they still put up a good fight even if they lost. The team didn’t seem fazed by their losses, all of them excited for dinner. It was the same as last night, only less crazy. 

The staff seemed more prepared to take on the horde of hungry teens than the day before. They were able to make food quickly and efficiently enough that the wait time had gone down.

Needless to say, Yama appreciated it.

The food was as good as yesterday, filling him up and making him satisfied. The static chatter in his ears from so many people talking was actually nice. It was a nice cushion of background noise. 

All of the doors were open, even the ones leading outside. It was a cool night, the open doors letting in cool air into the warm cafeteria. The artificial lights above them gave a gentle warm glow, making the area feel cozy. The smell of vegetables and grilled meat met Yama’s nose, the boy inhaling deeply just to smell it better.

Most of the teams finished soon after, putting their plates in a stack like last time. And again, Yama helped clean up. This meant Tsukishima had to stick around since they had to stay with their buddies whenever they weren’t in their sleeping quarters. 

The blond ended up helping just to speed things up, which it did. They were all done fairly quickly, the staff retiring for the night. This left the kitchen all to Yamaguchi. 

“You're really gonna make me stay up late just so you can cook?”

“Yep!”

Yamaguchi’s comment only seemed to irritate the blond, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched him take the cake batter out of the refrigerator.

“You're making a cake?”

“Don’t worry you’ll get a piece.”

Yama just ignored the glare he got for that and put the pan on the counter, turning to the oven to preheat it. He looked back at the counter, wondering what he could do while they waited for not only the oven to heat up, and for the cake to bake. 

“Do you wanna make meat buns?” Yama asked.

Tsukishima looked at him weirdly. “Not really”

“Too bad because I’m gonna make them anyway”

“Then why ask?”

“Why not?” Yama gave a cheeky smile, going over to the fridge and looking inside for ingredients.

He first got together the pancake mix, water, and salt. He mixed them together messily, preparing to mix another batch before Tsukishima stepped in.

“Your making way too much of a mess” before Yama could protest Tsukishima started helping him by kneading the dough in a much neater manner. Yamaguchi sighed, instead focusing on the filling.

He chopped up some mushrooms, spring onions, and baby corn into reasonable pieces. Then mixed it with the minced pork, sesame oil, and soy sauce. 

Tsukishima was efficient in his work, already having the dough laid out, all it needed was the filling. Yama worked quickly, scooping perfect sized portions of the meat mixture onto the dough. 

The two of them worked surprisingly well and Yama couldn’t help but be proud of the both of them as they pinched the dough around the filling. Now all they need is a steamer.

Yamaguchi looked around for a solid ten minutes, shuffling between cabinets and counters before he was able to find a steamer on the top shelf of the pantry. He grumbled, trying to stretch his arms upwards to reach the damn thing to no avail.

Tsukishima must have seen his struggle because he came up behind the boy and grabbed the steamer. 

Yama could feel the warmth of the other against his back, making his own slightly arch. Goosebumps trailed over his skin at the newfound warmth near his body, the air coming from the open door suddenly so much colder against his skin.

The other looked down at him, setting the steamer in his hands before backing away. 

Yama blinked a few times before coming back into reality for the second time that day. What was that about?

He placed the steamer by the pile of meat buns they had made. He put some greaseproof paper into the steamer and set the buns on top of it. He put the lid on and turned it on, putting a 15-minute timer on his phone. 

He turned back to Tsukishima, smiling at him. “Excited?”

“For what?”

“The food!” Yama waved his arms around dramatically,

“No” this comment made Yamaguchi’s confidence deflate, eyes staying on Tsukki as they narrowed. Cooking was one of the few things, -other than studying-, that he was really good at. But he supposed he shouldn’t put the opinion of other people above his own. After all, Tsukki didn’t even want to make meat buns in the first place.

“I mean, I'm more excited for the cake,” this correction from Tsukishima surprised him but was glad the blond didn’t want him hurt. He smiled again.

“Alright then cake boy, help me clean up”

“Don’t call me that”

“Make me”

Yama picked up the vegetables and put them back in the fridge, picking up the bag of flour next. Only he wasn’t watching where he was going as he turned, making him smack right into Tsukishima. A storm of coughing came from both of them as flour filled the air.

“Yamaguchi!”

This only led Yama to laugh, a pure, wide smile on his lips. Tsukishima’s eyebrows unfurrowed and his face softened. Soon he began to chuckle as well, flour particles still floating around in the air.

“You should’ve seen your face!” Yama choked through laughing breaths.

“Oh yeah?” In retaliation, Tsukki stuck his hand into the bag of flour and threw some on Yama’s face.

“You asswipe!” Yama also stuck his hand into the bag of flour and threw some at the blond, only his aim was off and it hit his neck instead. This led to the blond busting into a cackling fit of laughter.

Yama could feel his cheeks blaze. He couldn’t help but feel a warm ache in the base of his stomach. It felt similar to the time he laughed with Hinata and Kagayama all those days ago. But somehow this warmth was stronger. It made him really excited for a reason he couldn’t pinpoint. Perhaps it was because he never laughed this hard in so many years. Or it could’ve been for some other reason. Either way, Yama loved it. He loved that he finally had friends.

Unfortunately, before he was able to have another chance to throw some more flour at the other boy Yachi came into the kitchen.

Both of the boy's eyes locked onto her at her arrival. Her own eyes wide and taking in the mess they made.

“I’ll just come back later” she stammered.

“Wait no! It's alright!” Yamaguchi’s words made the girl stop in her tracks, looking at him with eyes wide as the full moon outside.

“We were just messing around, but do you wanna help us clean up?” 

She looked around the room once more, giving a small smile and nodding her head. 

They all worked together to clean up the floury mess on the floor and walls. The task not taking as long as they expected. The meat buns were also done by this time, setting them aside and letting them cool.

“So that's why you were in here,” Yachi said as she stared at the food they had made. 

“We also are baking a cake, but I don't know what flavor of frosting to use” Yama scratched the back of his neck.

“How about watermelon? Then you could put blueberries and strawberries on top”

“Oooh, that's a genius idea Yachi!”

“Re-really?”

Yama enthusiastically nodded his head, the girl brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. Tuskishima watched them while he put away the steamer, walking back over to them.

“What are we going to do with the meat buns?” Tsukishima asked. 

“Share them with the team”

Yama took the meat buns and put them in a container, putting the cake in the refrigerator as well. He took the container with them. 

It was about nine when they entered the room, minus Yachi as she wasn’t allowed in the boys sleeping quarters. Though Yama made sure to give her a meat bun before she left. All of the team was still up, either getting ready for their shower or back from it. 

When Yama opened his container the smell wafted into the room and immediately caught the attention of Noya and Tanaka. They bounded up to the first years with grins on their faces.

“Can I have one?” both of them said in unison. Yama smiled and picked one out of the container for each of the second years. They both lit up, taking a big bite of their share. They hummed in delight, beaming at Yama.

“Thanks, Yamaguchi!” Nishnoya said while Tanka chomped down the rest of his bun.

Yama smiled as they went back to what they were doing before. The freckled boy made his way around the room, giving some food to the rest of the second years as well as the third years. Finally, he made it back to Hinata and Kageyama, sitting down on the floor with them. Tsukishima joined them.

“You made meat buns! Those are my favorite!!” Hinata beamed. Yama was glad to hand one over to the orange ball of sunshine. He gave one to Kageyama as well, the boy only giving a quiet ‘thank you” before nibbling on it. Hinata on the other had practically inhaled the damn thing. 

Yama took a bite of one of his own creations, humming at the perfect way it melted in his mouth. He finished his food fairly quickly, Tsukishima eating one as well, though much slower. 

When he looked back over at Kageyama who looked like he barely touched his bun. The setter looked about half dead, eyes drooping, movements slow, and his blinking sluggish. 

“What's up with you Kageyama?” 

The boy took a few seconds to understand what he was saying but eventually responded.

“I'm just tired from last night”

“What did you do last night?”

Kageyama let out a long-winded sigh. “Tanaka and Noya wanted to go check out some store nearby so they dragged me along and we accidentally fell into a river”

Yama raised an eyebrow. “How did you fall into a river?”

“I don’t even remember” 

This got a laugh out of Tsukishima, it spread to Hinata and even Yamaguchi. The setter didn’t seem happy about it but was too tired to do anything more than grunt angrily.

Yama could still feel that warm feeling at the base of his stomach as he laughed his heart out. 

Chapter Text

This game had to be the most intense one they had played in this training camp so far. They were against Nekoma in the third set. Both teams had won a set, leaving it up to this set to determine the winner. 

Nekoma was definitely the alpha among all of the teams here. Though they did have tough competition, they still seemed to almost always make it out on top. Or at least from what Tsukishima could tell. 

The ace and other wing spikers were difficult to block against. Mostly because of their number five setter, this pudding haired kid that Tsukki had affectionately nicknamed pudding boy. He was the most difficult player out of all of them.

He could handle their rooster-head captain since he started practicing with him and some other players from Fukurodani, as well as the other spikers.

It was just that damn setter of theirs that was throwing him off.

His plays were unpredictable and Tsukishima was about to pull his hair out just trying to predict what he was going to do. He was able to do a few blocks, but not enough for his liking. 

Tsukishima went back into position as their number 4 went to serve. 

Nishinoya was easily able to receive the ball, letting it pass to Tanaka which in turn led it to Kageyama. The setter did the usual, tossing it to their sugar hyped orange middle blocker. 

The ball hit the ground before the other team could even blink.

Tsukishima wished he could score more points for the team and not have to rely on the two first year’s freak quick attacks. But he knew that he just didn’t have the ability to do that. 

Maybe he never would. After all, he was practicing after training with the other team's captain and he still couldn’t block that often.

What if he just wouldn’t become any better?

The screech of the whistle broke his thoughts, remembering that they were the ones serving now. He sighed, hiding his thoughts as he focused back onto the game.

——————

Tsukishima was lazing around during his lunch break, already eaten his share for the time of day. Laying down on grass was nice to do every once and a while, even if he was sneezing every few minutes because of the pollen.

The ground was cool compared to the air around him, the grass slightly prickly against his bare skin. The sun was lying down harshly on anything in its sight, bringing its hot touch with it.

Though his gaze at the sky was enveloped with a different sight as someone stood over them, right in his line of sight.

“Trying to get tan?” Yama said.

Tsukishima had to fight back a smile. “Are you trying to be annoying?”

“Sorry Tsukki, ” he could see a cheeky grin form on the other boy's face at his own sarcastic quip. Yamaguchi plopped down right next to him on the ground. He put his hands behind him and leaned back, his head turning towards Tsukishima.

“needed to get away?” 

“You wouldn’t believe how irritating Hinata was being.”

The brown-haired boy laughed. “Why don’t you like him?”

“Because he never shuts up and has too much energy”

“I don’t think that's the reason”

“Why is that?”

“Because I never shut up and I have way too much energy and you still hang around me”

“I wouldn’t say that”

“Why not?”

Tsukki paused at the question. Yamaguchi wasn’t like Hinata.

He wasn’t loud like him, well not all the time. And he certainly wasn’t annoying. He did yammer a lot but it was with purpose. The other boy actually had important things to say unlike the redhead. It was also the way he spoke. The way he could put power behind his words but still sound soft. How sometimes he lazily slurred words together when he was feeling tired. Or when he talked so fast you could barely understand him. 

He was nothing like that troublesome ball of sunshine. 

“You're energetic in a different kind of way”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really”

“Who knew you cared so deeply Tsukishima, I could’ve sworn you had no emotions.”

“Well I'm about to hit you with another emotion, irritation.” Tsukki smacked Yama on the arm playfully, accidentally knocking his arm down. This caused him to fall onto his back, laughing up a storm.

Tsukishima could see the rumble in the other boy's chest as he laughed, how the corners of his mouth pulled the rest of his mouth into a wide smile. How the sunlight seemed to hit his hair in the most wonderful way to make it shine like golden thread. And probably his favorite part about the moment was the charmingly delightful sound of the others chuckling and giggling. 

Tsukishima had to blink a few times to remember where he was.

Yamaguchi smacked him back on the shoulder, still chuckling as he did so. He was laying on his side, slowly calming down from his hysterics fit. 

“Only you could possibly laugh at getting smacked” Tsukishima couldn’t resist the urge to tease him.

“I’m gonna smack you again” Yama raised his hand up threateningly but this just led to the both of them chuckling. 

Tsukishima hadn’t even noticed that he was smiling until his face began to hurt. Did he really not smile that much? So much that his face hurt from smiling for like, what? Two minutes?

“We should get back inside, training should be starting soon.” Yama sat up, wobbling a little as he stood on his feet. He extended his hand to Tsukishima, a small smile still on his face.

Tsukishima took it. Not noticing the very subtle butterflies in his stomach.

——————

This was the last game for today, another game against Nekoma. Tsukishima needed to be on his toes for this game, but he knew it wouldn’t matter anyway. 

Hinata and Kageyama would pull their weight but it still wouldn’t be enough to breakthrough. At least with not how their last game played out. 

Even then when they took their places on the court Tsukishima could practically feel the energy shake off the red-headed midget. His eyes were trained on the next mind on nothing else but the game they were about to play.

Whistles screeched and bodys moved on their own, the first point being made. Then the next. Then another, one more, until Nekoma won the set.

Even then the rest of the team had put an enormous effort into their spikes, receives, serves, or blocks. 

Tsukki had yet to block one spike from the opposing team.

The next set was now starting and he was unsure of how to approach it. What was it worth? They would never win against Nekoma. Not with how tired the team was becoming. 

Why was Hinata putting his all into his jumps and spikes? Why was Kageyama focusing so hard on setting? Why was Yama cheering so enthusiastically when all they were doing was failing?

It was just a game. It was all it was ever going to be. 

Despite this, when he saw Hinata lift off the ground, he couldn’t help but feel jealous. Maybe it was something in the way his arm bent back, with his hair moving in all sorts of directions. Or the amount of power he put behind his hit. The way he made the ball hit the wood floor with a satisfying clap.

Maybe it was the fact he was actually able to score points. Maybe it was the way he was useful to the team even when the odds seemed stacked against him.

Or maybe it was the way Yamaguchi cheered for him like he was the sun himself.

——————

It wasn’t a surprise they hadn’t won that match. Even with Hinata's quicks the team was just too tired.

Tsukishima hadn’t been able to get one block that whole game.

He didn’t know why he was getting so hung up on it. It's not like it was an official game. It wasn’t that important anyway. 

Even though he kept telling himself this he couldn’t get rid of the haunting feeling he could’ve done better. He could’ve moved fast enough to get a block in. He could’ve been stronger, smarter, or whatever else that would’ve helped them win.

But he hadn’t done any of that. What would be the point of it?

Tsukishima wiped his face with his towel one last time, setting it down next to his water bottle. He drifted out of the gym, taking a stroll down one of the outside pathways. 

He knew he was supposed to take Yamaguchi with him but he didn’t care.

The air was cool, calm, no type of breeze at all. Everything looked frozen still, the only reminder that time was moving being his own footsteps.

Then he heard footsteps that weren't his own at a much faster pace. In fact, it was more like the person's feet were pounding onto the ground. 

When he turned around he was met with the sight of Yamaguchi running full speed down the pathway. He stopped just barely a foot in front of Tsukishima, hands on his knees and panting like a Great Dane who had just run around the yard three times over.

“Tsukki-” he said between breaths, taking a few more seconds to regain himself.

“Tsukki, what the hell was that?”

“What?”

“You completely gave up that last game! You weren’t even trying!” Yama was still breathing heavily as he spoke.

“We were gonna lose anyway!”

“That's a load of bullshit and you know it!”

“We lost! Why should I care about losing a little pride?”

“Pride!” Yama grabbed his collar and suddenly the blond had a flashback to the first time they fought. The other's grip was so tight, bringing Tsukishima so close to his face that he could see tiny freckles splattered across the bridge of Yama’s nose. 

“What more do you need than pride!” his words rang in Tsukishima’s ears, echoing for a few seconds. 

“What else do you have to keep going!” it sounded more like a question Yama was asking to himself.

Tsukishima partly knew why he said that. Why he practiced so hard in the first place.

It was the only thing he had. The only thing he hold onto without people judging him as harshly. The only thing he could take full pride in. The immense hours he poured into training and how seriously he took every game whether it was just practice or not. How he pushed himself till he was breaking at the seams. 

Tsukishima wished he could be like him.

Yama's eyes were the coldest he had ever seen them as he released his collar. The rest of his expression was hardened, lip set in a tight frown and his eyebrows knitted together. Tsukishima hadn’t even noticed how intensely his black metal earrings shined in the low light until he couldn’t seem to look elsewhere.

“Tsukishima you are the most badass player on the team. You have the height, intelligence, and forethought to become amazing. So why don’t you?” Yamaguchi’s voice was soft compared to the yelling snarl he was faced with only seconds before. His face had softened as well, melting into a much gentler expression of slight sadness.

Tsukishima opened his mouth, but his words strangled themselves together in his head. All he could do was focus on the face of the boy in front of him.

“I don’t know”

Yama didn’t seem to like this answer.

“Well you better figure it out” the other boy spun around, about to stomp his way back to the gym they were both just in. That was until Tsukishima grabbed his wrist, preventing him from taking another step. Yama looked over his shoulder at the blond, that familiar flame in his eyes.

“Can you help me figure it out?” the question made Yama’s eyebrows twitch, no longer trying to move away.

“What?”

“Can you help me become better?”

Tsukishima gulped as he saw Yamaguchi advert his eyes. He hoped his words weren’t coming off in the wrong way. He didn’t want Yama to be disappointed in him. He couldn’t let down the only person who believes in him so strongly.

It took a few moments for Yama to look back up at him, and ever so small smile on his lips. “I would be glad to”

——————

Yamaguchi hadn’t had the slightest clue what he was getting into when he accepted Tsukki’s offer to help him get better. 

He was currently in front of the captain from Nekoma, Fukurodani, and some other player he was sure was the setter for one of their teams. He couldn’t quite remember which.

“Oh oh”

“Oh oho oh”

The two captains began this weird chain of oh’s that made Yama look at Tsukishima for some kind of exclamation. Tsukki just sighed.

“Who do you have here Tsukishima?” the owl looking captain asked.

“A friend of mine”

“Wow you actually have friends?” Yama couldn’t help but laugh at the comment Nekoma’s captain made. This earned him a glare from Tsukki.

“And he has a sense of humor”

“How about you shut up and introduce yourselves,” Tsukishima said.

“Fine fine, I’m Kuroo-”

“I’m Bokuto!”

“Would you let me finish?”

“Sorry bro”

“Im Kuroo, Nekoma’s captain”

“Bokuto, Fukurodani’s captain! And this is Akaashi! My setter”

He took a good look at all three of them. They were all physically odd in some kind of way. Kuroo was tall with a mass of black hair that Yama was sure would’ve been a bird's nest if it wasn’t on his head. Bokuto looked like his whole face was made to have his hair stretched up into two dramatic points. And lastly, Akaashi. He was the most normal looking out of all of them but even then he had this icy prettiness to him that made him feel surreal, like he wasn’t really there at all. 

Yama wasn’t sure what to make of them.

“So let's see what your boy friend’s got”

“He’s just a friend, Kuroo” Tsukishima said.

“Hey, I put a space there. Not my problem you took it the wrong way”

This got him a haughty glare as well as a tongue click. For some reason Yamaguchi didn’t completely believe that Kuroo just thought they were friends. It irritated him.

“Why don’t you back off?” Yama wasn’t completely sure why the two captains were teasing Tsukki so much but the blond didn’t seem to like it. 

This surprised the two older players, Akaashi just shaking his head. Kuroo turned to Bokuto and Bokuto stared back.

“Your feisty huh?” Bokuto’s comment made Yama’s eyebrow twitch, a scowl on his features.

Before this could escalate Akaashi suggested they practice some. The only thing was they had an uneven amount of people, so one team would have to have an extra player. It was decided that Yama would play with Akaashi and Bokuto in the meantime. 

“Alright! Let’s see what you got freckles!” Bokuto slapped him on the back, the power of the hit enough to make him lose his balance for a second.

Yama glared at him “don’t touch me” he said through clenched teeth.

Bokuto raised his hands up in front of him “no need to bite me delinquent boy” he had a large cheeky grin on his face. It pissed Yama off.

He wasn’t stoked to not be playing on the same team as Tsukishima. After all, he was supposed to encourage him to become stronger. How was he supposed to do that on the other side of the court?

“Bokuto leave the first year alone”

“Whattt! I was trying to be friendly”

“Your irritating him”

Bokuto pouted at this, huffing a storm before finally leaving Yamaguchi alone. Yama was glad to know that Akaashi was on his side.

They soon began practicing, Yama struggling to keep up with Bokuto’s ridiculous energy. He was almost like Hinata in the sense they never seemed tired. 

“Yeahhh! That's what I’m talking about!” Now Bokuto was hollering about the spike he just made, Kuroo teasing him for being too cocky. This led to a small argument in which Akaashi had to separate them.

Yeah, Bokuto was a lot like Hinata.

The ball was back up in the air, Akaashi setting it to Yama. He was a little too slow on his jump, having to move his arm faster to make up for it. He just barely was able to get it passed Tsukki.

It was odd. In that split moment he could see how Tsukki’s eyes had followed the ball with such intensity, along with a shine that Yama had rarely seen before. He really was putting more effort into this.

“What was that hit freckles?”

“I know that was bad, don’t need to tell me” Yama said.

“Listen, you're too shy when you go to hit the ball. Don’t be afraid to put some more power into it! Hit it like you're about to smack Kuroo in the face!”

“Hey you dipshit! Watch your mouth!” Kuroo yelled.

Despite Yama not being very fond of the captain he found his advice helpful. He was being too weak on his hits. He was too used to using his jump float where it was all about control and less power. If he wanted to get better spikes, he knew he would have to hit harder. 

The owl looking ace smiled, the ball being tossed back to them before Yama even had the chance to reply.

Maybe Bokuto wasn’t such a dumbass after all.

They switched teams again, Yama still not on a team with Tsukki. This time Yamaguchi was with Kuroo and Bokuto. The two of them seeping out so much energy Yama was having a hard time feeling tired. 

It was weird. The more he hung around the two captains the more they seemed to grow on him. Their jokes became less irritating and more amusing. Their energy is less over the top and more encouraging. They taught Yama new moves as well as expanding on the ones he already knew. They were even able to point out what he needed to work on.

