Archive of Our Own

The bell chimed and the room was filled with the sound of scraping chairs and scuffling footsteps, the teacher picked up his books whilst gazing over at the students, most likely already forgetting that they had homework due the next day.

Yamaguchi twisted around in his chair to face Tsukishima, who was finishing off the last of his notes. “Hey Tsukki! I was wondering, do you have any plans for the long weekend next week?”

“Not that I know of.” Tsukishima replied, snapping his books shut. “Akiteru has work so I don’t think he’s coming back for the break.”

Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up at the blond’s response and he scooted his chair excitedly closer towards Tsukishima. “Then how about we go camping? My family has a bunch of camping gear and since the school gym’s closed for maintenance and we don’t have practice, we could go spend it at the Mizunomori camping grounds! ” Yamaguchi began to excitedly ramble about the plans that had been running through his mind to Tsukishima who listened quietly as he put away his books and took out his lunch.

“Sure.” Tsukishima replied. He didn’t have any plans, plus camping with Yamaguchi seemed like a nice change of pace that didn’t involve doing penalty dives and sprinting for kilometres on end. Heck, he could probably even finish that book on dinosaur history and evolution that he’d started months ago but never had any free time to continue.

“Really?! Then I’ll let my mom know! I’ll get all the gear organized and we can do some shopping for supplies later!” Yamaguchi was obviously thrilled.

Tsukishima didn’t hate camping, as long as the weather was decent and he could move at his own pace. Spending time hiking and away from crowds would keep him content. On top of that Yamaguchi was good company and he couldn’t remember the last time they had planned an outing with just the two of them.

Tsukishima was excited. He nodded along to Yamaguchi’s excited babbling as he popped a piece of chicken into his mouth, pondering how many books he should bring with him.

“Have a great time!” Tsukishima’s mother pulled Tsukishima down to plant a kiss on his forehead and he scrunched his face up and turned away in disdain. Not towards his mother’s public display of affection, but the two teens that had been crammed in the back seat behind him for the whole car trip.

Tsukishima got out of the car and shot a glare at Yamaguchi who was saying goodbye to his own mother, the car pulled up next to theirs. Yamaguchi gave a sheepish grin before awkwardly heading over to grab all the equipment from the car trunk.

Tsukishima quickly strode over next to Yamaguchi, blindly grabbing armfuls of bags and cases. “You didn’t tell me about this.” His words were curt and made the hairs on the back of Yamaguchi’s neck strand straight.

“We’ll I mean, I thought it would be nice to invite them…since, you know, we’re teammates and stuff.” Yamaguchi stuttered, avoiding eye contact with Tsukishima.

Tsukishima could hear Hinata screaming like a wild banshee behind them, as if he was letting out all the energy he had pent up from the hour and a half spent in the car, Kageyama yelling even louder for Hinata to shut up.

“Is there anything I can help with?” A shy voice piped up from behind the two boys and Tsukishima looked over his shoulder to find Yachi nervously twiddling her thumbs. She had caught a ride in Yamaguchi’s family car.

“Yeah, get those two to go hom-”

“Could you help me grab the food? It’s in this basket! If it’s too heavy let me know!” Yamaguchi rushed to interrupt Tsukishima’s vicious retort by randomly grabbing an item from the trunk and handing it to Yachi, who was overtaken by giddiness, nodding determinedly and grabbing the basket , waddling over towards the clearing where they had decided to set up camp, some of the gear already on the ground.

“Look, I’m really sorry okay. I just thought it would be a good time…” Yamaguchi gave Tsukishima an apologetic look, eyes wide. The freckled boy’s sincerity prompted Tsukishima to click his tongue.

“You owe me a slice of strawberry shortcake after all this.” Tsukishima sighed, walking off with all the things he had gathered.

“I’ll throw in a strawberry Haagen Dazs too!” Yamaguchi grinned, scrambling to follow after the taller boy.

Tsukishima waved goodbye to his and Yamaguchi’s mother as they pulled out of the camping grounds, the feeling of a very long three days loomed over him and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh when the cars vanished behind some trees and out of sight.

He tried to look at things positively, Yachi and Yamaguchi were both smart and capable people and that meant than more than half the group was not prone to idiocy. If anything he could probably sneak off and read his books elsewhere while Yachi and Yamaguchi kept the two beasts occupied.

              Yamaguchi stretched, pulling his arms over his head before turning to everyone. “Well then, how about we start with setting up the tents?” he suggested.

Nobody seemed to have any qualms so Yamaguchi pointed over at a pile of tents and tarps, placed a little further away from everything else. “Let’s make the tents in a sort of semicircle so we can see each other.” he directed.

Hinata headed over to the tents and grabbed one. “Hey Yamaguchi, there’s only three tents?”

“Did you honestly think we’d have a tent for each and every person?” Tsukishima scoffed and Yamaguchi shot him a glare before the blond bit back his next few words.

“I guess we have to decide who gets which tent then.” Yamaguchi quickly suggested. He didn’t think they’d encounter a dispute so quickly. “Yachi can have this one, since it’s the smallest.” He handed one of the bundled tents to Yachi, who took it cautiously in her arms.

“Why does she get her own tent?” Kageyama, who had been relatively cooperative up until now, asked plainly.

Tsukishima was ready walk back home at this point, but he felt Yamaguchi’s fingers suddenly dig into his shoulder. There was no escape.

“Yachi’s a girl so-”

“But I always sleep with Natsu!”

“Yes, but Yachi isn’t Natsu…”

“I-it’s okay! I can share a tent!”

“That’s not okay…”

Yamaguchi was patient, but there was a limit to his patience, and despite his calm and collected looks, Tsukishima could sense it slipping away slowly, like sand between his fingers.

“Look. Let’s just draw straws, Yachi gets her own tent, no questions asked.” Yamaguchi stated firmly and to that Kageyama seemed to accept the rules laid down before him. For now at least.

Yamaguchi quickly gathered some sticks from around him and held them in his hands, explaining that the two who drew the shortest sticks would share one tent and the longer two, the other.

Tsukishima selected one of the sticks, praying to the gods he was with Yamaguchi, his glimmer of hope. This was an important decision and depending on the outcome, could be a hellish three days.

“Alright, everyone have one?”

Yamaguchi loosened his grip and Hinata, Kageyama and Tsukishima pulled their sticks out, quickly holding them next to one another to figure out the results. Yamaguchi took the remaining stick and followed suit.

Tsukishima’s heart dropped.

“I guess it’s decided then, I’m with Hinata and Tsukki… you’re with Kageyama.” Yamaguchi reported and Hinata cheered, excited with his tent buddy for the next two nights, bouncing over to Yachi, who had already been setting up, to tell her the good news.

Tsukishima exchanged glances with Yamaguchi, who put his hand up in apology. “Sorry Tsukki” before heading over to help Hinata set up their tent.

He then turned to Kageyama who was pouting, clearly he wasn’t thrilled about the results either.

              Despite having played together on the same team for about half a year, Tsukishima didn’t think that he and Kageyama could get along outside the court. It was too much effort on his half to dumb himself down to Kageyama’s level all the time. Frankly put it was exhausting. Thus as a precaution he had tried his best to stay away from the freak duo whenever possible. But Yamaguchi had confronted Tsukishima about his negative attitude and with some negotiating, Tsukishima came to the conclusion that he would put up with their presence and try to get along for the sake of the team and Yamaguchi, with a huge emphasis on ‘try’.

However, being trapped in a tent with Kageyama for two nights was sincerely pushing it for him. 

They didn’t speak to each other while putting up the tent. Whether it was a way to somehow ignore the fact they were going to spend the night together in the tent or building it used up all of Kageyama’s mental resources, Tsukishima wasn’t sure, but he was glad they didn’t have to interact beyond holding pieces of the same tent. He also wouldn’t deny that if they kept interactions to this level, he could probably make it back home sane.

He quickly looked over at Kageyama who was carefully sliding the tent poles into the inner tent and Tsukishima found himself staring before Kageyama turned in his direction. “Pass me the other pole.”

