Work Text:
Year 1
The first time Tsukishima met him, it was more or less than a shitshow.
You see, high school Tsukishima was nothing but a saltshaker. Especially first-year Tsukishima, who wasn’t yet willing to accept that feeling emotions, any emotion, was normal. He supposes his coldness comes from the disappointment he felt in his childhood after having his morale completely crushed after getting his hopes all the way up. Not that he blames his brother for that, of course, he just now has the preference to not feel.
Simply put, Tsukishima is not an expressive person. Never have been, never will be. So being introduced to this… bouncing ball of sunshine was not an ideal situation for him in the slightest. Not only was he left scowling at the stranger’s excessive energy, he was also unable to run away from this situation because he was meeting said stranger through his childhood best friend.
“You’re… introducing me to a child?”
Tsukishima lifts an accusatory finger and points it at the now offended-looking ginger. Yamaguchi, who is now given the responsibility of holding back the angry ginger, gives his friend a glare.
“Hey, that’s not nice, Tsukki—”
“I’M THE SAME AGE AS YOU, DIPSHIT!”
Tsukishima scoffs at that, tugging at the headphones around his neck over his head and onto his ears.
“Not with that height, you aren’t.”
The blonde thinks that his reaction is pretty justified (of course he does). Yamaguchi likes to remind (nag at) him that not everyone will immediately understand his crude ways of teasing people, but he likes to think that people who can’t handle his teasing are simply weak. Much like the shorty over here.
“Tsukki, you should apologize to Hinata! He just transferred into our class and I thought it’d be nice to start hanging out with him—”
Turning around, Tsukishima bends down with the condescendence of a tall person who knows they’re really fucking tall, and presents to this Hinata the most superficial smile he could muster. It seems to throw the ginger off-guard based on the way he recoils and even brings his hands up towards his face defensively.
“W-what are you looking at?!”
“Care to tell me your full name?”
“Hinata Shouyou!! Born June 21st!! I just transferred into your class—”
Tsukishima lifts a hand to squeeze Hinata’s cheeks together, effectively turning whatever he says next into incomprehensible gibberish, his tight-lipped smile even thinner now. He leans in even closer to Hinata, which isn’t a great idea thinking about it now because his back is starting to ache, but it was worth seeing the ginger nearly tear up. Pssh. What a brat.
“I didn’t ask for all that. Just your name. Now, I do apologize, Hinata-chan, I hope you can accept my apology, hm?”
Hinata looks absolutely stunned in front of him, but there’s something else shining in his eyes and dusting over his cheeks that is almost reminiscent of that one girl that recently confessed to him. A little concerned for himself now, Tsukishima lets him go in favor of straightening back up, even making a show of stretching out his limbs as if crouching down did the worst to his back. He spots Yamaguchi with his hands pressed together in some sort of a prayer and almost feels bad for him. Just almost.
“I’ll be going home first, then. Try not to get run over by the high schoolers on your way home, Hinata-chan.”
Tsukishima turns up the volume of his music and turns away before he can see Yamaguchi do his best to restrain a flustered, wriggling Hinata.
“OI, I’M THE SAME AGE AS YOU!!!”
--
Usually, when Tsukishima offends someone, they run away with their tail tucked between their legs. So why was it that Hinata was currently standing at his desk, bento box in hand?
The blond sighs when he spots the familiar yellow hoodie underneath a black gakuran, not even bothering to lift his head to look at Hinata.
“What do you want?”
“Let’s eat together!”
That gets Tsukishima to look at him, though his expression is something between disdain and disgust. He wasn’t sure what part of his expression screamed ‘I might have insulted you when we first met, but yeah I’m cool with eating lunch together’. He’s quite sure there is nothing. And yet… Hinata seems so excited to spend time with him.
“What makes you think I wanna eat lunch with you?”
He leans back in his seat, giving Hinata the same look he used to give Yamaguchi’s bullies, hoping that this would be enough to get his message through. But somehow, instead of sporting the same fearful expression like the normal person, Hinata simply beams at Tsukishima.