“Yama if I see you lean in too much during a receive again I’m gonna hit you.” Kuroo had a teasing smile on his face but Yamaguchi knew he was serious about giving him a good one-two on the back of his head. 

“Yeah, also you stick your butt out too much” This got all of them laughing. Bokuto was always good at breaking the tension so it never got too thick. Even if it was at the expense of someone's embarrassment.

Yama could definitely see Tsukishima trying to hold back laughter but giving in, which only made him more embarrassed. Yama was glad he came here with Tsukki, even if he was teased more than he would’ve liked.

——————

“I can’t believe you still have the energy to stand after that”

“Oh stop whining Tsukki” Yama was currently mixing the watermelon frosting for the cake. Takeda having been nice enough to get him watermelon juice, blueberries, and strawberries.

Tsukishima was sitting on the counter half asleep from their intense practice section in gym 3. His head bobbed as he slipped in and out of consciousness, only to startle away when his body began to fall.

Yama giggled each time it happened. “You can just go to sleep”

“But I’m supposed to be with you”

“Since when were either of us rule followers?”

Tsukishima hummed. “I like being with you”

Yama blinked at the other boy. “Alright go to bed before you start spouting more nonsense”

“I’m serious, your way better to be around that Kageyama”

They both busted out cackling.

“You're so mean Tsukki”

“To everyone but you.”

Yama was pleased to hear that, starting to ice his cake with the frosting he just made. He first just added on big globs of the light pink coating to the outside of the cake, spreading it all around so he could smooth it out. Only then did he add the rest of the frosting on. He smoothed it out, taking a step back and admiring his work.

“I heard we're gonna have a kind of celebration tomorrow for all the work we did this week.”

“Maybe I can bring this out for the team then.”

“How about we just eat it ourselves?”

“Tsukki!” they both went into another round of chuckles. Yama eventually completed his creation by decorating it with fruit and some extra frosting he had. 

Yama put the cake in a container before placing it in the fridge to chill overnight. Turning back to Tsukishima. 

“Now you can finally get your beauty sleep” Yama teased.

“Who said I didn’t already have beauty?”

Chapter Text

This whole event was more insane than the one “family reunion” Yama’s mother dragged him to, where uncles got drunk and danced on the tables. Luckily no one was shirtless, but the amount of yelling and excited chanting made up for it. Not that he particularly wanted to see any of the guys here shirtless. 

Who was he kidding? He definitely wanted to see that. But he was sure other people here wouldn’t be as on board with him.

They had heard they would have a barbeque as a form of celebration but he didn’t think the staff would go this far with it. There were multiple grilling tables, giant piles of rice, as well as meats and veggies to choose from. 

It was the height of luxury for Yamaguchi. The fanciest place he had been in a few years was the classy Tempura restaurant a few blocks from his apartment. Needless to say, he was fully ready to chow down.

Though, he wasn’t sure if it was fully worth it as this was pure mayhem. There were people fighting over food, other people having competitions over who could eat their food the fastest, and just lots of tomfoolery.

Yama was lucky to get a bowls worth of rice and enough meat before it was completely gone. The poor staff had to practically run to keep up the demand of the crazed mob of players. 

Tsukishima seemed unfazed by the whirlwind in front of him, too busy listening to his music through his earbuds. His eyes were trained on his own bowl of food, chewing through his meat fairly slowly. Not that Yama was paying attention to that fact with increasing intensity. 

When Tsukki looked up, his eyes almost immediately went to Yama’s, cold as they usually were. He removed one of his earbuds. 

“Do you wanna go someplace quieter?” Yamaguchi blinked at Tsukishima's comment.

“Sure”

The question stirred something in Yama that he was sure the blond wasn’t intending. After all, they had only just gotten to really get to know each other. It’s not like Tsukishima shared his growing feelings. Yama didn’t even want to be having these feelings in the first place but he couldn’t seem to smother them. 

Believe him, he tried.

He knew what having feelings for a guy meant. It wasn’t accepted, or legal. That’s why he tried to push himself to be more interested in girls but knew he couldn’t fight over his genetics.

Yama got up, tailing behind Tsukki as he took long strides across the flat lush grass. That was until the both of them heard a loud passionate drawn-out yell of Yamaguchi’s name that could only be from one person.

“Yaaaaaama!” Hinata was sprinting so fast at the pinch server that he was sure he was gonna crash into him. Hinata was able to dig his heels into the ground and stop himself before he almost tackled Yamaguchi to the ground.

“You wouldn’t believe what Noya showed me!”

“What is it?” Tsukishima seemed annoyed at the fact Hinata had held Yama back, the usual scowl of irritation plastered on his face. However, Yama could see a twinge of something he couldn't identify on his features. 

“I'm not talking to you Four-eyed JerkFace” this only further irritated Tsukki. 

Tsukishima gently grabbed Yama’s wrist, tugging it lightly as he led Yamaguchi away. The newfound touch was enough to make Yama’s already sweaty body sweat more. The freckled boy hadn’t expected such a gentle touch but he was more than pleased with it. So much so that he hadn’t protested to Tsukishima dragging him from Hinata.

The redhead took a different outlook on the action, jogging up to Tsukki with a sense of determination he always had. “You can’t just steal Yama away!”

“Who says I can’t?”

Yama had no idea how to feel about this situation. He had an undertone of pure happiness from Tsukki holding onto his wrist but was uncomfortable that the two boys were both fighting over his attention. He never had anyone fight over him before. “It’s okay Hinata, we’ll be back.”

The redhead looked at him, lips pinching into a pout of disappointment. Hinata huffed, looking between the two of them before sighing. “If you say so”

Tsukishima didn’t let go of Yama’s hand, continuing to lead him around to the other side of the building. The shadow from the gym was a nice break from the constant warmth that had turned into a liquefying heat.

Tsukki sat down, looking up at Yama until he did the same. The concrete wall was cool against his back, the grass under him even cooler. He took a deep breath of the fresh air, leaning his head back till it connected to the building behind him.

“That whole thing was too much.” Tsukishima barely said loud enough for him to hear. 

Yama suddenly got very nervous. Being away from all the ruckus just to sit with Tsukishima alone got to his nerves. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, keeping his eyes trained in his lap. “Too much noise?”

“Too much everything” Tsukishima placed one of his earbuds back into his ear, holding the other in his hand. After what seemed like a few seconds of hesitation Tsukki offered the other earbud to Yama.

Now Yama was really sweating, more than when he was sitting in the scorching sun a few minutes earlier.

He slowly put the earbud in his ear, having to scoot closer to Tsukishima in order for the cord to reach. The soft sound of music entered his right ear but it was covered up by his heavy heartbeat filling his head. 

It took him some time to relax. To let the tension fall from his shoulders and stop fidgeting with his shirt. Only then he finally was able to identify the song he was listening to.

“It getting cold down here underneath the weather”

“I skipped class to sit with you”

“I really like your spotty sweater…”

Yama could feel a slight chill flutter up his spine as a breeze cut through the heat of the world around him. He could see the branches twitch from the wind, leading the leaves along with an elegant swish.

“Don't mess with me I'm a big boy now and I'm very scary”

“I punch my walls, stay out at night, and I do karate”

Yama could feel his mind began to drift, eyes half-lidded as he soaked in the pleasant atmosphere. He let his head dip downward, resting on Tsukki’s shoulder. He could feel Tsukishima tense up at the contact, muscles strained tight as the blond looked at him through the corner of his eye. He soon relaxed, letting his own headrest on Yamaguchi’s as they both closed their eyes.

“Don't message me cause I won't reply, I wanna make you cry”

“Ain't that how it's supposed to be? Though it isn't me,”

“Boys will be bugs right?”

——————

The two of them had stayed there for about a half an hour, eyes closed and partially asleep. Yama hadn’t even noticed the position they were in until he opened his eyes to see the world tilted to the side and his body very close to Tsukishima’s.

He pulled away with a sharp motion, accidentally knocking the poor boy in the head. Tsukki groaned, rubbing his jaw with an angry pout on his lips. 

“I’m so sorry!” Yama began saying a few times over, waving his hands around helplessly as he tried to figure out what to do.

“It’s fine,” Tsukishima just sighed scooting forward as he stood up onto his tall legs. Yama scrambled up after him, dusting off his shorts frantically. They made their way back around to the other side of the gym with Tsukki still rubbing his jawline.

Everyone had calmed down, sitting around in the grass and enjoying some watermelon as they talked. 

Watermelon… The cake! He had completely forgotten about it!

Yama tugged on the end of Tsukki’s shirt “I’m gonna go get the cake, can you round everyone up?”

“Do you really think I’m the best person to do that?”

“Just do it Tsukki”

He dashed off to the cafeteria, getting a few weird looks from the staff as he rushed to the refrigerator, throwing open the door to retrieve the cake. He made sure to be careful while he was carrying the cake, not wanting to mess up the delicate decorations he placed so artfully on the iced surface.

He took a step back outside, the murder of Karasuno crows standing by one of the empty grills as Yama approached. The eyes of most of the team widened at the sight of the pink berry cake.

“Whoa Yama where did ya get this cake?” Tanaka was in front of him before Yama had time to blink.

“I made it”

“Wait really?”

The freckled boy nodded, setting the cake down on the cold grill. He could feel a strong hand on his shoulder after he set the cake down.

“Thanks a bunch, Yamaguchi” Daichi had the biggest smile Yama had seen on his features, it made him feel somewhat proud of himself that he made his captain so joyful. Yamaguchi returned the smile as best he could.

They started to pass out slices of the cake, it was not long before other teams began to notice their dessert.

“He freckles, can we get a slice?” Bokuto was dragging Akaashi with him as he spoke.

“I don’t know, can you?” Yama put a hand on his hip and gave a playful grin.

“So mean”

The rest of the team (other than Tsukki) expressed confusion at Yama being so friendly to Fukurodani captain. 

Bokuto draped an arm around him, Akaashi standing miserably in his other arm.

“But I taught you all those cool ticks!”

“Maybe you should get your own team to make you a cake”

“Wait, you made this?”

“Excuse me, why are you here?” Suga removed Bokuto’s arm from Yama’s shoulder, a smoldering glare in his gaze. No doubt he was thinking it was some other person trying to cause trouble for the pinch server.

“I practiced with Yama yesterday night in gym 3! We had a blast!”

Suga snapped his head back to Yamaguchi “where was Tsukki?”

“I was with him,” Tsukishima said. 

This luckily cleared up any misconceptions from before, Suga’s sour look turning into an angelic smile. This was all Bokuto needed to smile right back, both of them sharing a moment of sunshine. 

“Sorry but you can’t have any cake,” Suga was his official savior for this trip.

——————

Everyone was practically dead on the bus ride back home. Hinata, Kageyama, Noya, and Tanaka were all snoring loudly and the rest of the team was starting to drift off.

Despite the small power nap Yama had taken with Tsukishima he was still having a hard time keeping his eyes open. They kept on falling closed without his permission, mind feeling like it was in another world. 

Yama could see Tsukishima look at him out of the corner of his eye, only to close them once he realized he had been caught. Yama felt a lazy smile tug at his lips. 

He poked Tsukki on the arm, watching the blond boy sit completely still. He was leaning his head against the window, headphones on and his phone stuffed into his pocket. If Yama hadn’t seen Tsukishima look at him he would’ve probably thought he was asleep.

“Tsukkiii”

His words didn’t do anything. Maybe he really did fall asleep and his mind had tricked him. He slumped back into his seat, letting out a sigh as he looked up at the ceiling of the bus.

He could hear a soft chuckle next to him. Yama whipped his head around to see Tsukishima smiling as he laughed. 

Oh was that a sight to see. The blond rarely ever smiled. It was small but soft looking, making the rest of him not seem like his serious self. Yama felt like he had to be dreaming.

Yama had seen him smirk before, or smize, but had yet to see a full-blown smile from the boy that was filled with so much joy. He had no idea what caused Tsukishima to laugh but he sure of hell was going to soak it in. It might have been how tired they both were but the whole world seemed to drift away. The sight of Tsukishima smiling was the only thing left in his mind as he closed his eyes.

He wished this trip could last forever.

——————

He wished this trip could last forever so he didn’t have to go back home.

Now Yama had to go back to his apartment and deal with all the stress that came with it. He hoped the greaseballs had noticed that his mother and him hadn’t been home and gave up. He just had to make sure the guys didn’t see him entering his apartment and he would be fine.

Only that was easier said than done. 

He wasn’t quite sure what would happen from now on so he made sure to carry a small pocket knife on him just in case. He kept it stuffed in the side of his shoe, being able to make a makeshift pocket to keep it in. Better safe than left beat up in a ditch.

He was waddling down the hallway, trying to find his way to the courtyard to eat his lunch. That was until he saw a patch of blond hair loom over most of the crowd.

Yama perked up at the sight. He could feel his blood rise as he swerved through groups of people, the middle blocker coming into sight. 

“Hey, Tsukki!” Yama had slammed his hand onto Tsukki’s back, making him stumble forward. The blond fake glared at him, adjusting his glasses that had slid down his nose. 

Yamaguchi could see a note in Tsukki’s hand, a heart sticker on the seal.

“Ooo what's that?~” Yama gave a teasing smile, wiggling his eyebrows for extra effect.

Tsukishima groaned “another confession note”

“Wow you sound so appreciative”

“They're just a bother to me”

“Rude as always” Yama shook his head, chuckling a little bit. 

“They are just desperate girls, they’ll get over it”

“That's a pretty big generalization Tsukki”

“Well those are the kind of girls after me”

They bantered for a little longer, finally reaching the courtyard. It was a weird day when it came to the weather. It was fairly hot out even though the sky was cloudy. Earlier they had even had a high chance for rain, but that had yet to come. Yama could taste the water in the air as they walked outside. It was even worse inside, the school being as hot as a sauna this late in the day.

They found a table, the two boys sitting next to each other on the sticky metal seats. That was certainly a comfortable feeling. 

“What are you even gonna do with that note anyway?” Yama turned to Tsukishima, his head against his hand. 

“Throw it away”

“Wow, stone-cold”

“What else am I supposed to do with a note I don’t want?”

“Give it back to her?”

“That would be worse.”

The two were interrupted by someone slamming their hands on the middle of the table. That someone, was Hinata.

“Have you guys heard school might get canceled!”

“How?” Yama had his attention glued to Hinata, while Tsukishima only looked annoyed at the interruption.

“There’s supposed to be a hurricane in tomorrow”

“Huh, that's why the weather is so weird,” Yama said.

“Don’t get so excited Hinata, we won’t have practice if school gets canceled.” Kageyama had come out of nowhere, sitting across from Yamaguchi with an aggravated huff. He looked grumpier than usual, eyes and moments harsher than they needed to be. 

“Yeah! No school!”

“That also means no practice dumbass”

Hinata took a few seconds to fully understand the weight of the setter's words.

“No practice!” he howled like a wounded animal, hands on the side of his head as he spun around a few times before floundering his upper body onto the table. “How will I surviveeeee”

“Shut up, you're giving me a headache,” Tsukishima said as he stabbed a piece of his fish with his chopsticks and stuck it in his mouth. The whining from Hinata continued, which more bickering came because of it.

Yama grew disinterested in the conversation, his mind drifting off. His eyes wandered the courtyard, seeing people sitting in the grass, leaning against pillars, and overall seeming to be relaxing in the outside environment. 

Yamaguchi barely paid close attention to any of the things he was looking at, that was he saw a small petite girl start to walk by.

“Yachi!” he had gotten the action of the blonde girl and everyone in a ten-foot radius because of how loud he had yelled. He waved her over as he sunk back into his seat, flusterement taking a stifling hold over him. 

He just wanted her to come over and hang out with them, not embarrass himself in front of her for the second time. 

She seemed like such a nice girl and he just wanted all of them to get along. Too bad the group of first years was the wildest set of boys Yama had come across.

Yachi sat next to him, a small smile on her face. “Whats up Yamaguchi?”

“His humiliation,” Tsukishima said. Yamaguchi turned around and hit the blond in the arm, earning a chuckle from the table.

“I’m fine as long as Tsukki shuts his mouth” more laughter ensued.

“Have you heard about school getting canceled because of the hurricane?” Yama asked. The rest of the group had gone back to talking about whatever it was before Yama had interrupted. Well, more like Hinata and Kagayama were arguing and Tsukki was making fun of them.

“I’m very worried. If it hits our area then school will be canceled for a long time.” she fiddled with the hem of her skirt, tilting her head to the side,

“That's what I’m worried about.”

Yachi broke eye contact for a second, her voice quiet as she spoke “I’m sorry if I’m prying… but I heard you don’t have a good home life. Is that why you don’t want school canceled?”

Yamaguchi nodded.

“I wish I could help but my mom probably wouldn’t be too keen on a random guy staying at our house.” Yachi chuckled awkwardly.

“No, I get it. Thanks for thinking of me.”

“It’s my pleasure”

At this moment Yamaguchi noticed how everyone at the table was staring at them. Were they listening to their conversation? These fuckers.

“What?” 

This question made the three other boys burst out laughing, Both Yama and Yachi turning red. 

“I’m sorry were you two having a moment? ” He wanted to slap Tsukishima for the second time in the last five minutes. 

Yama wasn’t super obvious about his feelings (or so he hoped) so he didn’t blame the blond for not picking up on it. But it still felt weird to be teased about romance from a boy he wanted to start a romance with.

“Oh, I’m sorry Mr. I get multiple confessions a week” Yama could see how Tsukishima cringed at his comment, the two other first-years lighting up. 

“You get confessions Tsukishima?!” Hinata leaned close to Tsukishima’s face, the blond leaning back to get some space.

“I’m surprised people like you at all” Now it was Kageyama’s turn to almost get hit by Yama.

“Okay okay how about we all just calm down” Yachi was frantically trying to ease the group of boys, waving her hands around erratically as he leaned forward into their sight.

The boys begrudgingly obliged and turned away from each other, the tension dissolving. Yachi sighed, setting her hands back into her lap.

They went back to talking after that. Not that they did it for too long since the bell rang before they were really able to get back into their conversation.

“Yamaguchi, you have math next right?” Yachi was looking up at him with wide eyes, her head slightly tilted to the side.

“Yeah, how do you know that?”

She looked away bashfully for a moment, “I’ve seen you in the hall a couple of times.”

“You better not be a stalker”

“I-I’m not!”

Yama could see Tsukishima visibly irritated as him and Yachi talked. He wondered if it was because he disliked Yachi or for some other reason. He didn’t get the chance to ask because Tsukishima was sauntering away before Yama could stop him.

He turned his attention back to Yachi, “You wanna walk to class together?”

“I would love to”

——————

Yama was glad for the school day to finally be over. What he wasn’t glad for was the rain that was currently coming down like buckets. Luckily for him, he had forgotten his umbrella, so now he would have to walk home in the rain. He already had a long commute since he had to walk two blocks to the bus station and after that another five to his apartment.

This summed up to a total of 45 minutes where Yama would question his life decisions. 

Now he was really thinking about his life decisions as he stared out at the rain, wondering what degree of soaking he would be once he got home. 

While he was off in his head he didn’t notice the boy coming up behind him. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, nearly knocking over Tsukishima in the process.

Because of how fast he turned around the two boys happened to be very close together, so close that Yama almost had a panic attack from the proximity. He stumbled backward, the rain hitting his back. He jumped forward again, this time putting some distance between him and the boy who made him so unbelievably nervous.

Instead of hearing laughing as he expected, Yama heard a question, “Are you waiting for someone?” 

“No, I -um” he coughed, “I forgot to bring an umbrella”

This time he heard a laugh. “Did you not look outside? It was so cloudy” 

“Shut up, I know”

“Don’t tell me you have a long way to walk home?”

“Okay now you're really being mean”

This caused more cackling.

“Okay okay, I’m done” Tsukishima took a few deep breaths, tiring calm himself down. While Tsukki composed himself Yama could see a familiar face approach them.

“Hey Yachi”

“Hey guys, are you two walking home together?”

“Not really since Yama forgot his umbrella.” Yama hit Tsukishima for the second time that day. A new record.

“Oh, I have an extra one.” She fumbled to pull her bag off her shoulders, shuffling around till she pulled out a black umbrella. She extended it towards Yama.

Yamaguchi smiled, taking it into his hands. It was sturdy, the wood handle solid against his fingers. He opened it, the wires popping out into the usual half-dome shape.

“Thank you so much”

For some reason, Tsukishima didn’t like this interaction. He wasn’t smiling, but that wasn’t what gave him away. 

It was the way his eyes looked. They were icy, narrowed into what Yama could only describe as a borderline glare. Yachi shrunk under the other blond’s intense gaze, backing away slowly. 

“It was no problem, I’ll see you later” she scampered off, leaving the two boys to themselves.

Yama shot a look at Tsukishima “don’t glare at her”

“Was I glaring?”

“Pretty much”

Tsukki didn’t respond after that. He opened his umbrella and walked out into the rain, “You coming?”

Yama sighed, “yeah”.

——————

Yama set the sturdy umbrella by the door, putting his shoes on the ground next to it.

He hadn’t gotten that wet thanks to Yachi and her generous offer to take her extra umbrella. She must always be prepared if she brings two umbrellas to school.

He walked into the living room, smiling as he saw his mother. She was sitting casually on the beat-up couch they had. Her hair was down for once, the brown locks cascading over her shoulders. Her brown eyes traveled to him, a smile also on her lips.

“Hi sweetie”

“Hey. whatcha’ watching?” Yama flopped onto the couch with her, his eyes now on the tv screen.

“ Terrace House”

“Still?”

“Not my fault they only come out with episodes weekly.”

They slipped into silence, both immersed in the show. Yama could feel the stress of the day fade away, the worries about the hurricane out of his mind for the moment. Now he could just focus on enjoying this show.

That was until there was an unruly banging on the door. 

Both of them turned their heads to the door before looking at each other. Yama had gone tense again, ready to bolt up at any moment. 

“Open the fuck up!” 

They both shot up from their seats, Yama’s mother rushing to her room. Yamaguchi just burned his eyes into the three locks on the door, hoping to God they wouldn’t break. 

The banging and yelling got more ferocious as time went on. Yama was now trying to find anything to barricade the door, but before he could do that his mother came out of her room with a… pistol? 

Wait, she had a pistol?