Tsukishima blinked and scrambled to hold out the pole he had just finished constructing, which Kageyama took and continued to work on the tent.

“I’m surprised you know how to make a tent.” Tsukishima jeered, a small jab at the setter, while unraveling the outer tent and trying to figure out its orientation.

“Hm? Oh… Yeah I used to go camping sometimes… when I was in elementary.” Kageyama replied watching the tent as it began to take form.

Tsukishima was honestly taken aback, he was bracing himself for some kind of retort or some not-so-smart comment.

“Here, it goes this way.” Kageyama took the outer tent from Tsukishima’s hands and tossed it over the now erected inner tent, circling the structure to tug the cover it into place.

“Thanks…” Tsukishima managed to utter. He wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing such a reliable side to the King, an uncomfortable feeling stirring in his chest, but he brushed it off as the cold getting to him.

              The two managed to set up their tent without any problems and surprisingly, they had finished faster than the others. Kageyama walked over to help Yachi who was struggling to get the pegs into the ground and Tsukishima moved all their bags and belongings into their tent.

The tent itself was surprisingly big, at least big enough to fit two high school boys with their belongings which were crammed to one side. The inner tent was a nice refreshing shade of green to contrast the muted grey outer tent. 

“Tsukki! Are you done? We’re all finished here!” Yamaguchi called from outside and before Tsukishima could respond Hinata poked his head in.

“Woah your tent is massive! I think it’s bigger than ours!”

“Well, we are taller than you.” Tsukishima smirked and Yamaguchi had to pull Hinata out by the legs to stop him from throwing himself at Tsukishima.

              “Well I guess we’re all set up!” Yamaguchi exclaimed, letting out a huge sigh of relief. He looked at his watch. “We have about an hour or so before we have to start preparing for dinner so I guess we have some free time. I was thinking about checking out the facilities they have and scouting the area out! Anyone else want to come?”

His invitation was immediately taken up by an excited Hinata and Yachi

“I’m fine thanks.” Tsukishima responded, thoughts of finishing his dinosaur history book already flooding his mind. Perhaps he could finally get some peace and quiet that he was looking forward to before he was betrayed by Yamaguchi.

“What about you Kageyama? Are you coming with us?” Hinata turned to Kageyama who was perched on a camping stool.

“Nah.”

“Why not!?”

“Because I don’t want to, idiot!”

“…fine then be like that Stupidyama. Let’s go Yachi!” Hinata marched off with Yachi in tow, Yamaguchi looking over his shoulder at Kageyama and Tsukishima as he left them, an expression of concern pasted over his face. Hopefully the campsite was still in one piece by the time they came back.

After making sure the three were out of sight, Tsukishima dove into the tent and grabbed his book, dragging over the red camping chair Yamaguchi had put out and started reading.

The fall air was crisp, a bit on the cold side, but sitting in the sun was enough for Tsukishima to comfortably settle down with his book, face buried in his scarf.

Kageyama had, unsurprisingly, pulled out a volleyball from somewhere, the sound of the ball hitting Kageyama’s fingers rhythmically was the only sound breaking the silence of the camping grounds.

              Tsukishima had made good progress into his book, a decent number of chapters until he heard a voice from over his shoulder. “What are you reading?”

Surprised, he violently jerked his head towards the voice and hit his forehead against Kageyama’s, the sharp pain causing him to recoil so violently that the flimsy camping chair gave way, the blond finding himself horizontal on the ground.

He sat up and rubbed his forehead before readjusting his glasses. “What the heck your highness!?” He exclaimed, looking up at Kageyama who was also clutching his own forehead in pain.

“I just wanted to know what you were reading...”

“You didn’t have to just appear like some ghost!!”

“That was the third time I asked!”

The shock of having Kageyama’s face so close to his had set his heart racing. He picked himself and the chair off the ground and located his book before dusting himself off.

“If you’re bored you can go find Hinata and the others you know.” He commented, trying to seem unfazed by everything that had just happened.

“No. I just want to know what you’re reading.” Kageyama gave the sore spot on his forehead a final rub.

“It’s none of your business. Plus it’s a little too difficult for your single celled brain to understand anyway your highness.” Tsukishima snarled.

“What did you say?”

The tone of Kageyama’s voice had Tsukishima’s lips curling into a smirk, “Your brain is too-”

Before he could finish Kageyama had sprinted over and snatched the book out of the blond’s hands.

The setter grinned victoriously, holding the book in the air like a trophy before he stopped to flip the book open, eyes scanning the pages and Tsukishima scrambled to his feet to retrieve it. For some reason the thought of the having the King finding out about his interests was absolutely abhorrent.

He held his hand out, “Give it back.”

After a long stare over the pages of the book, Kageyama looked up. “Make me.” he taunted, a grin that said, “I dare you to try” pasted over his face.

Tsukishima was never one to get into fistfights. If anything he knew people tended to taunt others just to have a reason to throw punches. But Kageyama wasn’t here to throw punches, that much he knew. It was probably something simpler than that, like some strange, twisted logic of ‘winning’. But Tsukishima had zero interest in finding that out right now.

 He took a dive at Kageyama.

Kageyama was not prepared for the sudden attack and landed flat on his back, book snatched immediately out of his hands as Tsukishima had him pinned down with surprising force. The triumphant Tsukishima dusted his book off and smirked, “Guess I made you.” He laughed as Kageyama squirmed beneath him, struggling to get the taller boy off him.

Just as Tsukishima had confirmed that his book was undamaged he looked over into the distance to find Yamaguchi, Yachi and Hinata sprinting across the grass towards them.

“Tsukkiiiiiii!!” Yamaguchi spluttered as he came to a halt before Tsukishima and Kageyama, “Calm down!!”

“I am calm.” Tsukishima replied, adjusting his glasses.

Yachi, wearing an expression as if she was witnessing a murder, lingered behind Yamaguchi, “Y-you two aren’t fighting?”

Tsukishima looked down at Kageyama, who was propping himself up by the elbows to counter the weight of Tsukishima straddling him and they exchanged glances before the blond threw himself off the setter like he’d touched a boiling kettle.

“I bet Tsukishima was going to beat your ass if we hadn’t come to save you.” Hinata sniggered and Kageyama immediately scrambled to his feet to take the shorter boy on before Yamaguchi put himself between them.

“How about we start preparing dinner?” he asked with a forced smile, a hint of desperation slipping through the cracks of his words. And just as he had finished asking, the strange duo’s stomachs emitted loud gurgles.

Yachi sighed, mustering up worn out enthusiasm to assist Yamaguchi, “I’m hungry too! We found a cooking area where we can cook and wash everything, so let’s head over! ”

Kageyama, who’s mind was now focused only on his empty stomach nodded and the group began to make their way over to their belongings to gather everything they needed for dinner.

              Yamaguchi gave Tsukishima a sideways glance as they made their way to the cross the camping grounds, shifting the pot filled with a bag of potatoes is his arms.

“…So?”

“'So what?” Tsukishima shot back, examining the bag of carrots he was holding nonchalantly.

“What happened? You can’t tell me you guys weren’t fighting….unless…” Yamaguchi bit his lip and paused.

“Unless what?”

“Nah, actually its nothing.”

“You owe me two pieces of cakes then.”

“Okay fine … unless you, you know… were doing... something else?” His eyes wondered over to Hinata and Kageyama in the distance, sprinting with armfuls of ingredients, shoulder to shoulder.

It took a moment for Tsukishima to catch on to what Yamaguchi was hinting at and when he did he almost threw the carrots and whatever was in his arms onto the ground. “W-what the heck? Why would you even think that?” Tsukishima spluttered in disbelief.

“I don’t know?! You were straddling him Tsukki! Straddling! ”

“You don’t have to say it twice! Look, I’ll explain to you later. It’s not what you think it is.” Tsukishima could feel his face going red and looking at Yamaguchi was difficult to say the least.

