Chapter Text
Tsukishima didn’t know if he was a masochist or the stupidity of their resident volleyball idiots was rubbing off on him, it definitely had nothing to do with Hinata’s almost too cute pout when he first refused, but here he was, sitting on the floor of his room with his best friend next to him and the other two first years sitting across from them. They somehow convinced him to help them with their homework while Yachi, their usual tutor, was busy with family business or whatever it was she said.
“Tsukishima, is this right?” Hinata asked from in front of him as he slid his sheet of work to Tsukishima’s area of the table. Tsukishima picked up the sheet and looked at his answers and he had to admit, the short middle blocker has definitely improved academically. He’s still an idiot, but his studying and grades are definitely a step up from the first time he attempted to tutor him. He might feel a bit proud of the boy, though, he’d never admit that to any of them. He slides the paper back over to Hinata and points out the places where he made mistakes and goes back to reading his textbook.
A ping comes from someone’s phone and moments later, Yamaguchi speaks up, “Oh! I have to get home already, sorry guys! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
He starts to pack his books and papers when Kageyama also speaks up, “Here let me help and I’ll walk you home.” Tsukishima glances up at them and swears he sees a slight blush spreading across their faces, but he chalks it up to the warmth of the room. He looks at Hinata and sees him so focused that he hasn’t even realized that two of them were leaving already.
“Boke! Don’t forget that we’re going to work on the new attack before practice tomorrow morning!” Hinata looks up at that and he beams up at Kageyama, “Of course, baka! I’ll even get there before you!”
Tsukishima rolled his eyes, leave it to them to make even getting there a competition. Yamaguchi and Kageyama finally finished putting their things away and started walking towards the door. Kageyama walked ahead and Yamaguchi stopped behind Hinata, looked at Tsukishima and mouthed, ‘Tell him’, and gestured at Hinata. Tsukishima rolled his eyes, sarcastically smiled, and said, “See you tomorrow, Yamaguchi. King, I expect him to get home safe.”
Kageyama scoffed and muttered something no one else could hear and they left. Hinata went back to fixing his homework, scribbling on his worksheet. Tsukishima stared as Hinata’s eyebrows scrunched together and his tongue poked out past his lips in concentration.
Tell him? Tell him what? That he might like him? He’s not even sure that he does. Tsukishima could just want to kiss Hinata because of how much he wishes he would just shut up. And even if he did, how am he supposed to do that? He would honestly rather befriend a hungry lion… or Nishinoya. Tsukishima snorted as he thought to himself. Hinata looked up at him with a questioning look on his face, but Tsukishima just waved him off. The ginger looked back down and scribbled some more, then slid the paper back to the tall blonde. He took it and looked over it.
“There you go shrimpy, see? Was that so hard?” He teased. Hinata huffed and pouted, crossing his arms, “Meanieshima, stop calling me that! I am not that small.” Tsukishima groaned on the inside There’s that damned pout again, the ginger makes the taller boy want to kiss it off his stupid face.
“I don’t know, from my point of view, you look pretty small,” Tsukishima smirked at him. Hinata huffed again and rolled his eyes. He reached over and started taking his things out of his book bag and placing them on the floor in front of him.
“Why are you emptying your bag?” Tsukishima asked.
“I’m gonna put my stuff back in more neatly, duh.” He replied, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Hinata quietly finished putting his stuff in his bag and looked up at Tsukishima with a nervous look on his face.
“Uh, Tsukishima?”, the taller boy raised his eyebrow, urging the smaller boy to continue, “I- uh- I just wanted to say thanks, for the help.” Pink was dusted across his cheeks and Tsukishima swore he could see light freckles on his cheeks, not that he was even paying enough attention to notice or anything.
Tsukishima gave him a small smile, “Yeah, anytime dumbass.” Hinata and Tsukishima stood up and started walking out. At the front door, Tsukishima ruffled Hinata’s hair, “See you tomorrow, shrimpy.” Hinata blushed again, nodded, then left.
What the hell was that about? Was Hinata blushing? Was he blushing… at Tsukishima? No, that’s literally impossible, he wouldn’t. He shook his head as he walked back into his room. He kneeled and started to pick up the books he had scattered near his area. He reached under the table to grab one of the books when he saw a black journal down there. Confused, he picked it up and opened it.