Before Yama could comprehend how his mother got her hands on a gun, she unlocked the doors. He could feel a full wave of panic rise in him. She wasn’t gonna shoot them, right? She was one of the nicest people Yama knew, there was no way she was gonna shoot.

She swung the door open, the sound of a gunshot rumbling through the whole apartment. 

Yama could feel his jaw drop.

He heard yelling as well as thunderous footsteps. His mother slammed the door closed, relocking the three locks and placing her forehead against the wood.

“Did.. d-did you just shoot somebody?”

“No, I gave a warning shot”

She gave a small smile to her son.

“When the hell did you get so badass?” Yama was awestruck.

“Since you were born”

He blinked. “Where did you get that?”

“People that you don’t need to know about”

His mother smirked at him, giving him a kiss on the forehead as she walked by.

“I’m gonna go to bed since that was a lot”

Yama barely nodded, jaw still stuck wide open as he gawked at his mother. She walked to her room, closing the door behind her softly.

There was silence again.

...

What did his mother do when he was gone?

Chapter Text

Tsukishima was torn. Very torn over something he should not be torn over. It was very unlike him to be so interested, but he was. He was very much interested. 

Yamaguchi had been spending an awful lot of time with Yachi. A truly terrible, atrocious, wicked amount of time.

However, Yama seemed to really be enjoying the time he spent with her. Which Tsukishima didn’t like at all. Not one bit.

He didn’t know why (or more like chose to ignore why) he didn’t like her around the freckled boy. 

She had started to sit at their lunch table every day. Tsukki could deal with Hinata and Kageyama, but Yachi? He didn’t actually mind her, it was just the fact she was getting so close to Yamaguchi so quickly. 

It had taken a pretty long while for him and Yama to start their friendship, but it seemed to be the opposite for Yachi. She would walk with him in the hallways, work together on science homework since they shared the same teacher, and walk to school together. Yama had said that he happened to bump into her and that they started to walk to school together just for the hell of it.

He couldn’t help but think that Yama was into her. It was just in the way his smile seemed so soft when he laughed around her. Or the way his leg bounced like he was nervous to talk to her.

He wanted that attention directed at himself. He wanted to be able to make Yama nervous. Though he tried not to think about that.

He would try and joke about it often. Teasing the two about how they were pretty friendly with each other in hopes Yachi would get uncomfortable and leave.

She didn’t.

The thing was, Yachi was a good person. She was sweet and kind, as well as smart and well put together. Despite her shyness, she had a sense of honesty that made her quite charming.

That's why Tsukki was so mad that Yama might have a thing for her. She would be a good girlfriend. She and Yama would probably be one of those sugary sweet happy couples that you wished you were in. They would be able to rely on and support each other.

They would be a great couple.

That's why Tsukishima didn’t want that to happen.

He was currently sulking in his last class of the day. His mind too filled up with Yamaguchi to pay attention to the chemical components of human bone structure. He tapped his pen impatiently against the table, his eyes trained into the chalkboard.

He could hear light whispers behind him, two girls giggling and laughing over whatever trivial things they had on their minds. Not that Tsukishima was any better.

He sighed coaching small pieces of their conversation.

“I can’t believe the amount of rain we got!” 

“It was crazy”

Couldn’t these girls talk about this once they got out of class? Tsukishima didn’t want to have his thoughts interrupted by their chatter. 

Luckily he didn’t have to wait long since class finally ended. He got up and got his things, walking over to Yamaguchi as he watched him pack up.

“How come you take so long?”

“Because I care about my stuff,” Yamaguchi said.

Tsukishima just chuckled, teasing the freckled boy further. “Afraid you're gonna forget it?”
“Shut up Tsukki”

They left the classroom together, clusters of students walking down the hallways to go home or to after school activities. The crowds thinned out as the two boys made their way to the gym. Tsukki could only hear their footsteps as they walked.

As they got closer to the building Tsukishima could see the two girls who sat behind him in class next to the door of the gym. They were both on their phones, leaning up against the wall as they giggled about something. As the two boys approached the girls perked up, leaving their spot next to the door.

“Hey are you Yamaguchi?” one of the girls asked.

“Yeah..?”

The two girls looked at each other, smirks appearing on their faces as they looked back at them. Tsukki didn’t like the look in their eyes. “Is it okay if we stay and watch you practice?”

“Sure, but why?”

“We're just curious!” with that the girls hurried into the gym, giggling continuing.

This led Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to look at each other.

“What was that about?” Tsukishima asked.

“I have no idea.”

“Maybe you have some fangirls” Tsukishima hadn’t intended it to come out so… harsh. But that's what left his mouth.

Yama didn’t say anything else. He just entered the gym.

——————

Practice wasn’t half bad. Tsukishima was too exhausted like he usually was. Maybe it was because they had visitors. 

The two girls from before had stayed the whole practice, chatting as they watched all of them work on their weaknesses. Noya and Tanaka reveled in the newfound attention, doing what they could to impress the girls. But Tsukishima was too suspicious of them.

How did they know Yamaguchi and why were they so interested in him? Perhaps they were trying to gather information in order to bully him? But that seemed a bit far fetched. After all, people had started to slowly realize that Yama wasn’t the bad boy delinquent he presented himself to be. Though some still thought he was a danger to the school.

Then there was the other option, they were interested in him. First Yachi and now these girls? Why were so many ladies beginning to go after the pinch server? He understood better than anyone why they would be interested, but why now and not earlier?

Tsukki dropped the thought as he saw Yama trot up to him. The punk boy looked good as always; His earrings were a translucent pink today, his industrial having a dinosaur as the bar. That made him look so damn cute Tsukishima wanted to just… He stopped that thought right there. No need to get ahead of himself.

“Hey, Tsukki!”

“Hi person I know”

Yama gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, both of them going into a chuckling fit. 

“Are you planning on talking with those girls?” Tsukishima said.

“Maybe, I think their Yachi’s friends”

“How do you know?”

“I saw them teasing her”

He looked at Yachi, seeing that she was indeed talking to the two girls. In fact, he could see Yachi blushing profusely as the two girls excitedly said something to her.

Tsukishima hoped they weren’t talking about what he was thinking about.

He may have jinxed himself because right after he thought that the two girls came bounding up to them. Yachi was frantically chasing after them, waving her arms around wildly.

“Hey, Yamaguchi! When are you gonna ask Yachi out?”

Yama’s jaw dropped. Dammit, this is exactly what Tsukishima didn’t want to happen.

 “wh-what are you talking about?” Yama said.

“You should ask Yachi on a date!” These girls were awfully persistent for someone who didn’t really know Yamaguchi. 

Yachi had finally caught up, her face bright red as she stammered. “Ignore them! They are just trying to play a prank!”

The girls looked offended, “no we're trying to get you a boyfriend!”

The girls argued, having forgotten that Yama and Tsukki were even there. Yamaguchi looked up at him with big, wide eyes, his face contorted into a completely puzzled expression. “Should... -should we leave?” he had whispered like if he said it any louder the whole world would hear.

“I think that's a good idea.”

They slipped out of the gym with their things as stealthily as possible, neither of them wanting to be in that situation anymore. 

Tsukishima smiled a little as he heard the other boy let out a heavy sigh as they made their way to the club room. 

“What was that about?” Tsukishima said.

“I have no idea”

“Do you think Yachi actually wants to date you?”
“Maybe, or her friends really are trying to prank me”

They dropped the conversation after that, changing back into their uniforms. Tsukishima made sure to exit first, just in case those girls were outside of the clubroom. Luckily they weren’t but Tsukki had a feeling that they were loitering around somewhere.

Still, the two boys made their way to the front gate to go home. The problem was the girls were indeed loitering around the gate entrance. He could see that Yachi was with him. The two of them had subconsciously slowed their steps as they approached the gate. Tsukishima could feel Yama’s nervousness radiate off of him as they got closer and closer.

The girls had practically jumped up as they saw the two boys, pushing Yachi forward. Yachi had the slightest blush across her cheeks. “Sorry about everything, my friends are a bit pushy” she looked over her shoulder and glared at them.

“It's fine” Yama had shifted his weight from leg to leg, messing with his hands.

“I don’t actually want to date you, sorry my friends gave you the wrong idea”

“Oh no your good!”

“I’m sorry again”

Then there was silence, unbearable, thick, awkward, silence. God Tsukishima just wanted to pull Yama away from this situation so the boy didn’t explode. It's not like he was hiding it well, how he shifted around like he wanted to run to the nearest house to hide in. 

“So.. I’ll just leave” Yachi shuffled her way back in utter shame, no doubt brought about from her friends trying to set her up. Tsukki felt bad for her, she really was a nice girl. But Tsukishima wouldn’t lie that he was jumping up and down from the fact that she wasn’t interested. He just hoped it stayed that way.

Yamaguchi, on the other hand, was nervous the whole walk back. Tsukki summed it up to the shock of that whole situation, it was very confusing after all.

Just to break the tension Tsukishima asked: “Can I hang out at your place?”

The question made Yama stumble, “you- wanna what?”

Was the question really that weird? Yama had been to Tsukki’s house plenty of times. “I wanna go to your house”

“Oh um- not today. Could you wait until tomorrow?”

Tsukishima only nodded, even though he wanted to know why he couldn’t come over today. Was his place messy? If that was the case Tsukki didn’t really care. Well, more like he didn’t care when it came to Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi could live in a literal dumpster and Tsukishima still wouldn’t mind.

“sorry” 

“It's fine” other than Tsukki’s disappointment it really was okay. 

——————

Tsukishima was still trying to wake himself up as he entered the gym. He was rubbing his eyes as he let out a long yawn. He wasn’t a fan of morning practices or most of the practices they did. But he couldn’t help but stay. Maybe it was the memories, the team, or the fact that he was a part of something. Either he couldn’t seem to tear himself away from this sport.

So when a volleyball hit him square in the face those were the only thoughts keeping him killing Hinata. 

Tsukishima groaned, gingerly touching the bruise now forming on his cheek. He could feel the blood under his skin, a sick warmth coming with it. His face felt stiff already and the stinging pain hadn’t gone away. He adjusted his glasses, which had luckily not broken. Probably because the ball only hit his cheek.

“I am SO sorry!” Hinata was next to him in a matter of seconds, fumbling around as he forgot how to function. 

Tsukishima waved his hand dismissively as he closed his eyes. “Just, go get someone,” he said through clenched teeth, stumbling a little. He could hear the team around the gym yelling something, the words too hard to think about when he felt so disoriented.

When Tsukki opened his eyes he was immediately met with the sight of a concerned Yama in front of him. His eyes were big and his voice so gentle. “Are you alright?” he was now.

“Yeah, It’s not that big of a deal”

Yamaguchi didn’t look convinced. “How about you sit down for a little bit”

Tsukishima was about to object until he felt a hand on his back. Yama’s hand to be exact. That small gesture had taken all the words out of him, leaving him unable to communicate in anything other than word fragments.

He could feel the other boy slowly pushing him to the wall of the gym, letting him sit down on the floor. Tsukki instantly felt so much better.

“Stay here until you feel better” Yama smiled at him.

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll make you”

This earned a chuckle out of both of them. Sadly the freckled boy had to leave him to start practice. The even sadder part was the boy who replaced his company.

“I’m still sorry” Hinata whispered as he sat down next to Tsukki.

“It’s fine”

There was quiet between the two boys for a few moments. They could hear the sound of volleyball hitting the ground, sneakers squeaking and calls from Daichi about what the team could improve on.

It was oddly calming, familiar if you will. Tsukishima closed his eyes one more and just tried to relax.

“Yama and you are really close huh?” Hinata asked.

“Yeah”

“Must be fun to joke around with him”

“Yeah”

Tsukki heard an exasperated sigh from the other middle blocker. “I’m trying to be nice, could you not respond with one-word answers?”

“Maybe” Tsukki couldn’t help but snicker, which led Hinata to join in.

“That's an upgrade from ‘yeah’”

“Oh, I’m glad you could tell.”

Hinata glared at him. For some reason, he didn’t find the other boy’s company so irritating as he usually did. He seemed more calm than normal. Maybe it was the guilt prompted on his shoulders or the atmosphere they were currently surrounded in. Either way, it was nice, to hang around someone he wouldn’t normally think about willing having as company.

“What do you like about Yamaguchi?”

The question startled Tsukki, “huh?”

“What do you like about Yama?” Hinata was sitting criss-cross, hands on his thighs as he leaned forward. His eyes had the usual glint in them, but something about it put Tsukishima on edge.

“Uh-” Tsukishima struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn’t out himself.

“His humor” that was a safe answer, right?

This wasn’t enough for Hinata. “What else?”

“His style”

“You stating obvious stuff”

“Well, what do you want me to say?”

Hinata puffed his cheeks out, “your so difficult” the redhead crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, grumbling about something.

This was the end of their already short conversation and about the time when Tsukki decided he was well enough to practice. Or rather well enough to leave Hinata alone.

——————

Okay, maybe Tsukki had bitten off more than he could chew. That bite being talking to the girls that had watched them at practice yesterday. He had actually started calling them the “fangirls”, not that they knew that personally.

The two of them were currently talking too fast for Tsukishima to understand, their hand movements so erratic he was afraid they would accidentally hit him. 

They were saying things like “Dontyouthinktheywouldbecutetogether?” and “couldyousetthemup?” without even taking a breath. Tsukishima wasn’t sure if they were even human.

“Just- hold on” Tsukki held his hands out in front of them, trying to shut up the girls for more than 5 seconds. It took a few more attempts before the girls completely shut their mouths. 

Tsukishima took a deep breath, eyes narrowed as he tried to resist the urge to snark these girls into the next dimension. “Listen, Yama isn’t interested in dating anyone”

The girls blinked at him, “So? That just means him and Yachi even better for each other!”

Tsukki groaned. “No, he’s not interested.”

For some reason these girls could not get it through their skulls that Yama didn’t want to date Yachi. Now Yamaguchi didn’t necessarily tell him to talk to these girls… But he knew the freckled boy would appreciate it if they stopped their antics of trying to get Yama a girlfriend. He also might have done it for his own selfish reasons but he didn’t need to think about that.

“Is he really not interested?” one of the girls said.

“Yes” thank god they were finally getting it because Tsukishima was about to break a blood vessel.

The girls looked at each other, whispering about something before turning forward. “Alright, we’ll leave him alone. But no promises we won’t tease him” The girls finally left, leaving Tsukishima to lean against the wall wondering how he even managed to convince those girls to leave Yama be.

At least they wouldn’t have to deal with the fangirls anymore.

——————

“Hey Yama.”

Yamaguchi had just finished changing, his head turning to meet Tsukki’s gaze

“What's up?”

“Can I come over today?”

“Oh, yeah” Yama slipped on his jacket, picking up his bag before he walked off with the blond.

“Why couldn’t I come over before?”

“I just didn’t have time to prepare”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, “prepare?”

This question made the freckled boy blush, laughing nervously “oh you know, prepare your house for guests”

“I didn’t prepare when you wanted to come over”

Yama stalled for a minute, “well anyway my moms really nice, I’m sure you’ll like her.”

Tsukki couldn’t help but snicker a little as Yama changed the subject in such a disjointed way. It was nice being the one to make Yamaguchi flustered.

It didn’t take long for them to reach Yama’s apartment. It was definitely not in a good area. There were stray dogs out and about, graffiti on some of the walls, and suspicious people in some of the alleys they passed. The apartment building didn’t look too pleasing either. 

When Yamaguchi opened the door Tsukishima was pleasantly surprised. The place looked a lot nicer than he expected. Sure there were a few things here and there that didn’t look so hot but for the most part Tsukki could tell Yama had tried his best to make the place look clean. 

So this is what he meant by “prepare”.

“My mom won’t be home for a few hours, so we can do whatever.”

Tsukishima had to fight the heat that was rising at his cheeks when he heard Yamaguchi’s words. Why did his mind have to jump to the worst possible things at the worst possible times? “What do you have in mind?”

“Studying”

“Really?”

“Hey, Studying is important!”

“Yeah but don’t you think you should take a break?”

“Breaks are for the weak”

Tsukki walked closer to him, his feet moving on their own. “You need to take care of yourself”

This must-have struck a chord with Yama since he turned before Tsukishima could say anything more.

“I know, I just don’t want to fall behind” something in the way he said it made Tsukki worried. It was almost if he was apologizing like it was a mistake to take a break.

Tsukishima sighed, “how about we relax and when I leave you can study”

“Fine”

After that was said and done Yama led the blond to the living room. The couch looked a little disheveled but overall it looked comfortable enough. Yamaguchi floundered onto the beat-up couch, patting the seat next to him. Tsukki sat down slowly, watching as Yama fiddled with the remote.

“What are we going to watch?” Tsukishima asked.

“Whatever is on”

“Such a good plan”

“Shut up”

It took a little while to find a movie that was actually good. Or rather, one that wasn’t a crappy Korean drama or overdone action movie. “Why do your channels suck?”

“Wow I’m sorry I don’t have your fancy cable Tsukki”

This got a chuckle out of both of them. But they slipped back into silence, the plot of the movie slowly being revealed. Tsukishima couldn’t help but fiddle with his hands. Maybe it was because he was alone in Yama’s apartment but he tried to tame the feeling as best he could. Which wasn’t that good since he started to talk again.

“Hey Yama”

“Hmm?”

“Do you spend time with any of the team outside of school?”

“Other than you?”

“Yeah”

“Well I do still walk with Yachi on the way home but we have to part ways eventually. Sometimes I call Hinata but other than that, no”

Yama turned to him. “Why do you ask?” Something in the way Yamaguchi’s eyes were looking at him made him want to tell him everything. Tell him how his heart pounded whenever Yama got too close. Tell him how pretty he found him, how he had a hard time keeping his eyes off him during volleyball practice. Tell him how jealous he was when other people had his attention for so long. Tell him every little thing that he remembered about him.

“I guess I just want you all to myself” Tsukishima immediately regretted his words.

Yama’s cheeks flushed into an adorable pink, a nervous laugh rumbling out of his chest. He playfully punched Tsukki on the shoulder, “don’t joke around like that”

Tsukishima stopped messing with his hands, letting out a forced chuckle. “My bad”

They watched the rest of the movie in silence.

——————

Tsukishima was surprised how sweet Yama’s mother was. Not that he didn’t expect her to be nice, it’s just that she had such an overwhelming kindness to her that it was hard not to smile. He understood where Yama got it from.

“It’s so nice of you to come over” She had her hands cupped over Tsukishima’s, squeezing it gently.

“You can come over whenever you like”

“Thank you, Ma’am”

“none of that, call me Mrs. Akatsuki”

“Okay Mrs. Akatsuki”

Tsukishima could see Yama beaming from the sidelines, eyes twinkling from what he could only guess was excitement. 

“Are you staying for dinner Tsukishima?”

“I was hoping to leave before then”

“But it would be so nice to have you for dinner!” Mrs. Akatsuki had a pleading look plastered on her face that seemed oddly familiar. Oh yeah, that was the same look Yamaguchi used when he wanted Tsukki to do something for him. It was almost scary how similar the mother and son were.

“I guess I’ll stay”

“Oh, that’s fantastic!”

Mrs. Akatsuki led him back to the living room, taking Yamaguchi with her as she shuffled into the kitchen. The blond was left to his own devices, staring at the tv as he could hear light whispers from the room over.

“He seems so nice!... good friends?... is he funny?...” Tsukishima could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation but from what he could tell it sounded like Yamaguchi’s mom was doing most of the talking. The excited chatter died down as time went on, the shuffling of pots and pans the only noise left.

After a while, both of them came into the living room with plates in their hands. Yama extended a plate to Tsukki, a smile on his face. “Hope you like it”

“Thank you” Is all that Tsukishima could stammer out. The fact that Yama was giving him a home-cooked meal with such a sweet look on his face made him speechless. It felt like a fantasy he had in his head, but he didn’t need to think about that right now. 

He began to eat the food, turning his head as he heard Mrs. Akatsuki begin to talk to him “so you're close to Yama?”

“Mother!”

“What! He seems to like your company,” she nudged her son's chest with her elbow, a grin on her lips. “So would you like to come over again sometime?”

“I would love to” Tsukishima got a look from Yamaguchi once he responded. He ignored it.

“Wonderful! Maybe we could go out for a day trip!”

“Mom, where would we even go?”

“Somewhere fun, like the beach. We could invite the rest of the team too!”

“Oh god no”

This led the two highschool boys to laugh, Mrs. Akatsuki just shaking her head. “I don’t get teenagers”

“You don't get anything”

“Just because your friend is over doesn’t mean I can’t smack you”

This ensued more laughter out of all of them. 

The atmosphere was pleasant, a casual smile plastered on his lips. He could get used to this. Being with Yama and his mother, spending time with both of them. Maybe he could introduce his own mother to Yamaguchi’s. 

Their families could have road trips with each other over the summer. They could visit sights and temples. They could go downtown, to the city where everything was changing and exciting. He could probably spend more time with Yama, have sleepovers, random trips in the middle of the night to get fries or something like that.

He could do all sorts of things with the boy he had learned to care for so deeply.

Tsukishima gulped, watching as Yama smiled at him. He noticed how his freckles shifted as his eyes crinkled at the edges. He saw how his throat bobbed as he laughed. He saw how strands of his brunet hair dipped into his eyes, falling on his face before he pulled the strands back.

It scared him how much he cared for the other. The jealousy he felt, the admiration, the absolute intoxication of the other was enough to send him reeling.

He didn’t want to disappoint the other. He didn’t want Yama to break his heart either. Not that he expected that he ever would. It was just a thought caused by the memory of his brother on the sidelines of the one volleyball game. How lonely he felt as the kid next to him said “I told you so!” as he stared at his brother. At that point, he wondered if anyone would ever do something like that again.

Tsukki just hoped Yamaguchi loved him as much as he did.

Chapter Text

“Tsukishima seemed nice”

Yama nodded as he washed the rest of the dishes, having to scrub especially hard on one dish that had food stuck to it.

“And he seems to like you a lot”
“Mom”

“But he seems so fond of you”
“That’s what friends do”
“Not like that, he was looking at you like you were-”

“ Enough ”

“Fine, fine”

They dipped back into the quietness from before, Yama’s mother humming as she put away the leftovers. The low sound of the wind filtered through the open window, letting in cool air with it.

 Akatsuki leaned against the counter as she stared at her son, “I swear Yama you better ask him out”

“Mother!”

“Just don’t make me a grandma”

Yamaguchi’s face flushed to a nice cherry shade, his ears turning red too. 