Yamaguchi thought for a moment after seeing his flustered friend, decided to have mercy. “Fine, tell me later then.” he laughed, shifting the belongings in his arms.

              The group had decided to make what every camping trip involved, curry. It was simple, tasty and relatively easy to make and upon seeing the amount of the vegetables they had Tsukishima was ashamed that he hadn’t realise that an extra three people were coming along when they lugged all this back to Yamaguchi’s house.

To make things more efficient everyone got assigned a different task, Kageyama was going to make the rice, Tsukishima and Hinata would peel the vegetables, Yamaguchi would cut the ingredients up and Yachi would take everything to make the curry. Sounded simple enough.

Everyone split up and began working on their tasks diligently, Yachi rinsing out all the pots in preparation for cooking over at the sinks and taps provided in the cooking area.

Hinata picked up a potato and rolled it over in his hands, “Hey Tsukishima.”

“What?” Tsukishima asked cautiously, wary of the conversation he and Yamaguchi had had earlier.

“Don’t you think this potato kind of looks like Kageyama?” he held it up and in Kageyama’s direction, lining it up for comparison and Tsukishima couldn’t help but snort and Yamaguchi who was on the other side let out a snigger.

“I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!” Kageyama yelled across from the sinks, making Yachi jump and Hinata dipped his head down, pretending that nothing had happened.

The two stood next to each other peeling the vegetables in silence before Hinata felt like it was safe enough to resume conversing. “So I’ve been wondering, why are you always so…. pissed off?” he waved the carrot in his hand vaguely to indicate that he couldn’t quite find the right words.

“What do you mean?” Tsukishima dug out a stubborn spot in the potato with his knife.

“I mean, Kageyama’s pissed off all the time but you’re also always pissed off…but in a different way.”

Tsukishima furrowed his brow and didn’t say anything, it wasn’t worth wasting effort trying to decipher anything his teammate had said.

Hinata, noticing the lack of response put down his peeler and the carrot. “What I mean is, you’re always making this kinda grrr face.” He pulled at his brow to mimic what was supposedly Tsukishima.

“Does it really matter?” Tsukishima replied, reaching past Hinata to put his peeled potato into the bowl next to Yamaguchi and picking up a carrot.

“Probably not, but now that I think about it…” Hinata scratched his chin, “You and Kageyama are pretty similar!”

Tsukishima’s hand slipped and the knife sliced his into his thumb.

“Ah, crap.” Blood immediately began seep from the wound.

“Tsukki are you okay!?” Yamaguchi, as usual, was the first to run over.

“I’m fine. It’s really shallow, I just need a plaster.”

Hinata hovered around and apologised profusely as Tsukishima waved him away.

“I don’t have any plasters on me, but there should be some in the first aid kit Kageyama was holding earlier!” Hinata suggested, hoping he could be of help to the trouble that he had caused.

“I’ll go ask, you peel the rest of the vegetables.” Tsukishima ordered calmly and Hinata obliged.

              Tsukishima made his way over to the Kageyama, who was about a couple of metres away from the rest of the group near the barbecue grills, the type which would form a makeshift stove if you lit a fire beneath it with some coal. Tsukishima hesitantly walked up.

“Hey.”

Kageyama looked up and looked at Tsukishima. “What.”

“Where did you put the first aid kit?”

“Over there.” Kageyama gestured to the box near the zip lock bag of rice on a bench behind him. “You hurt yourself?”

“Just cut my finger.”

“Did you disinfect it?”

“I washed it already.”

“Disinfect it properly otherwise it could get infected.”

Tsukishima wasn’t sure how to respond to this unfamiliar kindness. “Okay.” He muttered.

“Here I’ll do it for you.”

Kageyama had already flipped open the first aid kit, rummaging through to find the disinfectant swab, which the setter swiftly ripped open. “Hold out your hand.”

Tsukishima hesitantly held his hand out, fresh blood beginning to dye the cut again despite the pressure he had applied to it. Kageyama took Tsukishima’s in his and wiped the wound. It wasn’t gentle in anyway but thorough. When he was done he pulled out a plaster and applied it swiftly, looking up at Tsukishima when he was done. “Is it too tight?”

“No, its … fine.” Tsukishima tripped over his words.

“Okay.” Kageyama turned away, before pausing and turning back, “By the way… it’s been a while but the rice isn’t cooking.” He pointed over at the pot, the smoke from the lit coal swirling into the air.

Tsukishima headed over to the pot and peered inside. A handful of uncooked rice sat at the bottom.

“Where’s the water?”:

“What water.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips stubbornly hoping that this was an elaborate joke. “When you cook rice you have to add water.”

Kageyama looked at the blond curiously, as if it was the first time he’d ever heard of such a thing and Tsukishima was split between laughing and sighing. He looked down at his bandaged finger and chose to sigh. “Grab that cup and bring me some water your highness.”

After what felt like hours to Tsukishima they finally somehow managed to put together their curry. All of the food lined up before them in the pots so that everyone could take as much as they wanted and while Tsukishima usually didn’t have much of an appetite he couldn’t wait to eat.

“Everyone have a bowl?” Yachi asked, eyes scanning over the four boys who looked like hungry wolves ready to pounce. “Hopefully it tastes okay! Dig in!”

There was a rush towards the pots as Hinata and Kageyama dived forwards, pushing each other to get to the rice, heaping it into their bowls in mounds before ladling the thick curry sauce all over it. Thankfully Yamaguchi had anticipated this gluttony and had asked Yamaguchi to get enough ingredients so there was actually food left and the other three slowly lined up to take their fill.

              Tsukishima called it quits after a bowl and a half and if he was honest with himself he had only eaten a refill because Hinata had shouted that he could eat more than Yachi, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima combined. And on his sixth bowl Hinata was still going strong. Everyone else had had long given up, eating just enough to feel full and Kageyama had called it a day because he had some common sense. Hinata had won, but at what cost?

When the sun began to set Yachi started to rush around cleaning up and Kageyama offered to help, carrying the empty dishes and pots to the sinks as Yamaguchi went off to their tents and To grab a lamp and some flashlights.

“Hey.” Tukishima picked up his spoon, scraping at the smears of curry dried at the bottom of his bowl.

“Mmm?” Hinata paused, spoonful of curry hovering at his lips.

“You know earlier how you said the King and I were similar…what did you mean by that?” He pretended to be occupied with scraping the bowl, feigning disinterest in hearing the answer.

Hinata popped the spoon in his mouth and pondered, the amount of time he spent making thinking noises had Tukishima concluding it was most likely just an offhanded comment.

“Maybe… your height??” Hinata spoke with the spoon still in his mouth and Tsukishima glared at Hinata. He shouldn’t have expected anything deep.

“Mmmmm I don’t know it’s hard to put into words…. Lemmie think a bit more.” Hinata grumbled, putting a finger to his temple. He was thinking seriously about this.

“Don’t think too hard or that remaining brain cell of yours will implode.” Tsukishima laughed but Hinata was too occupied to hear him, chasing a bit of curry sodden rice around his bowl with his spoon.

“Okay I got it!” he finally looked up and Tsukishima rested his chin in his hand, with a ‘go ahead’ look.

“You both really, reaaally, love volleyball!” Hinata smiled, his answer holding no lies and he looked at Tsukishima triumphantly as if he’d managed to answer a difficult question on a test.

“Stupid.” Tsukishima spat. He really shouldn’t have expected anything.

“What? Am I wrong?”

“Don’t talk to me or I’ll catch your stupidity.”

“Excuse me!?”

“Excused.” Tsukishima decided that he was done with the conversation, standing up with his bowl and making his way over to Yachi who was vigorously scrubbing dishes.

“Ah here I’ll wash that! Since you have a cut on your hand… maybe you could help Kageyama dry the dishes! Oh wait… you cut would still get wet… um…” Yachi looked around desperately for an alternative.

“It’s fine I’ll help.” Tsukishima picked up a towel and one of the washed pots and lined himself up next to Kageyama who was wiping down a bowl, his face contorted in utter concentration and Tsukishima couldn’t help but smirk at how ridiculous the King looked.