Hinata Shoyo. It was written on the inside of the front cover. The first two pages were blank, finally getting to the notes on the third page, except, they weren’t notes.
I’m starting school at Karasuno tomorrow. The first thing I want to do is join their volleyball team! It’ll be my first time on an actual team!! I’m so so excited!
It went on to describe how anxious he was and more about volleyball and wanting to play. Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the ginger. All he wanted was to play volleyball and, if he was being honest, there was a time when he could relate to that. Tsukishima takes a moment to debate whether or not he should read through this. It’s definitely an invasion of privacy, but, it’s Hinata, what’s the worst he could have written in here? He flips to the next page and keeps reading.
AGH! These last few days have been so frustrating! Turns out, that stupid setter from the only game I played in middle school is also at Karasuno! Not only that, but he’s a total jerk! Now we have to work together in a game against two other first years. Speaking of, I met them today! They seem just as bad! Well one just kind of seems like he follows his friend. But the friend is such a jerk! Not only is he tall, but he’s stupid and sarcastic and blonde and- and HOT! It’s not fair! Mean people should not be allowed to be hot.
Tsukishima felt his face heating up and he didn’t bother to finish this page. Hinata… thinks Tsukishima’s hot? Wait, no. That doesn’t mean anything, he had thought Kuroo was hot before the stupid cat opened his stupid mouth. He looked back down and skipped a few pages that looked like they were just about volleyball and such. He saw Yamaguchi’s name and stopped to read that page.
So Kageyama told me about his crush today, and I’m kind of jealous. Not because I like him like that or anything, but he has a crush on Yamaguchi!
Tsukishima scoffed at that, Yamaguchi was not as nice as Hinata’s implying he is, but maybe that’s just because they’re best friends. He continued reading.
-It’s just not fair! He gets to have feelings for Yamaguchi, who is actually one of the nicest people I’ve ever met once I got to actually know him, but I’m stuck having feelings for someone who would never like me back. I mean, at least I know they wouldn’t, so maybe knowing that will make it easier to get over it. Anyways, I have a training camp coming up and I need to study because if I don't pass, I can’t go.
So the tiny middle blocker had a crush, he wondered if the setter knew of his best friend’s crush, or at least the gender, since his writing wasn’t specific about it. He shoved those thoughts aside for later and flipped past some more pages. So he doesn’t write as often as everyday or every week, but just when big things happen? Or maybe when he feels the need to?
Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck, FUCK-
Tsukishima’s eyes widened and he started to slightly doubt this was Hinata’s journal. He heard the smaller boy argue with the king about not saying the word shit, so was this really Hinata?
-I am so screwed, and I hate to curse, but I am a complete dumbass, this is a fact that everyone knows. And I have completely outdone (did I use that word right?) myself. I knew I needed to get over it, I needed to get over this stupid crush, and what do I do? I fall for the guy even more! I know for a fact that he wouldn’t like me back, but ever since the training camp and our practices with Bokuto and Kuroo in the third gym, he’s been making changes and improving so much. I can tell he cares about volleyball and I can tell he cares about the people on the team, even if he doesn’t like to show it.-
Wait a second- He cut his own thoughts off and continued reading.
-He’s so sarcastic and rude, but I can tell he’s just teasing when he is and it’s so weird. I can’t tell if I wanna kiss Tsukishima or if I wanna punch him in his stupidly attractive face.-
Tsukishima dropped the journal as soon as he finished reading that sentence. “Holy shit, he likes me.” He didn’t know how to feel about this. Yeah, okay, maybe he liked the dumbass, but would he be able to handle dating him? Wait, wait, wait, who’s to even say the shorter male still liked him? Who knows how long ago he wrote this. Damn him for not putting dates on his entries. Then again, he most definitely did not plan for the journal to be read by someone other than himself. Tsukishima took a breath and decided to keep reading.
-But holy SHIT, when he blocked Japan’s spike a few days ago, then came back into the game like some kind of hero? I was about two seconds away from just kissing him right then and there in front of everyone.
What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the- Tsukishima felt like he was going to burst. That game was last week. This was written sometime within the last few days. This all points to Hinata liking him, like right now. Holy shit, everything makes so much sense now. He put the journal down and laid down on his bed, thoughts of Hinata swarming his head, not that it was much different than usual, only now he knew how the tiny spiker felt about him as well.