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

His mother snickered as she fled the kitchen, “you still got it anyway!”

Yama could hear his mother giggle all the way to her room, leaving the boy to do the rest of the dishes in a flustered state.

Did... Tsukki really feel that way about him? 

Maybe Yamaguchi was so blinded by his own infatuation with the blond to notice his feelings. If that was the case Yama was both mad and happy. Mad because he didn’t see it sooner and happy because the one boy who made the world feel so wonderful might actually return his feelings.

He wouldn’t have to dream about being with the blond his thoughts, separated from reality. That dream could become a reality.

The only thing is he would have to ask Tsukishima out. Because he knew Tsukki sure as hell wasn’t.

Oh god

He was going to have to ask Tsukishima out.

——————

Yama wasn’t sure how he was going to go about asking Tsukishima out on a date or talk to him at all for that matter. Since he knew he would over-analyze every detail. 

Even if he did have an idea on how to do it, he doubted he could execute it. Sure he looked confident when talking to most people, but Yama was just a puddle of nerves in his head. 

Tsukishima was easy to talk to. The way their conversations flowed so fluently, how they could talk about just about anything, and still find things to ramble about. Despite how calming it was to talk to Tsukki, the boy would do things that sent Yama back into a puddle of nerves. Like accidentally brushing his hand against Yama’s, or when Tsukki would open the door for him. 

All sorts of things left Yama struggling to think when Tsukishima did them.

Maybe that’s why he found himself so flustered all the time, even now, when nothing was happening. They were just changing in the club room. It happened every day. It was nothing to be embarrassed about.

However, Yama couldn’t seem to stop the pink creeping on his cheeks when he felt eyes staring at his back. 

It was only him and Tsukki in the room. No one else is around to ruin the moment. Maybe this would be a good time…

“Hey, Tsuk-”

“Yama”

They both stopped. 

“I’m sorry, go on?” Yama said.

“Oh no you can go”

“It’s fine I was just-”

Before Yamaguchi was able to humiliate himself further one of the second years burst through the door. 

“What’s up pipsqueaks!” Tanaka already had his shirt off before he was even in the club room, hooting and hollering over something.

“Tanaka! Would you shut up!” Daichi was next in the club room, the rest of the third years following.

After that, the moment was lost. Yamaguchi got finished changing and left with Tsukki before things could get too wild. Well, they didn’t get far because Hinata and Kageyama had stopped them. 

“You wanna get meat buns?”

“Hinata, we got meat buns yesterday,” Yama said.

“So?”

They were dragged down the street. Well, more like Hinata bounced with Kageyama while Yama and Tsukki hung further back. 

The walk was soothing, the mumbling of life around them pleasant in contrast to the chaotic noise of the club room they just left. Though, when they got to the drug store to get their mean buns the noise came back. 

“Hinata you dumbass! You can’t just get three meat buns for yourself!”

“Who says I can’t!”

“Your wallet!”

The two bickered for a while longer before actually paying for their food. Kageyama ended up buying two buns for both of them, which excited Hinata to no end.

“Thank you, Kageyama!”

“Wh-whatever you idiot”

This summoned a snicker from Yama and Tsukishima. Leading Kageyama to glare at both of them.

“Oh I’m sorry did we catch you flirting?” Tsukishima luckily was able to dodge the hit thrown at him, with much protest from Kageyama.

Yama bought two buns as he watched Tsukki and Kag’s battle in a tournament of wit. Tsukishima was obviously winning. 

Before things could get too heated Yama placed a bun in Tsukishima’s hand, leaving the blond to stop in order to eat his bun.

The four of them sat on the sidewalk in front of the store. The night was approaching, dusky rays of grey beginning to form as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky. 

The meat buns were soft against Yama’s lips, his belly starting to feel warm for other reasons than the food. Tsukishima and him were sitting shoulder to shoulder, thighs pressed up against each other.

Yama wasn’t completely sure why they were in such close proximity but it probably had something to do with the fact Hinata was invading Tsukshimas space more and more. This made the blond scoot further and further into Yama in order to get away from Hinata.

It felt oddly good to have Tsukishima pressed up to him in such a way. It made the air around them not feel so cold. It didn’t help when Tsukki rested his elbow on Yama’s lap after he finished his meat bun, making Yama almost have a heart attack.

The blond seemed unphased, or from what Yamaguchi could tell.

“I'm so excited for the party!” Hinata said, snapping Yamaguchi out of his thoughts.

“Party?” Yama asked.

“Yeah! One of Noya’s friends is hosting a house party!”

“Are we allowed to come?”

“Of course, Noya said it would be fine”

This sparked something in the freckled boy, an idea to be specific.

Yamaguchi turned his attention back to Tsukki, looking up at him. Though when he met the pair of brown eyes he had a hard time getting his words out of his throat.

“Do you wanna go with me?” surprisingly, Yama hadn't stumbled over his words. On top of that, he had just managed to spit it out.

Tsukishima nodded, “sure”

Yama grinned, looking down at his lap as he messed with his meat bun wrapper. 

He said yes!

Granted, it wasn’t really a date since it was a party, but he would still going somewhere with Tsukki!

“When is it?” Yam turned back to Hinata.

“This Friday, I’ll text you the details”

Yama beamed again, “sounds great!” he bounced his leg, his eyes sparkling as he stared at the ground. 

——————

Yamaguchi laid on his bed looking up at the ceiling, pondering if he should actually try and do something. 

He had already cleaned the house, did his homework, studied, and ate dinner. But it wasn’t quite time to go to bed yet. He still had a solid half an hour till 9:30.

With nothing left to do, he just decided to lounge on his bed but he was finding that to be increasingly difficult. He could feel this nagging thought in his head, about Tsukishima of course. 

Yama adored him so dearly and apparently Tsukishima shared the sentiment. But he had a hard time wrapping his head around it. After all, Tsukishima was so cool and collected, so smart and handsome.

Yama was just some punk that happened to not really be a punk at all.

What did Tsukki see in him? Did Tsukishima see anything in him? Or was his mother just reading him the wrong way?

His thoughts bubbled in his head and refused to simmer down, leaving Yama to have to fight to keep himself together. 

He instead let his mind wander to the thought of the blond boy himself. His black-rimmed glasses that always seemed perched so high on his nose. His pale cream skin that looked gorgeous with his hair. His smirks and small smiles that sent Yama into flustered fits. All of it seemed to calm him down while simultaneously riling him up.

God, he had it so bad. 

He couldn’t even deny it anymore. 

Yama picked up his phone from his nightstand and unlocked it, sending a text before he could stop himself.

Yamaguchi: you up?

He anxiously waited for a reply.

Tsukishima: It’s 8:16, I would be worried if I wasn’t up

This made Yama laugh, his smile reaching his eyes as he stared at his phone screen.

Yamaguchi: lol, I need to ask you something

Tsukishima: ask away

Yamaguchi hovered his fingers over the keyboard, knowing he would have to choose his words very carefully.

Yamaguchi: how do you feel about me?

Tsukishima: what do you mean?

Yamaguchi: Like, when someone asks about me, what do you tell them?

It took a little while for Tsukki to respond, the time Yama waited being full of tension as he slowly regretted this whole situation.

Tsukishima: I would say that you are a lot nicer than you look. That you're hardworking and you have way too much motivation for your own good, and that you’re a great cook.

Yama blinked.

Yamaguchi: awww geez you're making me red @/////@

Tsukishima: just stating facts

Yama couldn’t help but do a little wiggle in his bed out of pure happiness, giggling a little as he rolled over on his side. 

He ended up spending a good while texting Tsukishima. He even went past his set bedtime that he had been hellbent on keeping consistent. He just couldn’t help but want to text Tsukki, to just be able to see his witty comebacks and playful jokes. It was all Yamaguchi could ask for, having this special moment with Tsukki, like no one else in the world existed.

He never wanted this to end.

——————

Yama despite going to bed later than usual Yama had the lucky event of waking up thirty minutes before his alarm clock. He laid around for a couple of minutes before sitting up. 

Since he was up he should try and do something.

That something was cleaning. Though there wasn’t much to clean as he had done most of it the night before. His mother hadn’t been home for two days since she was off on a business trip. 

A thought popped into Yamaguchi’s head, a smile reaching his lips. He entered his mother’s room, beginning to clean.

He knew his mother would adore coming home to a made bed and folded clothes in her dresser. So that’s exactly what Yama was going to do.

He gathered all the clothes and put them in a pile in the corner of the room, picking up trash on the way. 

His mother wasn’t a slob, but she wasn’t super clean either. If anything Yamaguchi was tidier than her. She had teased him about it on multiple occasions but Yama knew she appreciated more than anything.

Yama's mother was amazing, she did so much for him. But even then, she did things that weren’t that honorary. 

Yamaguchi saw an envelope lying on his mother's nightstand, their address written so neatly on the front of the envelope. He would’ve left it if it wasn’t for the name of who it was from.

Masao Yamaguchi . 

Yamaguchi’s father.

The name left a bitter taste on his tongue whenever he had to say it. It brought back memories of empty smiles and half-used bags of white powder. It reminded him of the fights and screaming between his parents. The terror of having to hide behind the couch because there was no other place to feel safe.

Yamaguchi gulped, his hands trembling as he picked up the letter. He knew this was a bad idea, but he couldn’t stop himself from opening it.

——————

Yama waited anxiously at the lunch table. The air was fresh and clean, wind whistling through his hair as he stared intensely at his bag.

He had to tell Tsukki about the letter.

He had no idea what else to do. He didn't know who else to talk to. Sure he could’ve gone to Takeda, but this felt too personal, too big to bring up to him.

He needed Tsukishima.

Luckily his wish was granted as the blond had just entered the courtyard to eat his lunch. His long legs carried him to the table quickly, taking off his clunky headphones as he took a seat.

Yama placed a hand on Tsukki’s shoulder. “Tsukishima…” his throat clenched. How was he going to explain this? That his father wanted to see his mother-- to see him .

Tsukishima must have seen the strain in his eyes because he dipped his head down, whispering to him in a soft, hushed tone, “Something wrong?”

Yama nodded.

The taller boy stood back up, gently holding Yama’s arm to bring him up with him. His touch was so slight, so delicate Yamaguchi wasn’t even sure he was holding him.

The small pull from Tsukishima somehow calmed Yamaguchi. He wasn’t sure how, but it felt the other boy had just done him a huge favor.

They walked down the hall, taking a few turns to a more desolate hallway. The light was low, being one of the only hallways without any windows in the school. The doors to the classrooms were locked tight, unused as there was no need for them. 

Tsukishima leaned against a door, looking at Yama expectantly. “What did you want to say?”

Yama thought for a moment. “You know how I told you about my father”

Tsukishima nodded.

“Well… my mother got a letter from him saying-” Yama took a deep breath, “-saying that he wanted to see the both of us and I-I don’t know what to do”

Yamaguchi began to rake his hands through his hair. “He wants to meet me! After leaving for so long… I don’t know if I could do it if I sh-should! I miss him b-but I don’t want him to leave again” Yama felt tears swell in his eyes, “what if he leaves m-me again…” before Yama could let the panic run through his veins he felt arms wrapped around his torso.

Tsukishima rested his hands on Yama’s back, the action making it arch. Yamaguchi stood completely still, breath stolen from him as he felt Tsukki’s heartbeat thumping against his own.

Yamaguchi melted into the hug, knees going weak as he clung to Tsukki for dear life. The blond’s hold on him tightened, holding Yama close to his chest. The freckled boy buried his head into Tsukihsima’s shoulder, tears spilling from his eyes in violent streams. 

They both stood there in their embrace for a long time while Yamaguchi balled his eyes out.

——————

The headache that Yama had after crying was unbearable. His whole head pounded with an aching pain that only came from being emotionally drained. His eyes felt puffy and tried as he blinked. His body is not feeling much better. He felt like he was just thrown in the river and left there to drown. 

Tsukishima was next to him, hand on the small of his back as he led him to the gym. “You should sit out for today”

“Tsukki you know I can’t -”

“You're sitting out” the authority in Tsukishima’s voice made Yama quiver, ultimately giving up on trying to argue with the other male. Yamaguchi did feel exhausted… Maybe he should let himself take a break.

When the two of them entered the gym there were met with a concerned Takeda, rushing up to them, clipboard still in hand, “What happened to you, Yamaguchi?”

“I’m just not feeling well,” Yamaguchi said.

“Do you want to go home?”

“No, I would rather be here.”

The teacher offered a smile, “okay then, you can sit with me on the bench for today”

Yamaguchi was passed off to Takeda, who helped him to the bench. The rest of the team slowly filled into the gym, starting to get the court set up. The artificial fluorescent lights were harsh on Yama’s head, but he knew home wouldn’t be any better. At least he wouldn’t be alone here.

 Takeda set his clipboard aside, leaning his head down to meet Yama’s “do you wanna tell me what happened?”

Yama stared at him for a moment. The freckled boy opened his bag, hand gliding over the pale white letter before handing it to Takeda. The teacher turned it over in his hands, looking back at Yamaguchi for silent permission to read it.

Yamaguchi smiled weakly, nodding his head.

Takeda looked down at the note, eyes running over the words as it took a couple of minutes for him to read it all. He held the note meekly between his fingers, eyebrows furrowing as he got further down the paragraph.

When his eyes rose up to meet Yama’s they were filled with warmth, the man’s mouth hung slightly agape, “This must be so much for you to handle Yamaguchi”

Yama bit his lip, “yeah”

“Do you want me to meet him first? Make sure you're both ready?”

“Maybe, but I don’t know if I even want to meet him…”

Takeda gave him another smile, placing a hand on his back. “How about this, I’ll talk to your mom and we can all figure this out together, okay?”

“Okay”

The rest of practice was nice. It was good to just sit back and watch everyone else follow the routine. It was comforting to see Hinata and Kageyama argue, Noya and Tanaka banter, and Daichi and Suga make sure no one lost their heads. It was stable. It was familiar. He knew these boys well, he knew what they would probably do in most situations. They all seemed to be a stabilizer for Yama’s chaotic home life. Even Tsukishima helped hold him in place, especially him.

Before he was able to go too far into his head he felt a person sit next to him. He glanced over to see the blond manager smiling at him. “Hi Yama”

“Hey Yachi”

“I heard you're not feeling good”

Yamaguchi chuckled, “yeah I’m a little out of it”

“Would you like me to get you an ice pack?”

“No it’s fine, I just need to deal with it.”

“Okay, if you say so”

The sounds of volleyballs hitting the court and shoes stomping on the ground is all Yamaguchi heard after that, his head getting slightly better as time went on. Though it still felt like there was a hammer trying to pound through his skull, it was less so.

“I’m sorry again for what my friends did”

“It's okay”

“I don’t think it is, they stepped over your boundary and that shouldn’t have happened.” Yachi’s tone was no longer the softly sweet one it usually was. It was firmer, colder in a way Yama had yet to see from the girl.

“Thank you, it was weird, but I’m over it”

“Really?”

“Yeah, after all, you still want to be my friend right?”

“Of course”

“Then we can put that behind us”

The two of them smiled, looking back at the court with a weight lifted off of both of their shoulders.

Chapter Text

Tsukishima sighed as he defeated another Rockruff with his superior Gyarados. The music pulsing from the speakers as he pressed the buttons on his 3DS in rapid succession.

His mind wasn’t fully there as laid on his bed playing Pokemon Moon, barely processing the enemy in front of him as he trained up his best water type. It was quiet, other than the usual battle music when he decided to attack yet another weak grass pokemon. 

He hadn’t had much else to do at the moment. He had already done his homework and studied. It was too late out to practice volleyball, so he had settled on continuing his third run of this game.

He wasn’t able to continue that thought as his brother decided to bother him.

Aki busted his door open, the door swinging into the wall with a thunderous bump. Kei’s brother didn’t seem to notice the damage he had done to the poor wall.

“Hey Kei do you know where the towels are?”

“I don’t know, why are you asking me?”

“Cause you're the one who did laundry last”

“Well check the laundry room then”

“I did!”

“Well maybe your just an idiot and didn’t see them”

“Hey!”

Tsukishima couldn’t be bothered to amuse his older brother. Though he had nothing better to do, he knew he would rather be playing pokemon.

Aki didn’t seem to sense his disinterest. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

Tsukishima sighed, “what is it?”

Aki walked across the room, sitting on the corner of his brother's bed. He leaned back, putting his hands behind him as he stared at Kei, “are you happy?”

“What?”

“Are you happy?”

“Yeah..? why are you asking?”

Aki smirked, “you seem a lot less irritated than usual”

“What? Do you want me to insult you more?”

“No, I was just wondering if you have a crush or something”

Tsukishma could feel the heat bubble at his cheeks as the image of a certain boy popped into his head. 

“Oh shit, you actually have a crush?”

“Would you shut up?” Tsukishima threw a pillow at his brother, Aki only catching it with a chuckle.

“I don’t believe it! The ice prince actually has a heart!” Aki got up from his spot on the bed and flung himself towards his brother, wrapping his arms around him.

Tsukishima struggled against the hug, “it’s not a big deal” he squirmed in his brother's hold.

“Oh, it is a big deal! Who is it! You gotta tell me!”

“No I don’t”

“Kei!”

“Akiteru”

Aki pouted at him as he repeated his name, letting go of the taller boy. “Fine, if you won’t tell me who it is you can at least tell me about her”

Kei narrowed his eyes at his brother. 

Her. 

That was one thing he got wrong about this whole ordeal.

“I'm not sure I want to”

“Pleaseee! You never have crushes!”

Kei wasn’t sure how much more of this he could handle. His brother never gave up on anything and this wasn’t an exception. He knew Aki would bother him about it till the end of time, so maybe it would be better just to amuse him after all.

“I like their hair… and their earrings… and the way they talk… and act” he was careful not to say ‘he’. He doubted his brother was against the LGBTQ community but Kei didn’t want him figuring out that he was talking about Yamaguchi. The boy had come over twice and had met Aki.

“Come on, that's way too vague”

Kei sighed, “I like… Their freckles, and how their eyes are so soft…”

Aki just nodded as Kei paused.

“I-I like how they seem so tough but they really just want to laugh and joke around. I like how they bounce their legs and get all smiley around me” Tsukishima could feel a smile form on his lips.

“I like how he looks at me…” Tsukishima hadn’t even noticed that he had let that pronoun slip, to busy being gay as hell to notice his brother's reaction.

“Wait… don't tell me” Aki leaned in close with a smirk on his face, “you like that delinquent boy?”

Kei’s face blazed bright red, “how the hell!-”

“You made it pretty obvious when you said ‘he’”

Tsukishima's words cut short, leaving him to stare stupidly at his brother with his mouth hung open.

“Aww man, we have to get you two on a date!” Aki bolted up onto his feet, “or have you already gone on one?” he wiggled his eyebrows cheekily.

“God I regret telling you” Tsukishima placed a hand over his face, his cherry cheeks still visible.

Kei’s brother just cackled in response, his head swinging back as he let the noise ripple through his chest. 

“Ah come on! You have to let me tease you occasionally!”

“You tease me all the time” Tsukishima retorted.

“Your point?”

This left Tsukishima to narrow his blond lashes closer together, lips forming into a pout as he crossed his arms over his chest like he was a five-year-old.

“Alright! I’ll leave you alone then!” Aki raised his hands in silent defeat, quirking his head to the side as he made his way to the door.

“One more thing” 

“What?” Tsukishima said.

“make sure to use a condom!”

——————

Tsukishima tapped his fingers impatiently against the calloused wood of his desk. The surface of the wood was chipped, probably from some kid who stabbed their pencil into it one too many times.

His chocolate eyes were dull as he bore his stare into the back of the teacher's head. The only thing that kept him from falling asleep was the faint buzz of excitement simmering in the core of his stomach.

Today was the party that Noya’s friend was hosting. Personally he could care less about hanging around in a house with alcohol, loud music, and a bunch of sweaty teenagers. But Yamaguchi had asked him to come, so he couldn’t say no. 

Tsukishima had no idea what was in store for him, or what they would even do. He hadn’t been to a party before. He had no clue what activities they would partake in or who would even be there.

But it would be worth it because he was going with Yamaguchi. As long as he got to be around the freckled boy he knew the night would go just fine.

“I’m so pumped!”

“I know, this party’s going to be sick!” 

The girls whispering behind him sucked him out of his thoughts, their hushed voices clear in Tsukki’s ears.

The fangirls continued to yammer on about things they might do at the party, either of them giggling every other sentence.

Wonderful, so the two girls would be at the party. 

As long as they didn’t cause any trouble Tsukishima guessed it was fine they were attending.

Though he may have spoken too soon.

“We totes have to have some fun with Yachi”

“Ooh, I know exactly what you mean!”

Before he was able to hear the rest of their conversation the bell rang, making the class erupt into noise. Whatever the girls were saying were now lost as they gathered their things.

Tsukishima sighed as he picked up his bag, walking with Yamaguchi down the hall.

“Are you excited?” Tsukishima said.

“Of course!” Yama has a glimmer in his eye that made Tsukishima's mouth dry, making him have to wet his lips.

They still had practice, but the blond knew it would pass fast. 

“I’m glad you're coming with me” Yama rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I am too”

Tsukishima let a smile seep onto his lips.

——————

The ground shook under Tsukishima’s feet as he stood at the train station, the screeching of the train the only thing filling his ears as he looked around. 

He checked his phone again.

7:34 pm.

Yama should be here by now. 

The thought ate away at him as he wondered where the boy could be.

Did he get lost? Did he decide he didn’t want to go? Did he get in an accident? Oh god, what if he got hurt?

Tsukishima felt a hand clasp his shoulder. He spun around, a familiar face greeting him.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you” Yamaguchi said, beaming at him.

Tsukishima blinked rapidly for a few seconds, his brain trying to not to overload with emotions as he stared at Yamaguchi.

The boy was dressed in a beat-up leather jacket, customized with studs and patches. His undershirt was black and red, patterned with stripes of either color. The shirt was tucked into his black ripped jeans. The pants themself were very formfitting on Yama’s legs… and his hips...

“Tsukki?”

The blond’s eye snapped upward, already feeling the blood flood his cheeks. “Yeah?”

“You ready to go?”

He nodded, letting his eyes linger on Yamaguchi’s features. He had changed his earrings, jewels of crimson red lined his ear. His longish hair pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, he could even see a faint stain of pink on the boy’s cheeks.