And as they wiped down the washed utensils in silence Tsukishima stared out at the wilderness that stretched out before them, grass swaying in the gentle fall breeze, watching as the last streams of sunlight faded into the night. And for a moment he thought -  

Perhaps this wasn’t so bad.

              With stomachs full and less things to carry, the group made their way back to the tents. The moon was not quite full but was bright enough to help guide them back to their belongings.

When they arrived Yamaguchi started a small campfire with the sticks he had gathered and the wood he had purchased from the campsite information desk and everyone scattered off to lay out their sleeping bags and get changed into warmer clothing.

Tsukishima lingered around to watch Yamaguchi pull out a kettle, pouring water in to hang it over the fire and Tsukishima was impressed with how well equipped Yamaguchi’s family was in terms of camping gear. As he watched, he shuffled closer towards the flames to absorb the warmth.

“Are you cold Tsukki? Should I make the fire bigger?”

“No.” He squatted down next to Yamaguchi, putting his hands out and feeling the warmth spread down his arms, eyes tracing the outline of his fingers, worn and battered by the countless blocks and spikes from hours of practice.

Yamaguchi poked at the fire with a stick, before looking over at the blond, the orange flames dancing in the reflection of Tsukishima’s glasses.

“I overheard you talking to Hinata." Yamaguchi started, turning back to the fire.

"Well that's a bit creepy." Tsukishima let out a dry laugh, eyes still trained on the fire.

"You're curious about it aren't you? How you and Kageyama are similar."

"I'm not." The reply was instantaneous. 

"Do you want to know what I think?"

Tsukishima stared into the flames unblinkingly. Stubborn and unable to bring himself to say he wasn't. “Not really.”

Yamaguchi smiled to himself and poked aimlessly at the fire. “Well…You’re both stubborn, both do as you please, not very good at expressing your feelings, impatient and ...oh yeah, you both really love volleyball.” Yamaguchi said it all as if he had been rehearsing it as a public speech and smiled proudly to himself. 

Tsukishima laughed through his nose. “That’s ridiculously specific. Couldn’t you be more like Hinata and just say like, height or something?”

“Mmm but then I’d be lying and you know when I lie anyway.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips. Sometimes it bothered him how well Yamaguchi could read him and he looked over at his best friend. “We’re not similar.” He huffed.

“Of course not. You’re better looking than Kageyama anyway.”

“…shut up Yamaguchi.”

“Sorry Tsukki.”

The kettle began to whistle just as shuffling could be heard from the tents. “Ah… it’s cold!” Yachi chirped as she approached the fire.

“I’m making hot chocolate!” Yamaguchi informed her as he pulled out mugs from a bag he had beside him along with packets of instant hot chocolate.

       It wasn’t before long until all the Karasuno first years were circled around the fire, mugs of hot chocolate in the hands, warming their fingertips as the campfire danced, flicking shadows across the ground.

“You know it’s kind of nice to spend some time together like this! Camping is a nice change of pace!” Yachi piped, blowing at her hot chocolate.

“Yeah Natsu and I used to camp in our backyard and it was super fun to watch the stars!”

“Well my family has all this camping gear so I guess you can figure the rest out…” Yamaguchi laughed sheepishly, sipping from his mug. “What about you Kageyama?”

“Yeah. I did when I was little.” The setter mumbled into his almost empty cup.

Then there was silence.

“Ahh, what about you Tsukishima-kun?” Yachi tried to laugh the awkward silence off, fingering the ear of her mug uncomfortably.

“I used to with my older brother.” Tsukishima watched the embers of the fire glow red.

“I didn’t know you had an older brother!”

“Yeah I do.”

“I’m an only child so I’m jealous that you have siblings. I wish I could have a brother or a sister! It would be so much fun!”

“You don’t want one.” Tsukishima sighed as he got up off the ground. “I’m done. Thanks for the drink.” 

“Was it something I said?” Yachi asked worriedly, the furrows on her brow getting awfully deep as she eyed Tsukishima saunter off into the distance.

“No it’s fine, Tsukki’s just tired.” Yamaguchi reassured. “It’s been a long day.”

Yachi nodded and trusted that Yamaguchi was telling the truth. “I guess it is pretty late, we should all get to bed.”

Hinata and Kageyama, who had started a conversation of their own looked over as Yachi and Yamaguchi got up and finished up their mindless conversion about how many meat buns they could fit in their mouths and followed suit, Hinata breaking off into a sprint as he shouted behind him, whoever was last was going to have to be the one to wake everyone up.

The three left in Hinata’s wake looked at one another before laughing, half jogging to wash their mugs and get ready for bed as the moon began to hide behind the clouds.

            Tsukishima’s eyes fluttered open. The sound of the wind and rain battering the sides of the tent had him wide awake, fumbling to find his glasses and feel for his phone.

A quick glance at the screen showed that it was only midnight and he clicked his tongue. He didn’t see the storm warning on the forecast before, because if he did he would have packed something warmer.

The blond turned his phone screen in Kageyama’s direction, the faint outline of the setter’s face illuminated, mouth opening and closing softly as he slept peacefully. Unaware of the storm blowing around them.

Tsukishima would have been pissed if it weren’t for the fact that his teeth were chattering. And he tried to wrap himself in the much too small sleeping bag that he had brought that was a hand-me-down from Akiteru.

              Tsukishima Kei was very weak to the cold, and being from Miyagi, many people would tease him about being so sensitive when most of Tohoku's weather consisted of knee deep snow and bitter winds. He would argue that staying indoors was always an option, however right now, that was not one of them.

Tsukishima lay there, hearing the torrents of rain pouring down the sides of the tent, contemplating the possible options he could take from here through his head. In this storm, heading out to ask Yamaguchi for extra blankets would probably just make him even more miserable. Heck, leaving his cocoon of a sleeping bag would be an utter mistake. Retaining heat was of utmost importance right now or he'd die from hypothermia. He needed a heat source.

Kageyama.

In his desperation he wriggled over to the sleeping setter a little ways away from him. Tsukishima had made it clear before they went to bed that if any part of Kageyama came near him he'd kick the boy out of the tent. 

"Hey." Tsukishima reached an arm out and hesitantly shook the setter. 

There was no response but Tsukishima noticed that Kageyama was warm. Like a radiator. 

He shuffled in closer, like a moth drawn to a light, but in this case - body heat. Kageyama's whole body was radiating warmth and if Tsukishima had to make a mocking joke about it, it was probably from all the excess energy he hadn't spent that day, spilling out like milk in a mug that had been microwaved for too long.

He pulled himself in, pressing the length of his body as close as he could without waking Kageyama up, gently touching his forehead against Kageyama’s chest. The heat was comforting and almost made Tsukishima forget the roar of the storm. And before long Tsukishima’s eyelids began drooping, the wind and the rain continuing to howl around the flimsy tent as the gentle rise and fall of Kageyama’s chest lulled Tsukishima to sleep.

              The sound of birds chirping was a signal for Kageyama Tobio to wake up, programmed into his body to tell him that the day was starting. His eyes fluttered open, slowly registering where he was and what he was doing the night before. Everything was dark, except the faint outline of his belongings and the shadows casted by the rising sun, peeking through the trees and hitting the side of the tent.

Before he could even wonder what time it was he was distracted by a single thought – It was ridiculously hot. He attempted to pull down the zip along the side of his sleeping bag to discover that he couldn’t. Squinting, he looked down to find see a mop of blond hair, pressed up against him.

He could feel Tsukishima’s breaths heating up the narrow space between them and he stared out at ‘Tsukishima’s side’ of the tent. Empty.

“Hey...” Kageyama, now fully awake, began to feel restless. In an attempt to shake Tsukishima awake he forcibly expelled the upper half of his body through the small opening of his sleeping bag.

The response was a groan and Tsukishima readjusted himself to maintain contact with the setter. “… five more…” he mumbled.