‘gorgeous color for a gorgeous boy’ Tsukishima thought as his feet began to move on their own accord.

They both found a spot on the train, standing still as they held onto the railing above them for support. The crowd was dense but not overwhelming, the last of the working adults going home for the weekend while others were going out for the night.

“You excited to par-ty!” Yama singsonged, looking up at him with his usual cute smile.

“Excited as I’ll ever be”

“Aww, could you be a little more excited for me?”

“Maybe if you ask nicely”

They both chuckled, drawing attention from some people nearby as they joked around.

“Do you think Noya will do something crazy?”

“It’s Noya, of course he’ll do something crazy”

Yama giggled, “hopefully Ennoshita or one of the third years will be there to calm him down.”

“I don’t they would be able to calm him down”

“Maybe they could”

“Yeah, if they had some tranquilizers”

“Tsukki!”

They went into another fit of laughter. The glances cast their way didn’t affect either of them, continuing their antics. 

Though, Tsukishima could see a roughed up looking man in the corner of his eye, standing next to the doors with a sour expression on his scarred face. 

The blond couldn’t help but stand closer to Yamaguchi because of it, angling his tall body to block the sight of the boy.

Yama didn’t comment on his behavior.

They eventually reached their stop, getting off of the train with energetic steps. The crowd around them passed in blurry blobs of color as Tsukishima focused most of his attention onto Yama.

Maybe if he hadn’t been so enveloped with the punk boy he would’ve seen the roughed up man from the train following them.

——————

“Ayeee! If it isn’t the delinquent and the smartass!” Tanaka yelled boisterously, throwing up one of his arms over the crowd. He snaked his way through dancing bodies to finally meet Yamaguchi and Tsukki, who were both situated near the front entrance.

Tsukishima’s eyes went immediately to the older boy's chest, which was lacking a shirt. 

“You guys ready to lose it tonight!!”

“Lose what?” Yama asked innocently.

“Your mind! Come on!” before either of them could do anything Tanaka grabbed both their wrists and dragged them onto the overcrowded dance floor. 

The music pounded through the floor and walls of the house, the beat of the drum skipping through every nerve in Tsukishima’s body as he stood there stiffly. The lights were low in the room, only illuminated by spinning rays of rainbow from a light machine above. 

There were people all around both of them, dressed in party clothes and holding red solo cups.

This was way too much.

“You guys have fun!!!” Tanaka trotted off, yelling something about Noya needing to do shots with him.

Yama looked at him with a small smile on his lips, starting to sway with the music awkwardly.

They were both helpless.

Tsukishima tried his best to dance, but the most he was comfortable doing was the side-to-side step dance that dads did when they wanted to be cool at a wedding. This, however, amused Yamaguchi to no end.

“Oh my god, you're worse than me!” Yama yelled.

“I don’t know about that”

“Oh yeah?” Yama’s eyes narrowed, his smile twisting into a smirk as the boy began to dance more loosely. He swung his hips to the rhythm of the song, raising his arms above him as he twisted his waist. 

His dancing didn’t have much precision, but the sight of Yamaguchi moving in such a way was more than enough to make this whole trip worth it.

It was how his waist turned, exaggerating his hips ever so slightly. His smile was free and childish as he giggled at his own actions, becoming even more fluid in his movements as he gained more confidence. It didn’t help that they were so close to each other, Yama’s dancing body only inches from his own. 

It absolutely mesmerized him.

In their close proximity, Tsukishima could see a detail he had missed before, a black choker wrapped so elegantly around the punk boy’s neck. The realization of this made his palms sweat.

“What about now?”

Tsukishima blinked, “well you certainly got some moves”

The most wonderful laugh fell from Yamaguchi's mouth, reminding Tsukki why he came here in the first place. “Damn right I do”

They had danced for a little longer until Yama signaled that he wanted to move, trying to get through various people. Eventually, they made their way to the edges of the room, sneaking past couples devouring each other's faces and loners standing by themselves drinking.

They found themselves in the kitchen, surrounded by bottles of alcohol and tall stacks of plastic cups. 

In the middle of the kitchen sat an island counter, where Noya was, perched on the corner as he mixed drinks together. He had a small group of people around him, some of them laughing a little too loudly to not be intoxicated.

The kitchen was very brightly lit compared to the room they just came from, the solid glow of the artificial ceiling light was a good break from the darkness they left. This room had fewer people in it, but it was also smaller. The floor lay scattered with trash and mysterious liquids that could be liquor or someone's tears. A dull drone of music came from the rest of the house, but for some reason, the music didn’t fully reach.

“Yamaguchi! Tsukishima!” the libero called, waving them over with his free hand as the other poured whiskey into another cup. “You guys want something?”

Yama shook his head, “we’re good”

“Suit yourselves! I make a killer margarita!” Noya continued to make drinks, all sorts of people coming in and out of the kitchen to grab one before leaving.

“Do you know where Hinata and Kagayama are?” Yama said, leaning his arms on the counter next to Noya.

“I think I saw them upstairs”

“Thanks,” Yama turned back around, letting his back rest against the grey marble of the island.

“Why do we need Hinata and Kageyama?” Tsukki said.

“Hinata was supposed to hang out with us,” Yamaguchi pouted, sitting up as he grabbed Tsukki’s wrist.

“Let's go find them” they made their way back onto the dance floor, this time it was more bearable with Yamaguchi’s hand wrapped around his wrist. They wormed their way to the stairs, stepping over some poor girl who passed out with a lampshade on her head as they climbed the steps.

The upstairs was a lot more calm, scattered groups of people here and there. There were numerous doors leading to go god knows where, but no sign of the small tangerine or the blueberry setter.

Yama sighed, leaning against one of the many doors, “this is hopeless”

“You got that right”

“You're supposed to disagree with me!”

“But that's no fun”

Yamaguchi pouted at him before gently hitting the blond on the shoulder. They both chuckled until they heard a noise on the other side of the door. 

“..Kageyama…” it was quiet, but a fairly audible noise to the two boys. They both looked at each other, taking a step back from the door to open it.

The sight they were met with was certainly startling.

The other two first years were stuffed into the closet, Hinata legs wrapped around Kageyama's waist, his arms around his neck. But the most surprising part of the whole situation was the fact Kageyama was very aggressively sucking on Hinata's neck. 

Yikes…

“At least we found them” Tsukishima sassed.

The two boys whipped their heads to Yama and Tsukki’s dumbfounded faces, the four of them just staring at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time before Yama just closed the door.

“We’ll… talk about that later,” Yamaguchi said.

“Yeah”

They sat in uncomfortable silence as they both tried to figure out what to do next, the beat of the music pulsing under their feet.

 The door that they had just close swung back open, Kageyama and Hinata both stepping out from the darkness.

“Done with your make-out session?” Yamaguchi whipped his head around once he heard Tsukki’s comment, glaring coldly at him. The blond didn’t seem to mind the freckled boy's eyes on him.

“At least I actually make a move” the setter shot back, making Tsukishima’s cheeks heat up. 

Yama looked at him with a confused expression, wordlessly asking a question.

Damn this stupid king.

He had accidentally outed himself to Kageyama when the boy had borrowed his phone, being lucky enough to get a text from Yama at that exact moment.

“Why does Yama’s contact have hearts and strawberries next to it?” Kageyama had asked in a teasing tone.

If Tsukishima had it his way, Kageyama would've never found out.

The king smirked as Tsukishima stayed quiet, “sorry you had to see that”

“It's fine” Yama shifted from side to side, a tight-lipped smile on his features. “I didn’t know you two were a thing…”

Hinata chuckled awkwardly, “neither did we till tonight” despite his words the boy looked even happier than usual. His smile went all the way to his eyes and beyond.

Though, some sort of idea must have popped into his mind because he hurriedly tried to get Kagayama's attention. The setter leaned down as Hinata whispered something to him.

Tsukishima didn’t know if he should be worried or not. Seeing Kagayama’s eyes widen certainly wasn’t a promising fact. Neither was the smirk now spread across Hinata’s mouth.

“Hey, Yama! You know how I said how there was going to be spin the bottle?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, that's how me and Kagayama ended up… where we ended up”

“really?”

“Soooo I think you should also play!” Hinata had a mischievous glint in his eye, his look almost teasing as he stared up at Yamaguchi. His words were suggestive, but not obvious, leaving most of it up to imagination.  

“Ah, I don’t know…”

“Come on! If you won’t play could you at least do one thing for me?”

Yama tilted his head to the side, “what's that?”

Hinata grabbed Yama’s hand, flinging him into the closet with no warning. Kageyama did something similar, pushing Tsukishima into the same closet.

“You’ll thank me later!” Hinata yelled as he closed the door, leaving the two boys stuck in the small closet together.

Fucking Hinata.

Tsukishima tried to open the door. 

It didn’t budge.

“I’m gonna murder them.”

Tsukishima could feel Yama’s warmth against him, their chests pressed flush together because of the limited space. Tsukki felt Yamaguchi’s hair tickle at his chin, the other boy's hands on his chest as it rose and fell, the warmth of his fingertips overwhelming on his skin even with the barrier of clothes.

There was little light in the closet, but there was just enough to make out the features of Yama’s face. His freckles, his eyes, his lips.

Tsukishima couldn’t seem to calm himself down.

His mind was racing. Thoughts bubbling in his head faster than he could process them, all fighting for his attention as he tried to find words that would make this all better. That would defuse the situation.

His lip quivered.

His hands shook.

He had no idea what to do and it absolutely terrified him.

“Hey, it's okay.” Yama’s voice was soft, barely even a whisper, like if he said it any louder the whole house would hear.

Tsukishima could feel his shoulder relax, breathing skittering to a halt as he felt Yamaguchi’s hands clutch his shirt.

“We’ll get out”

“Y-Yeah” Tsukishima wasn’t sure if he wanted to get out.

“Can you move back?”

Tsukishima did as he was told, trying to move his legs further behind him. He was met with something solid, what it was, he wasn’t sure.

“This is as far as I can go”

“dammit”

He could see Yama bite his lip, eyes squinting in the low light for anything that might help them.

The punk boy moved forward pressing his body even closer to Kei's; he tried to search with his hands for something behind them, anything.

The action, however, had different effects on Tsukishima. His heart thrashed in his ribcage violently, breath picking up as he tried not to get too excited.

This was not the time for that.

Or maybe it was.

When Yamaguchi looked back up at him he smiled, “I think we're stuck here, sorry”

“It's fine, what are you apologizing for? It was those other two dimwits who put us in here.”

Yamaguchi chuckled, “your right”

There was silence for a few seconds. At that moment Tsukishima felt like the whole world disappeared. There was no music to be heard from downstairs, no yelling, no thumping of the bass. All he could feel was Yamaguchi’s heartbeat with his own.

“Tsukki?”

“Hm?” the blond tilted his head down, staring down at the boy he loved so dearly.

“I- uh” Yama stammered, pausing for a moment before he made a decision. 

Tsukishima could only gasp as he felt Yamaguchi pull him down by his collar, their face’s moving so close together that he could feel Yama's breath on his tongue. He could see every breathtaking detail of Yamaguchi’s face, from his brown eyelashes to the light coat of concealer on his cheeks. 

This is the moment Tsukishima had longed for so long. 

He let his eyes flutter closed.

The door was swung open before their lips met, Daichi being the lucky man to have interrupted them 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- mess up your…”

Tsukishima wanted to just melt into a puddle and never be alive again.

Chapter Text

Yamaguchi stumbled through the crowd of partygoers, almost being pushed over by one guy who was playing beer pong. His heart was pounding, ringing in his ears as he struggled with his raging emotions. He fought his way back to the brightly lit kitchen, the sight of glass bottles comforting.

He needed a drink.

Nishinoya was nowhere in sight, so Yama took it upon himself to make his own concoction. 

Now Yamaguchi hadn’t even touched alcohol before, but that didn’t stop him from picking up half a bottle of gin and pouring all that he could into a can of lemonade.

He took a large swing.

He had messed up big time. He had no idea what had gotten into him when he was shoved into that closet with Tsukishima, but he was sure he had fucked everything up.

He had thought that it was the perfect time to finally kiss the blond, feel his soft lips like he had dreamed about. But he had botched it up. He had embarrassed Tsukki in front of their captain, no doubt humiliating him. 

He took another large gulp of his drink.

“Yamaguchi?”

He turned around, a petite blond girl greeting him.

“Nice to see you,” Yachi said.

Yama nodded weakly, “I didn’t know you were coming”

The girl giggled, “I could say the same for you”

Yamaguchi flashed a smile, leaning all of his weight onto the marble counter. “Yachi, I think I messed up”

Yachi’s eyebrows twitched into a concerned look “What did you do?” She shuffled next to the punk boy, putting a hand on his back as a form of reassurance.

He gulped. “I-I tried to kiss Tsukki”

“Oh”

Yama ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes as he took a much smaller sip of his lemonade. “I don’t know what to do… he probably hates me… god”

“Don’t say that, how do you know for sure?” Yachi was rubbing his shoulder, her small hands working wonders on his tense muscles. He could feel himself relax, the swelling emotions in the base of his stomach calming down ever so slightly.

“Yeah… maybe he only kinda hates me” He chuckled, leading Yachi to giggle as well.

“How about we get you some fresh air” Yachi gently tugged at Yama’s jacket, making him move from his mopey spot on the counter and back onto his feet.

She led him out of the kitchen, past the dancefloor, all the way to the backyard of the house.

There were gaggles of people on the lush grass either playing some weird party game or doing something else stupid. The air was refreshing with a bite of frostiness to it that kept Yama from losing his senses as Yachi pulled him along. The sky had turned a much darker shade of grey than when he first came with Tsukki.

Tsukki… 

They stopped at a bonfire, a circle of chairs placed around the powerful blaze. Yachi took a seat in one of the crappy fold up chairs, Yamaguchi following suit. 

There were other people in the circle, some he knew and some he didn’t. However, there was a  girl he remembered vividly.

“Yachi~ finally got your man to sit here with us?” he recognized her as one of the girls who tried to get him with Yachi, to be honest, he didn’t really want to deal with her right now. 

“Would you shut up?” Yachi said.

The impact behind the girl's voice was certainly surprising to Yamaguchi, but not unexpected. After all, Yachi didn’t like to have to put up with anyone's bullshit, at least not anymore.

He was glad she had grown a backbone.

He took a sip of his lemonade that he brought with him, setting it in the mesh cup holder of his blue fabric armrest. His eyes glazed over as he watched the fire crackle, mind empty as he was hypnotized by the fire.

It was nice.

He didn’t have to think about the fact that he had completely ruined his chances with his closest friend and crush.

He could still see the look on Daichi’s face when he had caught them. How his eyes widened to the size of watermelons and his mouth hung off his hinges.

Yama had ran off immediately after the incident, like a coward. Their captain had chased after him trying to comfort the boy as best he could. Apparently the reason why Daichi even opened the closet in the first place was the fact he saw Kagayama and Hinata push them in there. Though he had been preoccupied with making sure drunk Asahi didn’t fall flat on his face to immediately help.

Only after getting Asahi to a bed where he could pass out peacefully was he allowed to get the two first years out of their sticky situation. He had just opened it just at the worst possible time. Though the reassurance was appreciated, it didn’t make Yamaguchi feel better. It didn’t remove the heavy pit that weighed in his stomach. 

The boy sighed, letting his head flop to the side as he watched the crackling fire. 

He felt hands clasp his shoulders, making Yama startle and slam his head back. His eyes were met with a sight of flame hair and sunshine eyes.

“Hey, Yama!” Chirped Hinata.

“Hi”

“So how did it go with scary-glasses-face?” The smaller boy wiggled his eyebrows, squeezing Yama’s shoulders with his nimble fingers.

Yamaguchi withered, “terrible”

Hinata’s face contorted into disappointment, lip sticking out into a pout. “He rejected you?”

“Not exactly…”

“Then what exactly?”

“Well, We were about to kiss and Daichi walked in on us...”

“that’s not good”

“Yeah, I think I humiliated him.”

“You don’t know that! He could’ve wanted it too and just got embarrassed!”

Yamaguchi blinked up at the tangerine boy, letting his words set in. 

Now that he thought about it he had noticed how Tsukishima became progressively more nervous as they spent time in the closet together. How his whole body tensed and warmed at Yama’s touch, even when he had pressed his own chest into his.

The punk boy felt his face flush. 

“I should probably talk to him”

“Definitely. go get em’ tiger!” Hinata patted his shoulders one more time before letting him go, bouncing off to do whatever.

Yama looked back down at his lemonade, taking one last large gulp before he had to not only face Tsukishima but his emotions. 

This was necessary. It was the only way this would get resolved.

He stood up with a sway, leaving his drink by its lonesome as he began his quest to find Tsukki.

He hadn’t noticed the buzz that had consumed his skin until he began to move. It took him a moment to get over the spell of dizziness from standing up, getting his legs to work on walking forward. After a couple of steps, he felt normal, the swaying having cleared up.

He was just a little tipsy, nothing too serious. He still would be able to talk to Tsukishima perfectly fine.

He didn’t even realize he drank that much.

He said goodbye to Yachi, moseying his way back to the blaring house. The grass was plush under his feet, slightly damp dirt aiding in the spongy texture. The air was crisp, refreshing from the constant heat he left from the bonfire. 

Yama ran a hand through his hair, the action messing up his ponytail. He just took the hairband off.

Before he was able to reach the patio door a girl stepped in his way. He recognized her as the other fangirl who had teased him and Yachi. She had brown hair that was fairly shaggy, tied back into a bun. She was only an inch shorter than Yama, her frame being fairly petite. 

He looked down at the ground to avoid her eyes.

“Hi Yama”

“Hey” 

Now that he thought about it he didn’t even know this girl's name, and to be honest, he didn’t want to.

“Have you seen Tsukishima?”

“Nope! Why do you need him?” she pried.

“Reasons”

“Well, I’m sure Yachi would be glad to keep you company if you can’t find him”

Yama waved his hand dismissively, “yeah yeah, sure.” he pushed past the girl, stepping into the house. She followed him.

“You're close with Tsukishima, right?”

Yamaguchi just wanted this girl to shut up and leave him alone. “Yeah, real close”

“That’s funny”

Yama stopped, the purple lit hall giving a ghostly look to every person who passed. He looked at the girl, eyebrows furrowed “why is that?”

“He’s so stoic. I didn’t think he liked anyone”

“Well, he likes me” Yama snapped. He wasn’t sure what this girl was getting at but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like her tight-lipped smile and innocent eyes.

He began to walk again, stumbling slightly as a guy bumped into his shoulder. He stared at the guy before walking forward again the whole room starting to look crooked.

He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself.

“Are you okay?” the girl placed a hand on his arm.

He shook her off, “I’m fine” he spat, walking forward again. He felt dizzy. The ceiling spinning in his eyes as the lights of the party blurred together, bodies of people combining into one mass. It almost looked like a Lovecraftian monster had emerged in front of his very eyes. 

He stopped again, sliding down into a nearby metal chair. He ran his hand through his hair once more.

“Maybe I should go get Yachi”

“Maybe you should fuck off” 

The fangirl stared at him for a moment, eyes unblinking, “rude” after that she finally left him alone. Once he was no longer in the presence of her he slouched back into his chair, letting out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding in.

He wanted Tsukishima. He wanted to be wrapped up in his long arms, not having to deal with reality or the ache in his heart.

He stood up again, this time the room was no longer spinning as he let his feet move forward. He inched his way through the crowd, checking the kitchen, upstairs, and pretty much everywhere he had gone with Tsukki. No luck.

The punk boy groaned, frustrated with the fact he couldn’t find the blond.

Yamaguchi jumped as he felt someone place a hand on his waist. His gaze followed to the source. His eyes met with a person he didn’t recognize.

He was average looking, with brown shaggy hair. He was maybe a year older, thin frame pressed up against Yama's side. 

“What’s a cute guy like you doing all alone?” 

Yama felt his skin crawl, “leave me alone”.

The guy didn’t budge, “aw come on~ no need to be shy” he pulled Yamaguchi closer.

The boy struggled against his hold helplessly, too intoxicated to immediately pull away. “Let me go!” He huffed, elbowing the guy weakly.

It did little to deter him. “Your awfully feisty~”

Yama squirmed as best he could, twisting and turning his torso to try and free himself. He even tried to throw his head back and hit the guy, but the male had only held onto him tighter.

Yamaguchi didn’t like the feeling of the other boy's chest against him, or his hands wrapped around his waist like he was his lover. There was only one boy he would want to hold him like this and it certainly wasn’t this Pervert.

Yama tried one last time to escape, slamming his foot down onto the pervert's toes. The boy groaned in pain, his grip loosening just enough for Yamaguchi to wiggle free. He stumbled past other party-goers and tried to get a good enough distance away from the creep. In his haste he accidentally bumped right into a couple of poor souls, almost taking them down.

“Sorry!” He continued moving, looking over his shoulder to see if that pervert was following him. His heart jumped as he saw the same boy trying to shuffle through the crowd. 

Yamaguchi let his legs pound onto the ground, guiding him through the dimly lit halls of the house. The boy eventually came across a door that led outside. He sprinted through it without a second thought. 

The cold air blasted him like a blow dryer, chilling his bones for a few seconds as he continued to flee. He scrambled to the sidewalk, slowing down his pace as he looked behind his shoulder. 

He couldn’t see the guy.

Yama let out a huge sigh, shoulders relaxing. A blanket of tiredness was thrown over him as he leveled down to a steady walk. His eyes blinked slowly as his body moved on his own.

God he just wanted to go home. He wanted to be wrapped up in the fluffy sheets of his bed and pretend this night never happened.

His ears were soon met with the sound of footsteps. He could feel his heart pick right where it left off a moment ago, a blanket of sweat coating his skin. He looked over his shoulder cautiously, but instead of seeing a teenage boy, he was greeted by a burly man with many scars on his arms and face.

Yama gulped. This wasn't good. 

——————

Tsukishima stood grumpily on the balcony, messing around on his phone to try and distract him from his sorrows. He was bummed out about not getting the chance to actually kiss Yama… as well as the fact he ran away from him like he had the plague. 

Did he make a mistake? Did Yama regret trying to kiss him? Maybe it was a spur of the moment type of thing and Yamaguchi didn’t actually like Tsukki in that way. He could’ve just found Tsukki disgusting. Whatever the case was, he was crestfallen.

He had wanted to apologize, but he had scampered off so quickly he couldn’t even get a syllable out. He was too moody to go look for the boy because he knew with his luck he would run into someone annoying, which would make things worse.

So he stayed on the balcony, the frosty wind gnawing on his ears as he leaned against the tall, sturdy railing. His phone eventually became too boring to entertain him anymore, leaving him with nothing left to occupy his mind from his problems.

He stared at the people below him in the backyard, bumbling around, laughing, and having fun. He should be down there having a blast with Yamaguchi, but instead, he was wallowing in his despair alone.

But something caught his eye. A familiar figure that wore punk clothing and had brown hair that was sitting around a bonfire. Was that… Yama?

It had to be. No one else at this party would wear a jacket customized with smiley faces patches.

New energy had filled Tsukishima, his feet working before his brain could. He speed-walked to the stairs, easily crossing the whole upstairs area with his long legs. He stepped over the girl with the lampshade on her head and began to struggle his way through the dancefloor.

He had to talk to the freckled boy. He needed to apologize, or try and find a way to make it up to the boy, anything to get him back. He was the one that screwed it all up. It was something about him that repulsed Yama, so he had to try and mend what they had. Hopefully, they could put it behind him and they still could be friends. He didn’t want to lose the closest friend he had. He didn’t want to lose the lunches where they would just sit around cracking jokes until their stomachs ached or the nights where Yama would come over and hang out in his room. He didn’t want to lose any of that.

His thoughts were clouded as he finally made it to the backyard. He took a deep breath to compose himself and made his way to the bonfire.

He was surprised to see that the chair where Yama was sitting was now vacant. He looked around, eyes falling on Yachi who was seated a couple of feet away.

“Hey Yachi, do you know where Yama is?”

The blonde girl turned to him and frowned, “I think he went back inside to look for you.”

Yamaguchi went back inside to look for him? Did he want to break everything off with Tsukishima? Tell him that he never wanted to see him again? Or… on a more positive note, did he want to say that he actually liked him? 

The blond shook that thought from his head, that was wishful thinking. There was no need to get his hopes up on something that might not ever happen. He doubted the boy wanted to be with him after everything that had transpired tonight.

He sighed, deciding to continue to look for the boy. They did need to go back home soon since it was getting late. Tsukishima inched his way back through the crowd of people, asking around if they saw a punk by walking through here. Most of them said they didn’t see anyone like that.

He was beginning to get frustrated, with the night raging on and no idea where Yamaguchi was, Tsukki began to feel nervous as well. He didn’t know what he would do with himself if Yama got hurt somehow. 

He searched around the house for a whole hour with nothing to show afterward. The only info he was able to get was from a group of people who were bumped into by a guy similar to Yama’s description. Now Tsukki was frantic, trying to find anyone he knew to try and help with the situation. That person, or rather, persons,  was Tanaka and Nishinoya.

The blond had come up to them much less composed than he usually was, rambling on about how he couldn’t find Yamaguchi.

“What do you mean you can’t find him?” Tanaka snorted.

“I mean I can’t find him!”

“Calm your tit’s, we’ll find him! Right Noya?”

“Hell Yeah! Leave it to us!”

With that, the two of them had bounced off to somewhere unknown. Now Tsukishima really didn’t know what to do. What could he do? He had to go home soon or his family would worry, but he didn’t want to leave Yamaguchi behind. Even if the two second years were looking for him he doubted they could find him. After all, Tsukishima had looked around for a whole hour and couldn’t find him. But they could have something up their sleeve that Tsukki didn’t know about. 

After about half an hour more of waiting the blond made his way home, guilt practically hanging on him like a backpack. He felt like it was his fault in some way. If he had just gotten them out of that damn closet they wouldn’t be in this mess. 

Tsukishima trudged his legs forward as he made his way on the train, shifting his weight from leg to leg as he stood. The train jostled him around as he weakly held onto the railing above him. 

——————

Tsukishima was so worried he thought he might explode. Yamaguchi hadn’t returned to school, his usual seat in the back of the class clearly empty compared to the filled seats around it.

He felt the urgent need to go to Yama’s house to see if he was okay. He had to be okay, right? He probably just got sick from the party. But he had the whole weekend to recover, maybe he just had a really bad fever. That had to be it. It was that or the fact that Yamaguchi had gone missing…

That thought made his stomach flip.

“Omg, that’s so cute!”

“I know right?” the girls behind him chattered like they did everyday, voice high and feminine in the air.

Wait… did they have something to do with Yama? He knew it was a long shot but he didn’t have much else to go on. Maybe they drugged him in order to get him with Yachi? He knew that was a huge statement and that he had no real proof. However, he felt tempted to ask them questions and see if they knew anything. 

Class ended quicker than he thought it would, leaving him to gather his thing a walk up to the girls in the hall.

He tapped on one of the girl's shoulders, “Excuse me, but did you see Yamaguchi at the party last Friday?”

They turned around, noses slightly scrunching at the sight of him. Normally he would’ve sassed the hell out of these girls, but this wasn’t a normal situation, so he bit his tongue. 

“I only saw him at the bonfire,” one of the girls said.

“I saw that he was drunk and tried to help him, but he pushed me away” the other girl had her arms crossed, looking more disgruntled about the whole ordeal than the other fangirl.

“He was drunk?” Tsukki said.

“Looked like it”

That made the blonde pause. Did… Yama ended up somewhere he didn’t want to be? Maybe someone had picked him up and taken him back to their house. But then why wasn’t he here today? 

Tsukishima wanted to be calm. He wanted to not care as much as he did. But his heart was being torn apart at the thought of Yamaguchi being hurt. He had no idea what to do. For a rare time in his life, he felt absolutely clueless.

“Thank you for your time” he walked past the girls, ignoring their judging stares as he rushed to the gym. 

When he stepped inside he was glad to see that the rest of the team had already started to set up, everything seeming to be normal, except Yama wasn’t there.

He shuffled over to a person he didn’t often talk to, Takeda. 

The teacher was surprised at his presence but still smiled all the while. “Hey Tsukishima, what do you need?”

“Yamaguchi isn’t here, do you know why?”

The teacher shook his head, “haven’t heard anything, why do you ask?”

“Just wondering” he began to turn on his heels but Takeda’s voice had stopped him.

“I can call his mother if that would help”

The blond looked at the man over his shoulder, “that would be nice.”

——————

Tsukishima hadn’t expected to see Yamaguchi’s mother come to his house, rapping on the door and surprising Tsukki straight out of his body.

He invited her in, closing the door after her long skirt had gotten out of the way of the frame.

“I’m assuming Yama is here?” Miss Akatsuki said.

Tsukishima shook his head, “I haven’t seen him since the party last Friday.”

Miss Akatsuki’s eyebrows furrowed, “did you lose him?”

“Unfortunately, I did. I looked for him but I couldn’t find him anywhere.”

Yamaguchi’s mother hummed thoughtfully, her features saddening as she raised her hand to her mouth. She looked exhausted, deep bags under her eyes along with messy, stringy hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. 

Just then Tsukki’s mother came in from the living room, eyes widening at the unfamiliar visitor. “Kei, who’s this?”

“Yamaguchi's mother” the comment from her son made her shoulders relax.

“Tadashi hasn’t come home since Friday, I was hoping he would be here”

A frown formed on Hana’s lips, “that’s not good”

The tension in the air grew heavier, the weight of the situation stifling any assumptions about Yama being safe in Tsukishima’s head. His mother didn’t even know where he was? That was beyond stressful.

Where on earth could the boy be?

“We should call the police-”

“No, the police won’t help.” Both of the blonde’s looked at Miss Akatsuki questionably, her own gaze turned to the ground. Her fists were clenched at her sides, worrying her lip between her teeth.

“I’ll have to find him on my own”

Tsukishima’s mom looked like she didn’t know what to do, fiddling with her hands as she shifted from side to side.

“I’ll help,” Tsukki said. 

His mother snapped his eyes to him, eyebrows knitting together. Even Miss Akatsuki seemed awestricken. 

“Kei-”

“Mother” 

They stared at each other for a moment, their gazes solid ice. Tsukishima would not just stand by as Yama was missing. He had to do something.

Hana sighed, “fine fine, you can help”

Miss Akatsuki beamed, her face so much brighter compared to the downtrodden look from before. It reminded him of the boy he had fallen in love with. The boy they were now going to search for.

“Thank you so much!” She took a deep bow.

“Anything to find Yamaguchi.”

Yamas mother stood up straight, “now we have some investigating to do”

Chapter Text

Tsukishima hadn’t expected to be interrogated by Yama’s mother, but then again he hadn’t expected the boy to go missing in the first place. 

Tsukki was surprised his mother even let him go on this excursion, given the fact it may or may not be dangerous. He had even heard that his mom might help out Miss Akatsuki. It could be the fact she knew Yamaguchi and that's why she wanted to help so much, or some other reason unknown to Tsukishima.

Whatever the reason, they had help. And from what Tsukki could tell, Miss Akatsuki had a plan.

She had sat him down at his dining room table and assaulted him with questions, trying to get as much information she could on the situation.

“When did you arrive at the party?”

“Around 8:00,” Tsukishima said.

“Did you have anything to eat?”

“No”

“Did you have anything to drink?”

“I didn’t, but Yama might have”

“What do you mean?”

“After I lost him, I heard from a-” he paused, what would he even call the girl? “an acquaintance that he got drunk”

“How did you lose him in the first place?”

Oh boy. He had to tell her about the fact that her son tried to kiss him. How on earth could he do that without making the situation awkward? 

“Well, uh-”

“It's okay, I won’t get mad at you”

Her comment just made him feel worse.

He sighed heavily as he tried to keep his eyes on the table “one of our friends pushed us into a closet together-” he looked up at the woman in front of him, her features softened as she nodded, silently telling him to continue. “-and Yama tried to kiss me”

He watched as her eyes grew wider and her mouth opened into an ‘o’ shape.

He continued, “then our captain walked in on us so he got embarrassed and ran off”

Tsukishima hung his head, rubbing his nape as he tried to fight the heat bubbling at the surface of his cheeks.

“Finally”

Tsukki snapped his head upward as he heard Miss Akatsuki.

“I thought he would never make a move”

Now he was dumbstruck, his brain having to reboot from such a revealing comment… His mother knew about Yama’s feelings for him?

Then Yamaguchi must’ve enjoyed their time in the closet together, pressed up against each other’s rib cages with heat on their cheeks. He must’ve wanted to do more than kiss him… that thought simultaneously flustered him and made him sick to his stomach.

Yama was missing. He couldn’t even say he liked him back. 

Miss Akatsuki must’ve noticed his expression because she placed a hand on his arm. “we’ll find him.”

Tsukishima nodded.

Miss Akatsuki sat back in her chair, a hand on her chin as she concentrated. “So the only lead we have is the fact he ran off, got drunk, and maybe got lost”

Her eyebrows knitted together, “that’s barely anything”

Tsukki laughed through his nose. He was glad someone understood his struggle. 

Yama’s mother looked up, “I could have one of my friends ask around, but I think I have an idea of what might’ve happened.”

Tsukishima perked up, straightening his back as he placed his arms on the table. 

“I’m sure he’s told you about the gang after our family”

Tsukishima nodded again.

“Well, they're mainly after us because Tadashi’s father has some unpaid debt. Since they can’t find him, they're trying to get what they can out of us.”

Her jaw tightened, “There're probably the fuckers that took Tadashi. Using him for god knows what”

Tsukishima could feel his chest twist like someone was ringing out his heart. What if they were doing… unsavory things to him? Tying him up, completely helpless to the gang members. He bit his lip.

“How are we gonna figure out where he is with the gang?”

Miss Akitsuki grinned, “I have friends in high places. Tadashi’s father wasn’t the only one in this family who got into trouble”

Tsukishima has no idea what that meant, but he just hoped she had some suspicious friends that only did mildly illegal things, like tax avoidance.

“what can we do?”

“For now, we're going to wait.”

——————

Yama couldn’t see. He couldn’t even make out the mumblings or whispers around him. The only thing he could figure out was the fact he had something binding his hands and feet together. The realization alone had left him trembling.

He reminded himself to breathe.

The night before was a mess. He was half drunk, stumbling down the sidewalk with his heart beating faster than a Nascar event in full swing. Then before he could comprehend what was happening a larger man took hold of him and dragged him off to a car, stuffing him in the trunk. That all led up to now, being god knows where with his hands and legs tied together.

He regretted ever going to that party in the first place.

Yamaguchi suddenly heard a commotion, a couple of voices rising in volume as they argued. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he knew it wasn’t good.

Yama blinked rapidly as the blindfold was removed from his face, his eyes squinting as they adjusted to the light.

There were four large men in front of him, they all were wearing black and had short hair. They each had a couple of scars along their arms and faces.

Yamaguchi’s shoulders shrunk inward at the sight.

“Boss says we should interrogate him now”

“Does the Boss honestly think we’ll get anything out of this kid?”

“Doubt it, but why else would he wanna kidnap him?”

The men were discussing among themselves like Yama wasn’t even there. He looked side to side with his rediscovered vision.

The walls were dented, tarnished in rust in the groves of the metal. The floor was cool concrete, stained with oil and other substances Yama didn’t even wanna guess. The room was huge. The ceiling was as tall as a two-story building. Boxes and other large supplies loomed in the peripheral of Yamaguchi’s sight like cardboard knights waiting to kill him if he moved. It was all so intimidating, Yama didn’t know how to handle this.

How could he handle this?

“While we’re waiting how about we have some fun with this kid”

Yamaguchi scooted back as far as he could, back smacking into the wall behind him. The men just chuckled at his actions, moving even closer to the boy. 

Their footsteps were heavy, no doubt from their weight. They could easily throw Yama around like a volleyball if they wanted to. 

One of the men kicked Yamaguchi over, the boy’s shoulder connecting with the ground. 

He didn’t dare make a sound. 

Now that he was on his side he could see that there were other people in this building, though they didn’t seem as built as the three men that were harassing him.   

The middle man kicked him again, making him lie on his back as the man stomped his foot on his ribcage. Yama lurched in pain.

The men laughed, their breaths low and malicious. “Aren’t you a tough boy?” They teased, giving another kick to his chest.

Yamaguchi whimpered, starting to feel tears swell in the cracks of his eyes. He hadn’t felt this hopeless for a long time.

A memory flashed in his thoughts, taunting faces bullying him in the playground. He was on the ground then, and he still was. He hadn’t grown at all. He hadn’t gotten stronger. 

He was still the stupid, weak freckled boy he was before.

——————

He cracked his eyes open, the taste of dried metallic stuck on his tongue. His head throbbed against the concrete. The room was dark but had enough light from distance bulbs to make it manageable.

Yama didn’t know what time it was, or how long he was out. All he remembered was getting beaten like a pinata and then passing out. Now that he thought about it, where were those men from before? 

The area looked empty. There was not a soul in sight, which worried Yamaguchi. Was it night now? What were the men planning? If they were planning anything. This could all just be a big mistake. 

Who was he kidding? This wasn’t a mistake. They had specifically wanted him, to spite his father probably. Maybe they would try and make his mother pay a ransom. That wasn't a good thought. She barely had enough money to pay off rent and electricity, there was no way she could scrape up enough money to pay whatever ridiculous ransom the men planned to demand.

He needed to get out of here, but that seemed damn near impossible. He wiggled his hands and feet, feeling the zip ties burn against his skin. 

The zip ties… The zip ties! 

He remembered something his mother taught him when he was younger. It was about zip ties, how to break them specifically. All he needed to do was get in the right position, tighten the ties, and break them over his knee. The only problem was the fact his hands were behind his back. That made things difficult.

He wiggled his way around to the wall, feeling up anything he could use to break the ties. He landed on the jackpot when he found a bent pipe connected to the wall.

He stretched his fingers, pulling the line of plastic tighter before putting himself in the correct position. He slammed his hands down, skin hitting the metal along with a snap of the tie. 

His hands were free.

He did the same thing to his feet, breaking the tie over the pipe. He stumbled onto his feet, hanging onto the wall to catch his balance.

He wasn’t sure what to do now. How would he even escape? There had to be people paroling around, guarding the exits like some kind of video game character. He needed to see if he could escape another way. A half-broken vent, hole in the ground, anything. 

He searched sound the best he could in the area he was in, making sure to stay hidden behind the towers of boxes. 

Just when Yamaguchi was about to give up, he caught a glimpse of something in the low light. A faint glow of orange. It looked like a crack in the wall, a couple of yards away from his small box enclosure.

He peaked around as best he could, feeling his heartbeat pound in his ears before creeping forward as quietly as he could. As he passed openings in the boxes he saw men in black and a woman wearing a low cut tank top. He stayed towards the wall, using the darkness to his advantage as his eyes stayed glued on the people. 

He reached the crack, letting out a small breath of relief. The crack was from a piece of plastic that covered the wall, a corner of it being broken off. Yama pulled at it. It made a scraping noise that made him immediately stop. It wasn’t that loud but he was sure that if he pulled more the sound would be even louder. He couldn’t get caught. If he got caught they would probably beat the daylights out of him. They would knock him out, tie him up even more, and probably do even worse things to him than hitting.

He could hear the people begin to talk louder, an augment seeming to rise. This was good. If they got to a point where they were yelling Yama might be able to get out of here without getting himself hurt.

“What the fuck do you mean the boss wants him there!”

“It's what I said you skank bitch!”

He could hear other voices chime in, the argument getting louder. 

Yamaguchi pulled at the plastic once more. It was louder than before, but it was drowned out by the sound of yelling behind him. He tugged even harder, becoming impatient at the prospect of escape. More and more light flooded into the shadow as he peeled back the plastic, placing his foot on the wall to use as leverage, pulling back as hard as he could.

The sheet of plastic popped off. Yama fell on his back, the sheet clattering to the ground. 

“What the fuck was that?”

Shit.

Yama crawled through the gap he had made, knowing that he would have to book it now that he had grabbed the attention of his captors.

His elbows and knees scraped the concert as he inched himself forward. Soon he was outside, the sight of more buildings and occasional trees meeting his eyes. 

He started sprinting. He didn’t know where he was going, or if people were following him, so he just ran as fast as he could. He jumped over curbs, tree branches, and loose piles of trash. He galloped till his thighs felt too heavy and his heart was screaming.

He moved behind a building, letting his back rest against it. He took in sobbing breaths, his legs trembling from how hard he ran. He couldn’t keep running. He had to figure out a better way to lose the gang just in case they found him.

He needed a plan. A good plan.

But before he was able to conjure up one he heard footsteps, loud, booming footsteps. It was like a herd was rattling down the street, rumbling the earth to its magma core.

Yama began to run again, but it was no use. He could hear the footsteps become closer and closer, knowing multiple men were after him. He remembered their scared faces and larger chests that held much more muscle than his own.

Yamaguchi’s foot caught on a crack in the concrete, sending him toppling to the ground. His chin stung as he raised it, trying to get back up. 

It wasn’t much use since he was pulled to his feet by two large pairs of muscular arms.

“You're a slimy motherfucker, huh?”

Yama cowered at the man, no longer as confident when he was no longer free and running. 

The man smirked, tossing him over his shoulder. Yama had yelped at the action, not taking too kindly to being put on the man’s shoulder like a lumpy potato sack. 

They began to move, watching the other men follow as they presumably were making their way back to wherever they were before. 

Actually, now that Yama was on the man's shoulder he could see quite a bit of the surrounding area. It might have also had something to do with the fact he wasn’t running for his life anymore. 

It seemed to be an old residential area. It looked to be abandoned aside from the gang. They passed old shops with broken windows, insides either trashed or picked clean. The street had small leafs and stems of flowers peeking up through every crack, dainty looking dandelions the suspect of how the weeds had infected the concrete. The light posts were smashed in, loose wires hanging close to the heads, wrapping around the rest of the pole.

It looked rough. Not that he expected anything else.

Before he was able to take in much more about the environment, the men began to yell. 

“Isn’t that the fucker who started all this!”

“Wait- Yeah it is!” 

They were looking behind Yamaguchi, making it difficult to see who they were talking about. He tried to wiggle his way around so he could see but he just got squeezed as a warning instead.

“Let's get him!” The men began to run and Yama was joisted forward with his captor as they joined the chase.

The frantic movement made Yama dizzy, his head bouncing with each step of the man holding him. He had a hard time focusing, let alone processing what was going on. He raised a hand to his face, flinching as he touched his wounded chin.

That's why he didn’t automatically recognize the gunshot that had rung through the air, the biting sound only adding to his confusion as he tried to figure out reality.

“Hand the boy over” A vaguely familiar voice called out.

The world was still spinning, probably from all the blood rushing to his head from being upside down.

Another gunshot was fired and this time he heard a scream. It was screaky, coming from the bottom of the person's throat, no doubt shredding through their vocal cords.

He heard more incoherently yelling, more gunshots, and more shrieks of agony. 

His body fell as the man who was holding him came to his knees, finally getting the chance to escape from his hold. 

He crawled a couple of inches, flipping onto his back as he tried to figure out who else he had to defend himself from. That wasn’t necessary though because the man he saw made him freeze.

“Father?”

The man turned toward him, his familiar brown hair and crooked smile bringing back a feeling of warmth Yama didn’t think he could feel from his father.

“Tadashi,” Masao said.

——————

This was too much. Way too much at once. He literally had just gotten kidnapped and now he was sitting in a car with his father who had left him when he was seven.

When would this nightmare end?

The radio played in the back of his head, lyrics overlaid on guitar riffs that got the blood pumping. But that’s not why Yamaguchi's heart was beating so fast. 

No, it was the fact he was with his fucking father that he hadn’t seen in eight years.

They stopped at a red light, Masao drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

What would they even talk about? Would his father try to apologize? ‘Sorry I left you because I got addicted to heroin and had a gang after me’

Somehow he felt that wouldn’t be out of character for his father.

“So how is your mother doing?”

He didn't expect that to be the first thing his father would say. 

“She's doing good, I think. I haven’t seen her recently.”

“Haha yeah, I guess not” he laughed awkwardly.

Yama was a bit taken aback by the fact his father had asked about mom. He had thought He didn’t give two rat shits about her, but apparently not. That or he was just trying to make small talk in the weirdest way possible.

How would his mom even react to seeing her ex-husband? They had never formally divorced since Masao couldn’t be there for the trial, but it was obvious his mother thought of herself as divorced. She had even gone on a couple of dates here and there.