“No, it’s five.” Kageyama corrected, sitting up and checking the time on his phone. Tsukishima curled himself into a ball, and to retain warmth, shuffled his head into Kageyama’s lap.

“Wake up Tsukishima.” Kageyama said flatly, louder this time and Tsukishima’s eyes snapped open and there was silence.

For a moment the setter thought that Tsukishima had fallen asleep again, but after a moment the blond sat up abruptly, the back of his head missing Kageyama's chin by a few millimeters.

He rolled over away from the setter, similar to something a stuntman would have done in an action movie and grabbed his glasses, peeling himself free from his sleeping bag before sitting up. 

"'morning." Kageyama greeted, pulling himself out of his own sleeping bag and shuffling through his belongings to get out his toiletries. 

“M-morning.” Tsukishima choked out, pretending to look at his phone whilst adjusting his glasses.

The silence that pursued was deafening and Tsukishima wanted so badly for a tree would fall and crush him in that moment. 

Kageyama gathered his belongings and grunted to indicate that he was heading out and Tsukishima responded with a nod. Letting out a sigh when he was sure Kageyama had left.

“This is stupid.” He muttered to himself, curling up on ‘his side’ of the tent, trying to ignore the heated flush in his face, Kageyama’s touch lingering on his skin.

              The morning was a slow one and it was almost midday by the time everyone was fully awake and ready to get going – not that they had any solid plans for how to spend the day.

Hinata and Kageyama had already been out for a run, despite all the rain from the night before and came back with mud covered bottoms. And even though no one asked they insisted on convincing Yamaguchi that it wasn’t their fault that they had fallen over before Yamaguchi had to usher them to get changed and cleaned up.

Tsukishima gazed wistfully at his unfinished book as Yamaguchi suggested they all go for a hike after eating lunch – he had gotten to a particularly interesting chapter – but Yamaguchi insisted that Tsukishima shouldn’t spend all day in the tent even though he knew fully well that Tsukishima would if allowed. The blond finished up his bowl of curry, leftovers from last night, and reluctantly prepared himself mentally for the forced socializing he had ahead of him.

“It won’t be that bad!” Yamaguchi reassured, clearly excited to explore the hiking trails around the camping grounds. Tsukishima could feel the enthusiasm leaking out of every pore in the freckled boy’s body.

“I even bought a bag so we can store all the nice rocks we find! Just like back in elementary!” Yamaguchi flashed the messenger bag he had, the rustling sound indicating that there were some plastic bags to store their finds and Tsukishima laughed through his nose, amused, before shuffling away.

Yachi came over after Tsukishima had left, handing back the bug repellant she had borrowed from him. “Tsukishima seems so relaxed around you Yamaguchi-kun, it’s a little scary.”

Yamaguchi blushed. “You think so? Tsukki and I used to play together by the river all the time and we’d find interesting shaped rocks or look for fossils. Of course they weren’t fossils but it was still fun share what we found. But anyway… what I mean is Tsukki may look pretty stoic but he thinks about a lot of things.”

 Yachi smiled. “Tsukishima-kun is lucky to have someone like you!”

Yamaguchi scratched at his face shyly. “N-not really, more like I’m lucky to have Tsukki.”

Just as the two had broken into conversation Hinata and Kageyama had returned, accompanied by the yelling and hurling of mindless insults, consisting of the same five words.

“Seems like we’re all set to go.” Tsukishima stated flatly, as he came back, eyes glazed over.

Yachi pulled out her phone and showed them all the trail she had planned out with a photo she had taken of the campsite map. All the boys listened quietly and when asked for any objections, there were none. And with that they were off.

              The weather was surprisingly warm and it wasn’t as wet or muddy as Tsukishima thought it would be, considering what he had gone through last night, but it was enough to dampen the tips of their shoes.  The hike started relatively quiet, with short bursts of conversion as all of them walked in a single file along the narrow paths that weaved through the hills, with Yachi navigating them, struggling to lengthen her strides, painfully aware of her short legs.

It was when they had reached the river, about half way into their planned walk, they decided to stop for a break, the rocks seeming like a good place to sit and have some snacks which Hinata had been tasked with carrying.

“I bought a bunch of my favorite snacks.” Hinata chattered excitedly, unloading more snacks than any of them could possibly eat from his backpack. “I really like the cheese flavor for this but this one is really good too! Oh and this!”  

Yamaguchi took a few and Yachi chose a packet of gummies, leaving Kageyama and Tsukishima to stare at the plethora of snacks presented before them.

Tsukishima wasn’t particularly hungry but a certain snack caught his eye. A small packet of country maams, cookies, with pink packaging labeled ‘strawberry shortcake flavor’ and his hand instinctively reached out towards it.

His hand was met with Kageyama’s, also aiming for the same thing and without a second thought he held onto the packet. 

Apparently Kageyama also had the same idea, both of them death gripping the ends of the plastic packaging as if their lives depended on it.

“Hands off your highness, I saw it first.”

“No. You.”

Hinata’s face crumbled into desperation, “Hey guys there’s another one here you don’t have to fight!”

“SHUT UP HINATA!” both boys turned to yell at the shortest boy in unison and continued to grapple with the cookies with the stubbornness of  two five year olds.

“Got to have everything your way don’t you your highness.” Tsukishima readjusted his grip and glared at the setter who showed no signs of giving in, brow furrowed so deeply in concentration that he couldn’t even compose any kind of retort.

Hinata watched on, his lips drawn into a line. “If this is what’s happening then I guess… there’s only one way to settle this.” Clearly he hadn’t let the earlier scolding get to him, holding out the spare packet of Country Maams dramatically. “Rock-paper-scissors.”

Yamaguchi tried to suppress a laugh. “I think that would be fair.” And Yachi nodded in agreement. With that Kageyama and Tsukishima exchanged glances before loosening their grip slowly, allowing Hinata to quickly take the packet of cookies.

A couple of teenagers standing on the rocks, two of them looking like they were ready to face off in a shoot down own while the others looked on.

“So whoever wins get the Country Maams.” Yamaguchi confirmed, making sure that both parties understood the deal.

Tsukishima pushed up his glasses and smirked, “I’ll be putting out paper to beat your rock your highness.”

This statement had Kageyama blinking confusedly. “Wait-”

“Rock! Paper! Scissors!” Tsukishima had started without him, leaving the setter no time to think, quickly pulling his hand to make scissors, unfortunately pitched against Tsukishima’s balled fist, rock.

“Seems like I won.” Tsukishima hummed, directing the dirtiest smirk he could muster at Kageyama.

“That’s cheating!!” Hinata yelled angrily, immediately sympathizing with the enraged Kageyama.

“Best out of three!!” Kageyama insisted through gritted teeth.

“Tsukki already won though!” Yamaguchi argued, but Hinata held onto the snack righteously, demanding for a best-of-three.

“Sure.” Tsukishima laughed.

“Damn Tsukishima, not even scared! You’re a dirty cheater!! Get him Kageyama!” Hinata egged on, waving his fist angrily, taking personal offense to Tsukishima’s overflowing confidence.

The two faced one another and Hinata acted as an unofficial referee, not giving any time for Tsukishima to pull the same stunt as before, “….alright. Ready? GO!”

“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”

Both boys threw out their fists. Kageyama repeating his scissors and Tsukishima, rock. It was the blond’s victory.

“NOOOOO!!! KAGEYAMA!!” Hinata howled dramatically, falling to his knees as Tsukishima strolled up to collect his prize, not hesitating to rip open the snack and toss one of the cookies in his mouth in front of Kageyama. Victory always made things taste sweeter and Tsukishima reveled in it. He knew that Kageyama understood that he lost a match fair and square and watched as the frustrated setter gabbed one of the snacks from Hinata’s bag and opened it angrily in an attempt to quell the damage done to his pride inflicted by his loss.

“I knew you’d win!” Yamaguchi gave Tsukishima a pat on the shoulder proudly as Tsukishima put another cookie in his mouth, savoring the sweet taste of artificial strawberries and cream flavoring.