That's why Yamaguchi was sure his mother wouldn’t be too happy to see Masao. He was the one to screw her over in the first place, drowning her in debt and leaving a gang to hunt after her.  

The road was familiar, too familiar. The roads curved in a way that Yamaguchi could never forget, it forever engraved in his head from the number of times he had to walk down this road to get to school. Except this was the opposite way, it was to his apartment.

A new sense of nausea swelled in his stomach. All he had wanted was to go home, but he didn’t want to bring Mansao with him. If anything, now that his father was back they were in more trouble. They would harass him along with the rest of Yama's family, maybe even his teachers and friends till they got what they wanted.

He wasn’t ready.

He wasn’t ready.

He wasn’t ready.

He wasn’t ready.

The car stopped Masao parking next to the sidewalk. He turned to Yamaguchi, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. “Your mother’s probably going to kill me, but I want to…” he trailed off, eyes clouding over for a moment, smile falling, “ I want to apologize”. 

Yama side-eyed him, not sure if his intentions were genuine. He couldn’t tell. His father fiddled with his hands, a trait Yamaguchi must’ve gotten from him.

Yamaguchi wanted to be angry, to yell, to hit his father. But he couldn’t bring himself to. Despite the harm he had faced at the hands of the man, a small voice in his heart pleaded for his father to hold him. Hold him so tight that his bones would shift and that he would know he would never be left alone again. 

He wanted nothing more than to be protected in the arms of his father.

They got out of the car, the slamming of the car door louder than Yama had expected. He led the way, trotting up the stairs as he tried not to think, tried not to let himself cry already.

He reached the apartment door, the numbers 342 engraved into the fake gold plate. He had always thought it was stupid they had even tried to make this place look nicer than it was. There was no need to try and make this place look better, everyone knew it was a shithole.

When he opened the door he was met with silence. The TV was usually on while his mother made dinner, saying that she didn’t like how quiet it was in the apartment. But there was nothing. No running water, no sound of music, or chopping of veggies on their obnoxiously blue cutting board.

Yama didn’t like it.

He stepped into his home, walking onto the crusted out welcome mat that was long overdue for a wash. He looked at the coat rack that always held his mother's weather and wore jackets. One of them was missing from the usually hook where it would’ve laid.

He let out a relieved sigh, knowing that she had gone out willingly. But another sense of tension rose in him. What if the gang had gotten to her? They couldn’t have been able to work that fast, could they? 

This was madness. Absolute fucking madness. Just as he got out of one terrible situation he was thrown into another, all at the hands of the gang who seemed to control his life. They controlled his mother and father, controlled anything and everything they could get their grimy, slimy, asshole-ish hands on. 

Yama was utterly fed up with it. No, not fed up, done with. He was so livid at the fact that they had so much control over him that he felt like going right back to the warehouse and making all their lives a living hell. But he knew that wouldn’t actually happen. There was no way Yamaguchi could just barge in there and fight them all. He would get his ass kicked and then thrown into a river so he could die for just the hell of it.

He had to do something, he had to--

“How about we rest Tadashi. You need to heal your wounds”

Yama’s eyes furrowed at the question. Masao pointed to his chin. Yama turned to a mirror in the hall, gasping as he saw the gaping cut in his chin. He must’ve gotten in when he fell onto the ground. It was a somewhat wide gash, no doubt in Yamaguchi’s mind that it would leave a scar.

He felt even angrier, but a hand was placed on his shoulder and he froze.

“You need to rest Tadashi,” His father said.

For some reason, those five words seemed so precious to him. They sunk into his skin like water and he felt the warmth of it drown out every thought he had in the last two days. He let himself melt.

His father led him to his room, tucked him in like he was seven all over again, and kissed him on the head. And for the first time in a long time, he felt like he didn’t have to grow up to stay alive.

Chapter Text

Perhaps it was Tsukishima’s paranoia, but he didn’t quite think trying to sneak into the place where Yama was being held was a very good idea. But that was the plan that Mrs. Akitsuki had decided on. 

It was a rat drenched, oil-stained, trash bucket of a place. There were forgotten candy wrappers everywhere left by sugar hungry hands and he could’ve sworn he had seen about seven rats the size of cats on their way here. He felt gross even though he hadn’t touched anything.

Mrs. Akitsuki had brought some friends of hers along for this mission, Tsukishima not really wanting to spend the time getting to know them. They didn’t look like the kind of people he wanted to involve himself with if he didn’t have to.

Their big bad plan was to have one of Mrs. Akitsuki’s friends sneak in, scope out the place, try not to get caught, and report back to them. From there they could go one of three ways. If they couldn’t find Yama, or if the boy wasn’t there, they would try and capture one of the members of the gang and integrate them. Then they could try to get an idea of where he could be. Or if Yama was there, they would have half of the group make a distraction while the other half tried to save Yamaguchi. 

The plans weren’t that complicated, but they weren’t supposed to. They didn’t need to make this more difficult than it needed to be, they just needed to be in and out as soon as possible. 

The guy who was scouting said his goodbyes before shuffling around the warehouse to try and find a way in.

Tsukishima waited impatiently, wanting nothing more than to see Yamaguchi’s pretty smile that always seemed to stun him for an intermediate amount of time.

It took forever, but the scout had come back, trotting up to the car with rushed intent. “We gotta go!” he yelled.

They all immediately knew what that meant. They let the guy hop into the back before tearing off as fast as the car could handle. He had probably gotten caught in some way but was still able to slip away.

Tsukki turned to the man, “what happened?”

“I was spotted, but I got to look around most of the warehouse. I didn’t see Tadsihi.” The older man was out of breath, lungs wheezing like a deflated inflatable.

Tsukishima swallowed dryly. This wasn’t good. Their whole plan for this route was to capture a gang member and figure out what happened to him, but that was obviously a no go now.

Suddenly Mrs. Akitsuki slammed on the accelerator, starting to speed down the bleak back road they were on. 

“What the hell!-” some of the other adults cursed. 

Mrs. Akitsuki made a sharp turn, making everyone in the car smash into the side of the interior. Tsukishima was unfortunately sandwiched between the door and the man who had scouted for Yama. 

“They're on our trail!” Mrs. Akituski yelled as she made another turn without little warning, catapulting Tsukki onto the other side of the car, accidentally landing on the man.

Out of the back window, Tsukki could see a black, slim car following them at top speed. The sight alone left his heart racing, the pulse tingling in his eyes and temples. 

This was really happening. They might be hunted and killed. 

The car took another turn, this time Mrs. Akitsuki had started to slow down, taking a decisive route. She entered the highway, eventually getting into heavy traffic. It had slowed down both cars. Sure the gang could get out of the car and try to mess with them but with all these people around it would make things more difficult.

It was probably the tensest time Tsukishima had ever spent in rush hour traffic.

Somehow, after all of that, they managed to lose them. The amount of stress he saw fall from Mrs. Akitsuki’s shoulders reminded him of when bodybuilders took a break from their insanely intense circuits.

“How about we go home,” she said as she laid her head on the seat behind her.

——————

Tsukishima felt absolutely crushed. They were back where they started, not having a clue where Yamaguchi was. He wanted to yank his hair out.

Mrs. Akitsuki had opened the door with a hazardous swing, making the knob dent the wall ever so slightly. The damage didn’t seem to phase her. 

She floundered onto the couch, arms limp against the backrest, legs spread out like a middle-aged man on the subway. Her head was turned up to the ceiling, an aggressively long, tired sigh escaping the trapped spaces of her ribcage.

Tsukishima sat next to her.

She flopped her head to look at him, “I’m sorry kid…”

“Not your fault,” Tsukki said.

“It kinda is though”

Tsukishima looked at her quizzically.

“If I had enough money to pay off those shitbags they wouldn’t have taken my boy” her eyes began to well with drops of liquid crystal.

“No, It’s not your fault. It’s your... husbands” He hesitated on the last word, not sure if she would still call the man who ruined her life her husband.

But before he could see if his word choice was the correct one there was a light patter of footsteps on the other side of the wall. They both perked up, assuming the worst, that the gang had come to get them.

That all faded when a certain freckled boy came into view in the dim light of the doorway.

Mrs. Akitsuki had reached him before Tsukishima, jumping up with the same vigor as a rabbit as she tackled her son into a hug tighter than a serpent’s. He squirmed in her hold but she refused to let go until she knew that he wouldn’t be taken away from her again.

“You're alive!”

“I'm alive,” Yama echoed.

Kei just stood awestruck at the sight of Tadashi. His heavy eyes now held so much meaning to him. His star dusted cheeks that Tsukishima wanted to slather in kisses. That spastic grin that made him want to make him laugh just so it would last longer.

 He swallowed dryly and walked towards him.

“Tsukki! Your her-”

Kei had cut him off with his lips, simultaneously surprisingly both of them. Tsukishima didn’t know what came over him. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't seen him for so long, or maybe that he was afraid he would lose Yama forever. But either way, he had decided this was something he had to do no matter the consequences.

He lingered for a moment, feeling dangerous rolls of heat under his hips when Yama whimpered softly into his mouth. 

“Atta boy, just get a room first,” Yama’s mother said.

They both pulled away, Tsukki flustered at the fact he had just kissed Mrs. Akitsuki’s son in front of her. She laughed at the sight.

When Kei looked back to Tadashi he saw just how red his face was. There was a charmingly cute crimson red layered under his freckles and many small blossoms of blemishes he held on his skin. He then realized how hot his own face was.

“What are you doing here?” Mrs. Akitsuki had snapped, looking down the hall.

Tsukki turned his head, met with the sight of a man he didn’t recognize, but there were features laid on his face that told him everything.

“I want to apologize to you,” Yama’s father responded.

Tsukki could see livid flashes of fury in the rings of Mrs. Akitsiki’s irises. He saw how her whole face turned to flame. Her cheeks became volcanic, shoulders tensed into her neck like she was ready to erupt, her fits bunched up of igneous boulders, and her feet ready to burn the ground to ashes.

She stood in front of the man, Masao already cowering because of her.

“Apologize??!!” She yelled.

“For fucking what? Making my life a living hell?”

Tsukishima could see Yama shrink in, the blond hugging him to try and comfort him in some kind of way.

“You didn’t seem sorry when you left me to raise my son by myself!” She got right in his face, “the best thing you could do is pay off that fucking debt and get out of our lives” her voice wasn’t as loud, but the tone seethed with anger that had festered for years on end, hardening and cooling only to be used in Mrs. Akatsuki's overdue rampage.

Masao seemed visibly distraught but he nodded his head all the same.

Mrs. Akitsuki spun on her heels, turning his back to the man as she spoke, “leave and don’t come back.”

Tsukishima could see the bittersweet glimmer in both Yama and Mrs. Akitsuki’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what to do, or what he could do at the moment. 

Masao sighed, dredging to the door so defeatedly you would’ve thought someone had kicked his dog.

None of them said anything as he closed the door behind him.

They let him leave, silence consuming the apartment as a flash of regret trickled through the cracks of Tsukishima’s resolve.

Yamaguchi’s mother turned to the two of them, a small but sad smile on her face. “I’m sorry you had to see him.” she placed a hand on her son's shoulder.

“He saved me from the gang,” Yama said.

“ What? ” Mrs. Akitsuki and Tsukiyama said at the same time.

“He shot a couple of them and helped me escape”

The room was silent once more. Mrs. Akitsuki looked spellbound, baffled, maybe even a tad guilty. She let out a heavy sigh, placing her hands on her hips. “I’ll go talk to him then. But, even if he saved you it will never make up for the fact he hurt us, okay?”

“Okay,” Yama whispered.

Yama’s mother went after her ex-husband, leaving the two teenagers to brood. Tsukki didn’t know how to comfort Yama, what words to say to ease his pain. But he did know what he would want in a situation like this.

He hugged Yamaguchi, holding him tight in his arms. Yama clawed at his back, smushing his face so hard into Tsukkis's chest it began to hurt. Tsukishima endured the ache.

——————

An hour had passed when Mrs. Akitsuki had come back inside. She seemed calmer but definitely not happy. 

“If you wanna talk to your father Yama, now would be the best time” 

Yamaguchi nodded at her words, glancing at Tsukishima before leaving.

Mrs. Akitsuki held bags under her eyes, dots of acne aligned with her freckles, probably from menopause that was turning her body inside out. Her stance was strong, but it was easy to see the way she slouched behind her crossed arms.

“Are you okay Mrs. Akitsuki?”

“Hm? -I’m fine” the woman smiled at him. “It’s Yama I’m worried about”

“Yeah…”

Tsukishima hoped he wouldn’t be too traumatized by this whole ordeal. And even if he was, Kei would do his damn best to help him heal from it.

“So, you finally got to get your feelings across.” Mrs. Akitsuki teased, trying to lighten the tense mood.

Tsukishima choked on air “uh- yeah, sorry you had to see that”

“Don't worry I’m probably going to see it a lot more in the future”

Kei felt himself sigh, maybe things would turn out alright after all.

——————

When Yama had returned to school he was showered in concerned questions from friends and classmates he didn’t even know. 

“What happened?”

“were  you sick?”

“Did you get hurt?”

It was surprising to Tadashi, hearing all these people dote over him. He didn’t know so many people cared; he had thought that no one had liked him outside the volleyball team. 

He had brought up his concern to Tsukki at lunch, “I didn’t know so many people were worried about me”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Tsukki said.

“...I’m the delinquent?”

“Not anymore. I don’t know if you have noticed but you’ve changed over the past couple of months”

The boy's eyebrows rose, “I did? How?’

“You laugh more often and you’ve grown softer. A lot of people had taken note of it too.”

Yama ran a hand through his hair, chuckling at the thought. “I guess I have,” he let his hand fall. 

He stole a glance at Tsukki, his eyes smiling in their own way. They hadn’t had the chance to talk about what happened when they kissed but was sure it would happen soon. They both knew how the other felt, there was nothing holding back from continuing, except the fact that everyone was swarming Yamaguchi.

Hinata was currently hugging him, sobbing over how he thought they had lost Yamaguchi forever. It was nice. It left Yama laughing his lungs out as Kageyama had to pull the smaller boy off of him.

Even Yachi had almost let her tears spill when she saw him, giving him a big hug. Amongst all the chaos, Yachi pulled him down to tell him something. “I told off those girls that were bothering you at the party. I’m not friends with them anymore and if they ever talk to you, tell me”

Yama beamed, “thank you”

——————

After volleyball practice the whole team had gone to the classy Tempura restaurant nearby, the same one Yama had gone to for his 13th birthday. They were supposed to be celebrating the year so far, but Yama knew better. They had done this for him, it most likely being Tsukki’s idea. 

“Oh, man! I haven’t had tempura for ages!” Tanka yammered

“Me neither!” Noya said.

The two second years didn’t spend much longer looking at the menu before ordering, even when the rest of the team had barely even decided.

After a rush of water and appetizers, their entrees came out, leaving all of their mouths to water at the sight.

Yama found himself enamored with the taste, knowing he wouldn’t get many chances to come back to this place again. He savored every bite, knowing that he had a stupid look on his face since Hinata made fun of him for it.

The night had divulged into laughter and giggling as all of them became increasingly more tired. The second years even seemed to be calming down too.

Yama picked at the last of the scraps on his plate, licking the crumbs off his lips. He felt content. The pressure of the last couple of weeks seemed to dissolve from his mind, so caught up in the pleasantness of the night to care about what had happened.

Tsukishima tapped him on the shoulder, grabbing his attention. “You wanna take a quick break outside?” Yama had gotten familiar with this question, Tsukki often did it when he felt overwhelmed and his anxiety kicked in, but the night was flushed to a calm, tranquil breeze. Why did he need a break?

Yama accompanied him anyway, sitting on the curb with Tsukki. The tall boy's legs looked awfully awkward scrunched up to his chest, but it was cute nonetheless. “Why did you need to come out here?” Yama said.

“I just wanted to be out here with you”

Tadashi felt his face flush. “Is that so?”

“Mhm” there was a pause before Kei spoke again, “I wanna ask you something”

The hesitation continued, Yama watching as Tsukishima slowly descended into a rambling mess of nerves. It was truly adorable and Yamaguchi felt like he knew what was coming. His own nerves buzzed with a sense of excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

“I wan-wanna go you with you Tadashi”

Yama had never heard Tsukishima say his first name, but it sounded so good on his tongue. “I do too” he was surprised he could say that without fumbling over his words.

Tadashi let his hand search sideways, eventually bumping into Kei’s hand. He let half of his hand rest on the other boys, gasping quietly as Kei returned the favor, interlocking their hands with a subtle motion.

They both turned away from each other, too awkward to say a word more about the situation.

They stayed like that for a long time, a kindling of emotions roaring in both of them. The night might have been cold, but their hearts didn’t seem to notice 

——————

Before Yama had time to breathe the end of the year came and went. They would be graduating to the next grade in a couple of months. It almost didn’t feel real, having Tsukishima by his side through it all. But he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Exams were soon, so most of his time was spent around the first years. A mess of papers and textbooks were laid on Tsukishima’s floor. They were all in his room, trying their best to prepare for the tests that would be coming in a flash. 

It was fun, oddly. They would occasionally talk in between reading pages of their notebooks. Their voices more articulated due to all the proper wording of their study material. 

Though, after a couple of hours of studying they took a much-needed break, minds dizzy from all the information they were consuming. 

“Summer vacation is gonna be here soon, do you guys have anything planned?” Yachi asked.

The four boys took a moment to think. “I don’t have anything,” Kageyama said.

The other three nodded their heads. 

“Well, I was thinking we could get some summer jobs together.” Yachi continued.

A summer job? That was actually a good idea. He could help out his mother with expenses, maybe even have a bit of money for himself. “What did you have in mind?”

“My mom works at a publishing house, so we can help her with errands. My Dad works at a gun manufacturing firm, so we probably can’t go there” she chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t think I trust Hinata or Kageyama to be anywhere around guns,” Tsukishima said.

The two gremlins protested, which evolved into an argument. 

“Okay okay, let’s get back to studying” everyone begrudgingly listened to Yachi.

——————

Yamaguchi shivered at the breeze. A week or two had passed since they started studying at Tsukishima's house. They had been able to learn a lot in those weeks, if they kept it up till exams they would be golden. 

Yama had a distant dream of staying up with friends and studying, which afterward they would watch movies until they passed out. Luckily those dreams had come true.

He never felt like a bother when he was with his friends. He felt like they needed him and he needed them back. Especially Tsukishima, if Yama had the chance he would spend every moment with the boy. Too bad school got in the way most of the time.

The street lights were dim that night, Yamaguchi didn’t fully know why. But he had a suspicion that the power system wasn’t running as efficiently recently. The lights in his own home had been a bit different, not as bright, sometimes they would even flicker. 

His thoughts were torn apart as he heard footsteps behind him.

He turned around, seeing an older man four yards away from him. He tensed, readying himself to start sprinting. 

The man fumbled, “no no no, I mean no harm!”

Easier said than known.

“I’m with the Beniyoshi-Kai, but I don’t want to hurt you”

Now he definitely knew this guy was bad news. What could those stupid people possibly want with him now? To kidnap him again?

This had confirmed his fears that his father had made a deal with a Yakuza group. He had hoped it was just some small gang, but he knew that wasn’t the case from the start. He couldn’t ignore it now.

“We want to recruit you”

“Recruit me?” Yamaguchi echoed. What the hell was this man talking about?

“Yes, you can pay off your debt quicker! Masao returned to us, but he won’t be able to pay off the debt quick enough.”

Yamaguchi had no idea what to do. Should he run? Or would this guy just follow him? Maybe he should stay to amuse this guy, that way they wouldn’t come after him.

“... If that’s not enough, if you come into our ranks we’ll protect you. We won’t give you a time limit to get the money in, it’s a win-win!”

This man was trying to make it seem like this was a reasonable opportunity. 

It wasn’t.

There was no way in hell Yama would join the same group that had kidnapped him and harassed him for years. Not a chance.

“Tell your boss he can shove it up his ass,” Yama said, spinning around, running as fast as he could before the guy could do a thing. 

“Wait! We can help you!”

Yama didn’t listen, he just kept running.

——————

He couldn’t stop thinking about that night. How that man said he would be able to work with the gang to pay off his debt.

As horrible it was, Yama couldn’t deny it, the offer had its merits. It would be solving many of Yamaguchi’s problems. His debt, being able to protect his mother, it even had the chance of making sure no one ever messed with him again.

It sounded too good to be true. There was no way he would do it, the man had to be lying straight through his teeth. There was no way the Beniyoshi-Kai would want a teenage boy in their ranks. 

Then again… depending on what he was doing he might just want the gang needed. Someone young to hide in plain sight, gather information, make drug deals, and whatever else. Though Yamaguchi hated the idea of doing anything illegal, he couldn’t get it out of his head. 

Plus there was the added fact that Yamaguchi knew the ways of how the Beniyoshi-Kai worked. They knew how they targeted people, he knew personally how much damage they could deal. He could integrate fairly easily into the group and have his worries discarded.

However, he would still have problems to deal with. The kind of work he would be going into would be taxing on his mind and body. He would not come out the same as he was now. He knew that for sure. He would learn to be cold-hearted, to not care about the lives of others. He would lose the very things that made him human.

But if he didn’t join he might as well be working his whole life to pay the Beniyoshi-Kai off, or he would be killed in the process. On top of that he would either have to hide it from everyone or disappear. He didn’t want to do either.

His thoughts raced around, digging his claws into the well-worn track of his mind. If he didn’t do something about it the thought would eat him alive, bite at his bones, deteriorate his soul until there was nothing left.

——————

He had decided that he wouldn’t take the offer, at least not now. If he was able to get a job over the summer he could very well gather up enough money to make a sizable dent in their family’s debt. He didn’t need to join the Beniyoshi-Kai. He didn’t need to become a criminal.

He had found a couple of jobs nearby his apartment that would pay him decent enough money. It wasn’t an amazing amount of money, but as long as it was some form of money Yama would be satisfied.

He chewed on his steamed carrots for far too long.

“What's up kiddo?” His mother had entered the room, just back from a shower. Her hair dripped as she sat down on the couch, soaking it even more as she laid her head back.

“Just thinking about getting a job,” Yama said.

“A job huh? You're really becoming a man now”

“Mommmm”

“Ha, just let me tease me for a bit longer, you’ll be leaving in a couple of years you know”

He wasn’t that far off from becoming an adult. He had about two years and he would be put off to college or someplace else. He would have to leave this crummy apartment of his, the one he grew up in.