“We can have a look for some rocks after you’re done!”

Tsukishima nodded, his eyes still fixed on Kageyama, still angrily shoving fistfuls of corn chips into his mouth and the blond approached.

“What.”

Tsukishima held out the crinkled packaging, shaking around the last three cookies that were left inside. “Here.”

Kageyama looked at them and up at Tsukishima, then back at the cookies. “Are you making fun of me?”

“You can take them or leave them I don’t really care.” Tsukishima huffed, shaking the packaging again in his hand and Kageyama snatched two and crammed them into his mouth. “Thanks.” He mumbled through a mouthful of chips and cookie.

Tsukishima pretended to not hear and took the last cookie, popping it into his mouth before folding the rubbish up to store in his back pocket. He turned around and climbed over the rocks in long strides to Yamaguchi by the river, avoiding the puddles of water strewn between the rocks.

The freckled boy was picking up pebbles and examining them as Tsukishima squatted down next to him.

“That was awfully nice of you.” Yamaguchi mentioned nonchalantly as he washed and probed one of the rocks in the clear running water of the river.  

“I’m not. I just wasn’t that hungry.” Tsukishima replied casually, dipping his fingertips into the water.

Yamaguchi hummed in response, running a thumb over the wet rock in his hands, feeling the little angular bumps that the river hadn’t quite yet smoothed out.

Tsukishima fished around the rocks in the water, pulling out one that looked transparent with a slight shimmer to it.

“Woah it looks like a dinosaur egg!” Yamaguchi commented excitedly, throwing his own find down to look at Tsukishima’s.

“I don’t know… it might be glass.” Tsukishima replied, holding it up to light to see it glimmer in the suns rays.

After a long while spent mucking around by the riverside the group decided to resume their journey, the second part of the hike in a more flattened out area and the path they were following opened up to allow everyone to walk together.

Yachi pointed out a clearing on the map they were heading to where they would take another short break before heading back to the tents.

The walk was peaceful and Yamaguchi could tell that Tsukishima was enjoying himself after they had spent a good deal of time looking at stones and mindlessly conversing. Tsukishima didn’t even mind when everyone else joined to look at their collection, trying to hold back a proud smile as the first years expressed their awe over them.

“I bet you I could beat you to that clearing.” Hinata challenged Kageyama suddenly to break the lull in conversation as they walked along the dirt trail.

“Bring it on.” Kageyama grinned and before the other three could even render what was happening they had taken off. Yachi yelling after them to remember to take a left turn at the fork.

“There they go…” Yamaguchi sighed as they disappeared around the corner, but their screaming could still be heard, until that too, faded out.  

“I’m not running.” Tsukishima said loudly when he exchanged glances with Yamaguchi, who had a glint of mischevious compeition in his eyes. “You can go if you want but I’ll walk with Yachi-san.”

“You’re no fun Tsukki.”

“I’m not here to run. I’m here to enjoy my weekend. We do enough running at practice already anyway.” Tsukishima reasoned and Yachi laughed and voiced her thoughts.

 “I wonder how Hinata and Kageyama do it. Running like that all the time I mean...”

“The energy that was dedicated to their brains have gone to their body I guess.”

“Do you not like practice, Tsukishima-kun?”

Tsukishima paused before answering, “I mean, it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just tiring.”

“Tsukki gets everything done anyway so it's not a problem!” Yamaguchi piped, backing Tsukishima up.

"Shut up Yamaguchi. It's not like I can keep up with those two stamina monsters. Why even bother." the blond focused his gaze on the trail before him. The soft sound of their footsteps filling the green tunnel.

 As they arrived at the clearing there was only one person there - Kageyama.

“Where’s Hinata?” Yachi asked as they approached.

Kageyama looked around before answering, “I donno.”

“Could he have gotten lost?” There was a panicked tone in Yamaguchi’s voice. “It’s going to get dark soon, we should look for him since its dangerous… plus there are bears out here…”

Tsukishima scoffed, “Why not just text him and we can meet him back at the tents?”

“I have his phone.” Kageyama held up Hinata’s phone, “He made me hold his backpack because it’s my turn to hold the snacks.”

“We should look for him! You know Hinata, there’s no way he’d make it back to the campsite alone, it’s easily a 30minute walk from here and the area is so big!” The panic in Yamaguchi’s voice was rising and Tsukishima couldn’t deny that what Yamaguchi was saying was painfully true.

“We’ll split up, me and Yachi. Tsukki and Kageyama.” Yamaguchi directed, quick to act as usual and Yachi pulled out the map on her phone so that everyone could refer to it. “We’ll search here and Tsukki you search this area with Kageyama.” He used the pen tool to draw a rough area on the map which Yachi forwarded to everyone via their group chat and after a quick run down of where to search and when to to meet back up the two groups split off down seperate trails. 

Kageyama and Tsukishima scoured the woods and clearings whilst calling out for Hinata, their calls returned only by stirring birds or Yachi and Yamaguchi’s calls faintly in the distance.

Kageyama kicked at some grass, droplets of water clinging to his shoes. "Stupid idiot, getting lost." he grumbled. 

 “Hah, I agree with you on that one.” Tsushima huffed, pushing his glasses up. “I wonder what even goes through his mind sometimes. All muscles and reflexes but no brains, truly unfortunate.” he continued on in a mocking tone. "and you know what Hinata said the other day!? That the two of us were similar! Isn't that the must unfunny joke you have ever heard? Like, how am I in any way similar to you your highne-"

Kageyama stopped abruptly, turning on his heel and grabbing Tsukishima roughly down by the collar, pulling him into a kiss, their mouths making contact a little more than forcefully.

Tsukishima, initially frozen in shock, fumbled to pull away. "...What... was that for?" he laughed, an attempt to hide his disbelief.

"I don't know." the shorter boy replied.

"How can you not know?" Tsukishima spluttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Are you an idiot?"

Kageyama looked at Tsukishima and bit his lip in thought before responding. “I think I like you." 

"Huh?"

"I like you." 

"No I heard you the first time!" 

"Well then… do you like me?"

"Well, I don't... hate you..."

"So, you like me?"

"...You know right now isn’t the time for this!"

Tsukishima had only just realised his voice was exponentially getting louder along with his frustration, shouting at the top of his lungs. He stopped and sighed loudly into his hands. “Look, let’s just focus on finding Hina-”

But before Tsukishima could continue Kageyama grabbed him tightly by the arm. "You… you try really hard all the time." He cut in loudly, but hesitantly, his pout indicating that he was exhausting a lot of mental energy to avoid the landmines buried in the cracks of Tsukishima's patience. "...and you like volleyball... so I like you." he looked expectantly at Tsukishima who stared back as if Kageyama had spoken in a language that wasn’t Japanese.

There was a moment of silence where the blond’s mind began processing at an inhuman speed, arguably faster than it would during a volleyball match and when his analysis was completed he spoke out loudly, "Hinata. I know you're here." 

There was a muffled squeal from somewhere behind him.

"Yachi and Yamaguchi too. Don't think that I don't know."

There was some faint whispering before Yamaguchi revealed himself, Hinata and Yachi in tow. And upon seeing them all lined up, avoiding eye contact with guilty faces, Tsukishima didn’t hold back.

"So can someone explain?"

"It was my idea." Kageyama interrupted and Tsukishima put his face in his hands and sighed again, wondering how many sighs it would take for him to concuss himself, “I wasn’t asking you.”

"P-please don't be angry at Kageyama-kun, he just asked us for some help..." Yachi defended the setter the best she could, voice shaking.

"Plus, Tsukki.... you... like Kageyama don't you?" Yamaguchi piped up shyly, scratching the back of his neck.

"I don't." Tsukishima snapped.

"You don't?" Kageyama asked.

"I mean I do, but I don't!" Tsukishima shouted has he ran his hands down his face. "Why are you all so nosy!" He shot a glare at the person who had most likely orchestrated it all, Yamaguchi, who swallowed loudly and looked away.