He sighed. He wished he could slow downtime, maybe even reverse it back to when he was ten. But those days wouldn’t be better than what he had now. As much as he didn’t want to grow up, he enjoyed his life at the moment. He enjoyed his friends, his mom, his freedom, his relationship with Tsukki… Everything seemed to be leagues better than what he had before.

He didn’t want to lose it. 

He didn’t want the life he had made for himself to disappear. Not when he had his mother. Not when he had Tsukishima.

He couldn’t take the offer, but his situation made it really difficult not to.

——————

Yama giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. Tsukkishima sat across from him, giving his charming crooked smirk. 

“What? You think my tastes are funny?” Tsukki teased.

“Very funny!” Yamaguchi divulged further into a fit of laughter. “You’re just so ‘Mr. Serious’ with everyone but your just a big teddy bear who loves strawberry cake”

“I’m afraid you're seeing things Tadashi”

“I’m afraid my sight is completely fine.”

This was their third date, of which they had gone out to a cat cafe for the first time. Cats of all breeds passed between their legs, laying on the windowsills and carpets.

Yama had a reason for this date other than just wanting to spend time with Tsukishima. He wanted to talk about what they would for their future. It might be a little soon but Yama didn’t want them to fall apart just because they didn’t communicate.

“So Tsukki, what are we gonna do for next year?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like- we’re definitely both gonna still do volleyball, but do you wanna try and do anything new?”

Tsukishima paused for a moment, gears turning in his head. “Do you have something in mind?”

“I was just wondering if we should get jobs soon, start saving up some money.”

Tsukishima laughed, covering his mouth with his hand. Yama furrowed his eyebrows, “what so funny?” He said.

“Of course you would worry about something like that Yama, just relax. We still have two more years of school left”

Yama pouted but took Tsukishima's words to heart. Maybe he should stop worrying. “If you say so”

“Besides,” Tsukishima started, “you’ll always have me by your side to help you”

Okay, now he definitely didn’t need to worry.

Chapter Text

Tadashi panted as he set down the last box out of his car. He looked around the bare-bones dorm room he would be staying in for the next year. He couldn’t believe he actually was able to get into his dream college, let alone get a full-paid scholarship. It was a fantasy that had become Yama’s reality. It almost seemed like the chains of his life was lifted, no longer held down by debts and romantic confusions. Well, his family was still in debt but ever since Masao came back, he, Akitsuki, and Yama all chipped in to pay more and more for the pit his father created.

He didn’t need to worry, not when he had moved a couple of towns over.

He sliced open the top of the boxes, using the box cutter his roommate gave him. He wouldn't be coming back until much later, which left Yama with the perfect opportunity to unpack. 

He laid his clothes into the small dresser the school provided, laying his laptop and phone on his bed as he took out his textbooks. It was box after box until there was nothing left to do but organize. But before he could properly figure out where everything would go someone came up behind him. Long arms wrapped around his waist and Tadashi felt himself melt. He looked up, “Hi Kei”

“Hi Tadashi” Tsuksihima smiled back.

They stayed there for a moment, indulging in the embrace. Yama was glad that they figured everything out in high school, since they got to enjoy the ease of their relationship now. They never fought, never pestered each other, it was almost like heaven. Sadly they weren’t going to the same college, but Tsukki was close by, so he didn’t need to worry. 

He had his life together and that's all he needed.

——————

He definitely didn’t have his life together as he sat on the floor stressed out of his mind with his textbooks by his sides and papers that decorated the floorboards. His exams would be the death of him. He had texted Tsukishima about his worries that afternoon and also his death sentence, but he knew he would live in the end.

Studying for college was a lot different than high school, and he had five assignments to do on top of it. It was a lot, but as long as he got above 80% he would keep his scholarship. That's all he had to aim for.

The door opened and Yama sat up from the grubby floor to see who it was. It was his blonde boyfriend in shining armor. “I heard someone needed a pick-me-up?” Tsukishima chimed.

“Tsukkiiii!” Yama opened his arms wide, Kei dropped to the floor to give his boyfriend a hug. The blonde took out the food from the greasy paper bag, handing Yamaguchi a cheeseburger and fries.

Yama’s eyes sparkled, “did you get the soggy ones?”

“Of course I did”

Yama smiled deepened, he shoved a few fries into his mouth, moaning in delight. “Soooo gooood! Thank you Kei”

“I knew it was just what you needed.”

“You know me well”
“I wouldn’t be much of a boyfriend if I didn’t”

Tadashi giggled. Kei always made him feel better when he was upset for one reason or another. It made him feel a warmth burn in his heart.

“You know how I was kinda a bad boy in high school,” Yama said.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I was just thinking how funny it was I fell for a nerd like you”

“Hey, I’m the nerd that brings you food.”

They both chuckled.

“I guess bad boys aren’t always into good girls,” Tsukshikma said.

“I guess they're into dinosaur dorks like you”

——————

Yamaguchi had passed his exams, but despite his victory, a new problem arose. He had called his mother that morning and been told that she was being harassed by the Beniyoshi-Kai again. She had mostly been able to handle it, but they were starting to get aggressive again. She had said they were desperate for money, that they needed extra cash as soon as possible, that they were finally done with their families bullshit.

He had told her to move out, skip town, go someplace far away. She didn’t heed his warning, telling him that she would be fine. The Beniyoshi-Kai were all bark no bite. That was the last time he ever heard from her.

“ What? No, that couldn’t have… No! That couldn’t have happened!” Yama yelled into his phone, tears pricking at his eyes.

“Please…she can’t be dead.” 

His mother… had died… He had never thought about the possibility... But now it was all he could think about, leaving his legs to wobble.

He collapsed on the ground, his hand glued to his mouth as he tried not to break. The phone fell to the floor. His body felt fragile and he was worried he might be dying himself. No, he was fine, he had to be fine. 

This couldn’t be happening, this has to be a joke, there was not a chance, no way…

No way he would just let her killer roam free.

No way in hell.

Chapter Text

Yamaguchi had never thought he would become a part of a gang. Let alone the one who made his life a living hell. But his luck had a funny way of twisting his words against him.

He had left his home town and moved to the city of electric dreams, Tokyo, where most of the crime ring resided. It was a place filled with red lights and criminal minds hidden behind mainstream smiles. The tall scraping buildings over-saturated with hues of technological prowess. It was different than when he saw it in high school, but then again at that time he wasn’t making drug deals with depressed college students who were barely passing their classes.

He took a deep drag of his cigarette. The smoke invading the cracks of his lungs all the way down to his ribs. He needed something to drink.

A familiar figure slouched next to him on the rail, his wavy ink-black mess that he called hair covering half of his face. “There’s a situation on Emerald Street that you should probably help out with” his voice was low, it had somehow dropped even lower in pitch from when Yama first met him many years ago.

“What’s the situation?” Yama asked.

Kuroo cocked his head to the side, “a bloody situation”

Tadashi blew a stream of gray through his chapped lips, sighing at the same time as he shrugged on his leather studded jacket. “I’ll cover it”

“Who said I’m not coming too?”

Yamaguchi walked past him, stomping his cigarette into the marble floor. “Well, then you better hurry.”

——————

The lights always seemed awful in the car. The slashes of color and sparks stung in the corners of Yama’s eyes. It made the flashiness of the city even worse than usual.

Muscle memory hiked into gear as he turned onto Emerald Street, already seeing a pile of cars littered on the road. He parked a ways back, getting out to get a better handle of the situation. From what he could see there were only a couple of people, six tops. Kuroo joined him from the other side of the car.

“What are we dealing with?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Some guy who stuck his nose in our business,” Kuroo said. That alone was able to give enough information on what was about to go down.

He walked closer, inspecting the people in front of them. There were all men, four of them sharing the same symbol of the Beniyoshi-Kai. Yamaguchi smiled, Kuroo was right, he wasn’t alone on this one. 

The four members surrounded two men kneeling on the ground. They looked average enough, one had black hair and the other blonde. The blonde one was sporting a bloody nose, most likely because he had pissed off one of the brothers. Their heads were tilted down at the hands of his fellow gang members, their faces sneering in delight at what they would do with these men. 

“Lay off” Yama commanded, all of the men whipping their heads around. They let go once they saw Yamaguchi’s face.

There was an eerie silence, the two men lifting up their heads to look at Yama. 

Tadashi had to stop himself from gasping when he saw the men’s faces. The black-haired one he didn’t recognize, but the blonde… he could never forget that face. He could see the man's eyes hardened on Yamas figure, mouth held slightly agape as his jaw clenched. Crimson dripped down his chin, his square frame glasses uneven on his nose.

“What a turn of events,” Kuroo smirked.

“What the hell are you doing here Tsukishima?”

“I could say the same to you, Tadashi”

Yamaguchi’s teeth ground against each other, “don’t call me that” he snapped.

“What? Did I hit a nerve?”

Yama slapped him before he could say anything more, worsening Tsukkishima’s injury. A couple of drops of red scarlet leaked onto the oily ground, seeping into the man's mouth. Yamaguchi grabbed his hair, yanking it up so the blonde was forced to look at him.

“I don’t know why your so cocky, but you better shut the fuck up before I give you something worse than a bloody nose.”

He could see Tsukishima's visibility gulp. After a short pause, of which no one talked, Yamaguchi smirked, letting go of Tsukki’s hair. 

Yama unsheathed his pistol from his gun holder, the handle seeming to fit perfectly in his bandaged hands. “Now, why are you snooping around our territory?”

“It’s not really snooping when you're just walking down a street-” Yama turned off the safety on his pistol with a satisfying click. Tsukishima fell silent.

One of his fellow brothers spoke up, “he was in Spikers, eavesdropping” 

“The bar?” Yama said.

“Yessir”

He turned his attention back to Tsukishima, bouncing his gun on his leg. “That doesn’t sound like ‘just walking down the street’”

“That’s when they jumped me,” Tsukishima defended himself.

Yama laughed through his nose, “that wasn't what I was asking” he took a step forward, raising his gun right in between Tsukishima's eyes. “I’ll ask again, why are you snooping around our territory?”

He watched as Tsukishima opened his mouth to say something, only to close it right after. 

“Take your time, I have all night,” he said, feeling the corners of his own lips turn up sadistically.

Tsukishima’s eyebrows furrowed, the man groaning in frustration. “There’s a client of mine who wants one of your brothers dead.” 

“And who would that be?”

“My client has a right to privacy”

Yama slashed his pistol against Tsukki’s face, leaving a bright red gash on the man’s cheek. “Do I look like I give a fuck?”

Tsukishima coughed, head hanging with a surprising amount of dignity for his situation. “Khan Min.” He spat out.

Yama’s smirk deepened, reaching down to Tsukishima’s face. He placed his fingers under the man's chin, turning his head up to face him. “Who does he want dead?”

Tsukishima looked back into his eyes, “He wants to kill the Kozume family.”

“Good boy” Yama let go of his face, pondering for a moment. Lots of people wanted the Kozume family dead. It wasn’t a surprise, they were the mob family after all. If it weren't for their money and power the Beniyoshi-Kai wouldn’t be nearly as influential as they were now. But to get where they were the family had made lots of enemies. 

That’s where Kuroo and him came in. They weeded out the scum that wanted petty revenge on the family. They were guard dogs and their thick leather collars showed it.

“Well, I would say this was a good use of our time” Kurro placed a hand on Yama’s shoulder, his lopsided smirk already plastered on his face.

Yamaguchi turned his head upwards, focusing on his fellow brothers. “Take both of them with us, we have a lot to learn” he commanded.

——————

There was silence for a few days. There were no reports of trouble by any more hitmen or anyone else. It was just drug deals and the typical activity.

Yama had been biting his nails the whole week. He had to make sure everything was under control. He needed to know everything he could about Khan Min so they could sweep this under the rug and be done with it. He had integrated Tsukishima as much as he could, but he had stopped talking.

No worry.

He had other methods.

That’s what led him to Spikers. The thing was, it seemed like a regular place from the outside, but if you knew the right people there was a whole different world underneath the cozy floorboards of this drunken establishment. 

He pushed the glass doors open, warm amber light greeting him as he glided to the bar. The dark oak tapped under his shoes, pale walls filled with unspoken gossip. 

He connected eyes with a bartender, only speaking two words, “nice kill”. 

The man blinked at him for a moment before hurriedly leading him away behind the bar, past other employers and shelves used for storage. They stopped in front of a black velvet door.

“Enjoy” the man muttered before rushing off.

Yamaguchi looked back to the door, opening as he descended.

The stairs were made of polished mirrors, reflecting every step you took back at you. The walls were a rich violet, so vibrant that it almost hurt Yama’s eyes. The pattern that overlaid the assaulting color was an elegant pattern of flowers interlocked by their stems, stretching over the entire wall. 

The descent was eerie, the soft pangs of electronic music increasing in volume as he continued downward. Once he reached the bottom he was greeted with a waiter rushing past him, low pink and purple lights covering the whole area. 

It was a well-decorated lounge, a familiar sight for Tadashi’s very sore eyes.

There were couches and chairs all over, small cypress bushes on the ends of seats. The cushions were made of velvet, the same type as the door. There were stages scattered around, slick silver poles erected in the middle of each one of them, though there were only about 3 dancers on shift that afternoon. It was just past 4:00 pm on a Wednesday so Yama wasn’t surprised at the lack of staff.

Though that didn’t matter, because his eyes landed on who he came here for.

“Hey Lev,” he called out.

The man tilted his head towards Yama, his smile coy as usual. “If it isn’t my little strawberry!”

He glared, “I’m not one of your customers”

“Let me dream”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes, “I didn’t come here for you to flirt with me,”

“Then what did you come here for?”

“Information”

“In that’s the case be better to go somewhere private”

“Seriously”

“I’m not trying to flirt with you this time!”

Yamaguchi sighed but ultimately gave in to Lev’s offer. It would be better to talk in private, even if it gave Lev a chance to sneak in even more inappropriate jokes.

He followed the obnoxiously tall host, staring at his shoulder blades as they passed by waiters. 

He used to come here all the time, back when he was a bit lower in rank. He tended to meet up for deals and occasionally drank with some of the other brothers. The staff knew him pretty well, enough to call his name casually. He came here by himself of course, but it was a rare occurrence. This place had a good reputation but you could never be too careful.

He made sure to never request Lev on those days, only Misaki. She was a doll and knew exactly what to do to get rid of his tension. Lev knew how to do the exact opposite.

He discarded the thought as Lev dramatically opened the door for him, showing a whine red bedroom. It held a king-size bed, a small but posh couch on the other end of the room, and a white fluffy rug. Next to the bed was a black iron nightstand, books of god knows what stacked high on the glass surface. This was Lev’s personal chambers for “work”, though with how much the man enjoyed himself it was hard to tell that he was paid to have sex with people and that he didn’t just do it for free.

“Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about?” he flopped onto the edge of his bed, running a hand through his gray hair.

“Do you know anything about a man named Khan Min?”

“Khan Min? Only a little.”

“Anything helps at this point,” Yama said.

“Well, he’s only come here once. Looked like a normal guy, kept to himself for most of the night”

“Was he meeting someone?”

“I think so, a woman came in later and talked with him for a while”

“Weird”

“If he comes back I’ll make sure to butter him up”

Yamaguchi could feel the rumble in his chest as he laughed, “What are you gonna do? Give him a blowjob?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind that if he wasn’t on your hit list”

“I didn’t say he was on my hit list”

“You didn’t need to” Lev had that suggestive smile on his lips again. his elbows rested on his knees, his tall frame slouched over. “You forget that I can read you like a book”

“Let's hope that's the only thing you read”

Lev cackled, “you're too witty”

“Anyway, tell me more about this woman”

Lev shook his head, “she was stunning long blonde hair, brown eyes, she had a tight black dress on and black heels”

“Do you have a name?”

“Sadly no, but I could keep tabs on both of them for you”

Yama hummed, placing his fingers to his chin. “Now I'm back to square one,” he mumbled to himself.

“What was that?” Lev asked.

“Nothing, I’m gonna go now”

“Aww I was hoping to talk to you more”

“I’ve got work, maybe later”

“You better, I don’t do well with broken promises”

Yama scoffed, “neither do I”

——————

“I wonder what the guy is after” Kuroo took a large sip of his drink.

“They probably just want the Kozume family dead,” Yama said.

“Don’t you think it’s more than that?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t have enough information, Lev didn’t give me anything.”

“Awww did your boy toy disappoint you?”

“Shut it” Yama took a puff of his cigarette, eyeing his untouched glass of amber. “You act like you're any better, sleeping with the boss’s son is even worse.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault Kenma is so pretty, plus it’s not like it’s one-sided”

Tadashi Lets out a lethargic sigh. “That's not the point” 

It wasn’t that surprising that the two of them were in cahoots, they had known each other for a long time. They had joked, jabbed, even flirted on more than one occasion. But that didn’t disregard that their big boss might not like the fact that his second lieutenant and his son were doing the devil's tango. It also wouldn’t be good if that information got out. Kuroo would have an even larger target on his back.

He looked around, eye-glazing over the other customers in the restaurant. The people buzzed on in inseparable chatter, focused on their conversations. He looked to the waiters. When on earth would their food get here? Were they tucked behind the kitchen doors, messing around instead of working? What a pain.

“Have you gotten anything out of Tsukishima?” Yama dragged the last of his cig, putting it out in the ashtray. A thin trail of smoke grew upwards from its distributed ashes.

“Not yet, I’m afraid I might have been too aggressive with him”

“What? Is one twink not enough for you?”

Kuroo howled in laughter, “Yama!”

“Kuroo”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment as the rooster man tried to control his hic-ups “...you don’t need to call me out” 

“I was joking!” Yama scolded, not expecting for him to be right about that kind of thing. He planted his face in his hands.

“Listen, Tsukki’s hotter than I remember.”

“You're a whore”

“A charming whore”

“Why am I surrounded by horny fuckbo-” Yama’s sentence was cut short from his phone going off. Speaking of the devil, it was Lev. he picked up the phone.

“Yes?” 

“Guess who's here?”

“Khan?” his voice got a little too excited.

“No, but the girl is here. You better hurry before she leaves”

Yama was already getting up, whispering to Kuroo that he had a lead. The man followed behind him. They got into their car on the side of the street, driving off to Spikers as fast as they could.

The roads were wet from the rain that had come down an hour or two ago, but that didn’t stop Yamaguchi from borderline speeding. It was worth it though since they were able to get to Spikers in record time.

The two of them walked in, said the password, and made their way down to the lodge.

Like Lev had said, the woman was there, or who they suspected the woman was. She had the same attributes that Lev had described, long blonde hair, a tight dress, heels. They both hung back for a moment, deciding what to do. 

“I think you should talk to her,” Yama said.

“Why me?” Kuroo retorted.

“You're better with woman than I am”

“I’m flattered, but I don’t think that gonna work”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t think she is in the mood to be flirted with”

Now that he said it, the women did look somewhat pissed off. Her eyebrows furrowed into a tight bow, lips pulled tight, arms crossed against her chest. She definitely wouldn’t want to deal with Kuroo’s bullshit. 

“What on earth would I talk to her about?” Yama barked.

“I don’t know! Figure out something” they were both whisper yelling at each other, trying to not bring attention to themselves while also getting their point across. It wasn’t really working since the waiters and waitresses gave them weird looks.

Yamaguchi eventually gave in and said he would do it, having Kuroo hang out at another table across the lodge just in case anything happened. 

Tadashi sat down next to the woman, winning a mild glare from her. She had pretty sharp eyes, high cheekbones, and looked very western. Maybe she wasn’t from Japan.

“I’m sorry but I was wondering if I could have your name?” that was a good enough start, not necessarily flirty, right?

Apparently not, “Ugh, stick it up your arse, I’m not in the mood” she spoke eloquently, and if he had to guess he would say she was English just based on her accent. 

“I’m not here to flirt; I just want a name”

“Oh sure, then you want me to spread my legs open”

“No thank you, I would like you to keep them closed” even if she was pretty, he had a job to do.

A ghost of a smile haunted the woman's lips, making the gears turn in his head.

“What a gentleman, next you’ll slip something in my drink”

“You don’t even have a drink”

She laughed at that, “smartass, are you sure you're not just here to mess with me?”

“Not at all, I just wanted to talk.” Yama flagged down one of the waitresses, asking for a drink. He turned to the woman next to him.

“I’ll have a lemon drop”

The waitresses flew off to put in their drink orders, leaving them alone again in the purple lights of the room.

“Now can I get your name?” Yama asked.

“Only if you tell me yours, the woman replied.”

Yama smiled, “Ryuu Tamura”

The woman smiled back, “Ichika Fumetsugawa”

“I’m assuming you were born here then?” there was a possibility that wasn’t her real name, after all, she could be lying straight through her teeth.

“I wasn’t, I was born in England. When I moved here I changed my name”

“What brings you here?”

“Family business”

Yama quirked his eyebrow upward, “That entails?”

“Talking to a lot of people.” she sighed, eyes looking ahead of her as the waitress gave them their drinks. She took a petite sip.

“Sounds tiring”

“They are bitches to deal with”

That left Yamaguchi laughing, covering his mouth in his hysterics. This was going well, too well. He had his suspicions. Khan Min could be playing him. Ichika could be one of his people, someone sent to toy with him, to send him off his track.

He tried to find anything behind those glossy brown eyes, dark like earth and shrouded in void. He stared at her hair as if it hid the secrets she had told, braided within the sections of her scalp. Or maybe it was tucked in the wrinkles of her dress, too tight to let anything out.

“Staring is rude,” Ichika said, her head cupped in her hand.

“You probably don’t care much for a guy like me, so I’ll get to the point.” he swung his head back as he swallowed half of his drink, “how do you know Khan Min?”

“That’s what this is about” she sighed, “you know, you're pretty ballsy to just walk up to me and ask. I respect that.” she turned to him with a smile on her pink lips. “I’m trying to make a deal with him, but he’s stubborn. I’m tempted to just kill him instead.”

This was perfect . “If you ever go through with that plan, just know I want him dead too”

She tapped her drink, face morphing into a strange look. Tadashi took out a slip of paper, placed it on the table, downed the rest of his drink, and got up. “Call me if your curious”

He walked to the stairs, Kuroo following him after a few minutes had passed. 

“What happened?” Kuroo said.

Yama looked over his shoulder, “we might have someone who will help us out.”