"Is it bad to want to help a friend?" Hinata cut in sternly before Tsukishima could go off. "I don't know what how you feel because it seems to contradict what everyone else says. But if Bakageyama is trying to his best to tell you the least you can do is also try and listen for once."

"What’s with “Bakageyama”?!” the setter was quick to retort as usual. 

"Oh and you think I'm not “trying”?" Tsukishima laughed sourly and everyone paused, the curdling malice in Tsukishima's voice hanging heavy in the air.

After a deep sigh and recollecting himself Tsukishima continued, "You know what. I just need some time to myself." He turned around and left. He needed space. He needed to be away from it all. He didn't know where he was going. He just needed to be alone. 

Yamaguchi exchanged glances with the other Karasuno first years and held a hand up, signaling that he would sort it out with the blond alone, jogging after Tsukishima who had managed to distance himself with long strides.

"Hey..." Yamaguchi approached cautiously.

Tsukishima didn't turn around, nor did he respond, continuing to tread through the wet grass.

" Tsukki... I'm sorry."

"You're not."

Yamaguchi winced at the words, sharp as a knife.

"Lame." Tsukishima’s muttered under his breath, but it was just loud enough for Yamaguchi to bear, flat and low. He knew it was Tsukishima’s way of retreating, scrambling to contain his emotions, like trying to keep the waves from taking away the granules of a sandcastle.

“Tsukki…” Yamaguchi couldn’t find any words to say. He had organized this all behind Tsukishima’s back and only now, with plans gone awry, was the wave of regret hitting him. He didn’t have the right to speak. He bit his lip and watched as Tsukishima left.

“Will he be okay on his own?” Yachi’s concern was more transparent than usual and Yamaguchi turned around, face twisted into a worried smile. “Yeah, he’ll be alright.” He reassured, hoping that Yachi wouldn’t pick up on his budding anxiety.

Hinata approached and after hearing Yamaguchi, rested his hands on his hips. “It’s Tsukishima! He’ll be fine.”

“I hope so…” Yamaguchi sighed, rubbing his chest nervously with his palm.

“Wait… where’s Kageyama?”

   The further Tsukishima walked the more the irritation bubbled up in his chest. He stopped. Letting out an angry shout, absent of words or thoughts, just a pure, unrestrained scream. His voice echoed through the trees and bushes, carried away by the silence.

Moments later he bent over breathless. Staring at the blades of grass still wet with residual drops of rain.

“Feeling better?”

The voice was from the last person he wanted to see on earth right now, but that didn’t stop him from looking up.

“Kazuyo-san always said that when you’re angry you should let it out. So you should scream more.”

Tsukishima didn’t know who Kageyama was referring to but he adjusted his glasses and spat out a scorning laugh. “Did you come to make fun of this pathetic, struggling, commoner? “ 

Kageyama took a few steps closer to Tsukishima, their eyes locking as Tsukishima held his ground.

“No. I came to see if you were still angry.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips. “You really should watch what you say your Highness. Do you think I wouldn’t be mad after every single one of you were in on this the whole time?” 

Kageyama paused to think, scratching his temple before answering. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m here.”

   Tsukishima found this part of Kageyama frustrating, confusing, and unpredictable. He didn’t like the way the King took his own thoughts and laid them out so plainly and clearly for the whole world to see and hear, with the seeming lack of consideration towards the feelings of others. His confidence in his own words always had Tsukishima unsure of himself, doubting the thoughts and emotions that he felt.

Tsukishima laughed again.

“Why do you always laugh like that?” Kageyama asked, leaving no room for Tsukishima to think.

Tsukishima couldn’t answer. His mind was fumbling for an excuse, anything but the fact that he was unsure. His mouth hung open.

“I asked everyone to help me. So it’s not their fault.” Kageyama continued, inching closer to Tsukishima, whose face began to twist in frustration. “I want to know how you feel about me.”

Tsukishima grimaced, his eyes wondering over the ground as he went over his thoughts, everything that had happened in the past day or so and everything he had been through since the start of high school. But the only conclusion he could come to was stupidly simple – He liked Kageyama Tobio.

It wasn’t as if it was a revelation. Nor an epiphany. It was just the truth that he had avoided for so long because of the way it made him feel, the weakness he’d show in accepting that he’d fallen in love with the boy standing before him. The belief that pushing away the potential happiness presented before him was the only option.

He looked back up, his eyes meeting Kageyama’s and he didn’t look away. “You’re stubborn, do as you please, you’re not very good at expressing your feelings, you’re impatient…”

Kageyama’s eyes widened at the sudden bombard of verbal insults, stepping back slightly.

“…but….you love volleyball more than anyone else I know. And…” Tsukishima’s voice came out as a mere whisper, his difficult expression softening as he fiddled with his fingers, gaze falling down to his calloused hands.  

“…And?”

“I guess I like you, too.” Tsukishima laughed.

“Good.”

“What do you mean ‘good’, your highness? Cold to your subordinates as usual.”

“You’re not mad at me.”

“Are you seriously still thinking about that?”

With that Kageyama gingerly took Tsukishima’s hand in his, squishing the blond’s fingers between his own. “I don’t know what I’d do if you were.” He pouted.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad at you for the crap you and everyone else pulled you know.”

“Wait, so you’re mad at me?”

“…Yes.”

Kageyama’s brow suddenly winkled so deeply Tsukishima thought it would leave marks before he kissed it, the lines fading almost instantaneously.

“Let’s head back. It’s starting to get dark.”

“Well, well, here come the lovebirds.” Hinata smirked, hands on his hips as he watched Tsukishima and Kageyama make their way over to the tents, not missing the moment Tsukishima tore his hand right out of Kageyama’s grasp as they approached the others.

Yamaguchi let out a sigh of relief as he and Yachi ran over to greet them, offering them the stew they had made for dinner in their absence, apologetic looks pasted over their faces.

Kageyama didn’t hesitate when it came to the food. He took and gouged down the whole bowl before Hinata, not failing  to incite the flame of competition in the shorter middleblocker. And before anyone could stop them, the two were racing over to the pot to get seconds with a concerned Yachi chasing after them, leaving Yamaguchi and Tsukishima alone.

Tsukishima sat down in one of the camping chairs before the spitting fire and held his bowl in his hands, using it to warm his fingertips and eyeing the steam rising from it as Yamaguchi looked at him expectantly, playing with a loose thread on the end of his shirt.

“You know if you stare any harder you’ll drill a hole in my head.” Tsukishima put the bowl to his lips and took a sip to test the temperature. Still a bit too hot.

Yamaguchi panicked, “I-I’m sorry Tsukki…” he turned his gaze at the ground, littered with muddy footprints.

“Seems like I owe you cake.” Tsukishima took his spoon and fished out the vegetables resting at the bottom of the stew, blowing at it before putting it into his mouth. “But you still owe me the Haagen Dasz.”

Yamaguchi paused for a moment, almost falling out of his chair as he scrambled to turn to Tsukishima. “Tsukki!?” He had almost bitten his tongue with all the words he had wanted to say at once.

The blond continued to eat his stew. The other three returned with Kageyama and Hinata's bowls filled precariously to the brim, Hinata already eating while he was walking, as if he were being chased by a hungry animal.

Tsukishima stood up and approached Yachi who was busy worrying about the strange duo spilling the hot liquid over themselves, and before she could even react to the middle blocker towering over her he bowed deeply, bowl cupped in his hands. “Sorry for the trouble I caused.”

Hinata gasped loudly, "Tsukishima only treats Yachi as human! That's not fair! Where's my apology!? And what about Yamaguchi!?"

"I don't think the person getting lost and stressing everyone out deserves an apology." Tsukishima scoffed. 

"That was part of the plan!!" Hinata pouted, waving his spoon angrily.

"But... you actually got lost didn't you? You didn't meet us at the meeting spot. Thank god we found you." Yamaguchi piped and Hinata looked away embarrassed as Tsukishima sneered.

“Yamaguchi you’re such a snitch!” he muttered.

Yachi wiped the tears welling in the corners of her eyes, "I'm so glad you're not mad at us! I was so worried Tsukishima-kun!” 

“He is mad though.” Kageyama corrected.

“Only at you.” Hinata elbowed the setter in the side, earning him a kick to the shins which had him dropping to the ground to stop himself from throwing the stew in his hands. “Bakageyama!! That’s dangerous!”

 Kageyama already had his eyes drilled on Tsukishima for confirmation, “Are you only mad at me?”

Yachi and Yamaguchi directed their gazes at Tsukishima, curious, as he continued to eat his soup in silence despite the fact it was burning the entirety of his mouth.

“Tell us!! Or are you just being a bully?” Hinata pestered from the ground, still crouched with his bowl. “Tsuuuuuu-kiiiii-shiii-maaaaa!!!”

The blond couldn’t stand those big, blue eyes locked onto him, anticipating his answer and he swallowed his burning mouthful of stew. “I’m not mad at him okay!?”

“Hah. So he’s mad at you. I win.” Kageyama scoffed at Hinata and without bothering to use his spoon drank all of his stew as some mindless display of power. “And I win this too.” He grinned wiping his mouth with his sleeve, holding up his empty bowl.

Hinata gritted his teeth, angry and frustrated, tearing out a handful of grass before downing his bowl and running after Kageyama who was racing to get seconds. Business as usual.

“That’s not fair on Hinata, Tsukki.” the slight scolding tone strewn amongst Yamaguchi’s words was telling of Tsukishima’s favoritism.

“Don’t talk to me.” Tsukishima shot back, he knew very well that he had given in to a moment of weakness. 

There was a pause before they both chuckled. Tsukishima finding that his stew was at an edible temperature, ate quietly, while Yamaguchi turned to Yachi to chat. The ambient crackling of the fire filling in the gap between their words.

“S-So are you and Kageyama-kun dating now?” Yachi asked Tsukishima unexpectedly and the blond almost choked.

Two replies came simultaneously.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Confused looks were exchanged as everyone turned to find Kageyama approaching from behind Yachi, refill in hand. He and Tsukishima stared at one another accusedly.

“Excuse me your highness, what do you think would happen after you told me that you like me?” Tsukishima could feel the little patience he had slip from his fingers.

“You never asked.” Kageyama replied immediately.  

Upon some quick consideration Tukishima realized that Kageyama was right but at the same time, wasn’t dating implied if Kageyama confessed? What’s the point if they didn’t? He couldn’t let himself look like a fool in front of everyone and he chose his reaction without thinking.

“Then date me.”

Kageyama, who was bracing himself to argue, blinked. “Huh?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself…” Tsukishima barked, face  suddenly flushing red, shoving another spoonful of stew, which was now cold, into his mouth and examining the remaining bits of beef and potato left in his bowl.

“SAY YES KAGEYAMA!! Before he takes it back!!!” Hinata hastily gave Kageyama a push and Kageyama stumbled before Tsukishima, eyes wide.

Tsukishima looked up from the camping chair. The two staring at one another for what felt like forever until Kageyama broke the tense silence.

“Okay.”

To that Hinata snorted and Yamaguchi covered his mouth to hide the snigger he failed to hold back.

“That’s the most unromantic thing I have ever heard!” Hinata laughed as Kageyama, confused at why everyone was even laughing, went bright red. And in response Tsukishima put his face in his hand. But the small smile that escaped, unable to be hidden, was caught by Yachi’s eyes and she couldn’t help but laugh along.

              Tsukishima felt a wave of conflicting emotions as he saw his mother pull up in their family car. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to go back to school, to practice and leave the peace and quiet of nature behind.

Last night the five of them had talked until they heard the morning birds call before they scrambled to clean up and get at least a few hours of sleep. Tsukishima and Kageyama clumsily clambering into their tent, the sudden wave of exhaustion, both physical and mental, hitting them all at once and with the chill of the fall air nipping at their skin they curled up together, falling asleep without a complaint. Tsukishima waking up to find Kageyama’s fingers curled around his own and the sight of a sleeping King was a blessing for Tsukishima’s tired eyes.

Their adventure together had come to an end and the blond couldn’t decide whether the camping trip had been ten years or just three days long, albeit they had woken up closer to noon on their last day, only a couple of hours before the Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s mothers were due to pick them up. They had spent it lazily dismantling the tents and scrubbing the pots and pans, ready to be loaded into the cars when they arrived.

Tsukishima put the bags of equipment into the Yamaguchi family car and watched as Kageyama picked up two of the tents and Hinata picking up three bags, followed by Kageyama picking up another bag and the last tent, face contorted as he hobbled over to the car with his arms full and Tsukishima wondered whether he was just feverish over the weekend to have asked Kageyama to date him.

“I’m glad everything worked out in the end.” Yamaguchi dusted his hands off after unloading his bags into the trunk, placing himself beside Tukishima with a satisfied grin stretching over his face.  

“That’s easy for you to say.” Tsukishima replied, eyes following Kageyama and watching as his mother laughed, rushing over to help the struggling setter. “I thought I was going to have aneurysm from the stress.”

“Stop being so dramatic Tsukki.” The short boy laughed, giving Tsukishima a playful shove.

“You still owe me the Haagen Dasz.” Tsukishima reminded pointedly.

Yamaguchi smiled. “I’ll buy you two. One for you and one for your boyfriend.” When he finished he took off in a sprint and Tsukishima went after him with little hesitation. He would not tolerate being humiliated like this.

And after Yamaguchi placed Kageyama between him and Tsukishima the chase came to a simmer. Tsukishima, mindful of the mothers watching made a mental note to chase Yamaguchi down later.

“Can I sit in the front?” Hinata yelled from the front seat of the car, more of statement than a question and before Tsukishima could even comment the door slammed shut, locked for a little extra security.

Tsukishima exchanged glances with his mother who shrugged with a raised brow and he heard the slam of the other car doors, Yachi and Yamaguchi piled into the back of the Yamaguchi family car. So this is how they were going to play the game.

“Guess we gotta sit in the back of your car.” Kageyama stated the obvious, oblivious to the mischief the rest of the crew were up to and without any choice, the two climbed into the back seat together.

“We all buckled up?” Tsukishima’s mother asked, starting up the engine whilst looking at the boys through the back mirror.

“I’m ready!” Hinata piped and Tsukishima’s mother laughed, pulling out of the campsite to lead the way home.

“How was camping?” His mother asked as Tsukishima eyed the trees passing by, Hinata and Kageyama’s not-so-faint snoring filling up the car.

“Alright I guess.”

“You looked like you had fun.”

“The storm wasn’t.” Tsukishima winced as he flashed back to the cold night he had braved in the tent, his expression softening when he remembered Kageyama’s radiating warmth.

“I mean that’s just how it is sometimes.” His mother giggled, “Did you get any reading done?”

“Nor at all.” Tsukishima sighed.

“Well you have tonight to wind down. But I did invite Tadashi, and everyone else over for dinner.”

“You didn’t ask me.”

“I assumed you’d be okay with it, since you always talk about them anyway.”

Tsukishima pouted. “You’re just like Yamaguchi.” He watched as two birds flying by disappeared into the trees.

His mother laughed in response before letting the quiet hum of the engine take over the conversation and Tsukishima closed his eyes. Kageyama’s head, which had be dipping backwards and forwards for quite some time now, came to rest on his shoulder.

Tsukishima cracked his eyes open to glance at the setter before nonchalantly sliding his fingers to interlock them with Kageyama’s, gently giving them a squeeze. In the midst of letting his consciousness drift he felt a gentle reciprocal squeeze and a small smile danced over his lips.

Tomorrow they had school and club practice would resume after classes. Tsukishima was absolutely sure that a new set of problems would arise after this hectic weekend, especially with the changed relationship between him and Kageayama. But right now he was too tired to think about any of it. 

He could deal with it later.