“You seem like a cool guy! I wanna be your friend!”
“…”
“Don’t give me that look! What’s wrong with wanting to have friends?!”
Tsukishima sighs, running a hand through his hair. He didn’t think he’d meet someone so stubborn. Shooting Hinata a cold glare, he makes his thoughts clear.
“I’m not eating lunch with you.”
And suddenly he finds himself sitting on the rooftop with said ginger. He couldn’t tell you why he came up here if he tried, it all seems like a lucid dream if he’s being honest (perhaps it was because Hinata started tearing up when he first rejected his suggestion to eat lunch together, and their classmates, upon seeing Hinata sniffle and pout, gave Tsukishima weird looks. And Tsukishima hates weird looks, so he might’ve grabbed onto Hinata’s wrist and tugged him all the way up here, but who knows?). And now he’s munching on a custard bun that Hinata offered him, watching out of the corner of his eye as Hinata (now completely energetic again) munches on his own melon bread.
“…Why didn’t you just ask Yamaguchi to eat with you?”
“He wanted to eat with some other friends today!”
Ah. The bastard probably planned this then.
A distant ring of, Tsukki, you need to learn how to make new friends, echoes in his mind tauntingly.
“Oh, okay… still doesn’t explain why you want to eat with me.”
“I told you! You seem like a cool guy! Of course I want to get closer to you!”
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable from the way Hinata gave him such a warm and genuine smile, Tsukishima ends up looking away, pulling out his MP3 player to browse through his music as if he doesn’t already know his playlists by heart. He’s halfway through one playlist when he gets a face-full of bright orange curls, making him recoil (just a bit, he says).
“You have so many foreign songs! Do you speak English well or something?!”
“…I’m decent at English, I guess.”
Hinata beams at him upon hearing the news, acting as if the new information was life-changing.
“Could you tutor me in English?!”
Scowling, Tsukishima shoves a hand into Hinata’s face to push him away, resulting in a tiny sounding eep from the ginger.
“Keep dreaming, Chibi.”
--
Much to Tsukishima’s dismay, Hinata somehow integrates himself into Tsukishima’s everyday life. From bothering him at lunch, to asking him to hang out after school, to texting him weird things at ass o’clock, he’s found completely new and unknown ways to annoy the blond to the max. Yamaguchi insists that the reason he keeps responding to Hinata despite his annoyance is because he considers him a friend now, but Tsukishima would like to beg to differ.
Sure, the ginger may be friend material, and offer the brightest and sweetest encouragement at all times, but that didn’t mean that Tsukishima thought of him as a friend. If anything, it was more evidence that Tsukishima wasn’t supposed to get along with him. They’re just so different, after all.
He’s actually done a little thinking about it, which wasn’t very ideal considering he was in the middle of class when his thoughts decided to shift from Lewis Dot Structures to a certain ginger (he refuses to admit that he really mistook O for Orange instead of Oxygen). And he’s come to the consensus, with himself, that the reason why he’s so compliant to Hinata’s requests is because he reminds him of an energetic puppy of some sorts. Rejecting him would feel like kicking a puppy, and Tsukishima is not into that.
No, this isn’t his way of justifying Hinata’s presence in his house afterschool on a Tuesday. Neither is it his way of trying to make sense of why he was currently tutoring said ginger in his room, sitting on the ground instead of at his desk because it didn’t have enough space for two people to sit there.
“No, how many times do I have to tell you that you do this portion of the formula first? If you try and jumble it all together, you’ll get a weird answer—”
“AAAAAH! I GET IT!”
Covering his ears, Tsukishima clicks his tongue and glares down at the notebook Hinata has out, watching as the paper crumples slightly when Hinata aggressively erases the same area for the tenth time. To be quite honest, he had no idea that he had this much patience in him, so that’s something to thank Hinata for, he supposes. However, he isn’t sure how patience will help him if this stress ends up making him lose his hair before he hits forty.
“Like this??”
Tsukishima has to lean back a bit when he tilts his head up in time to see Hinata shoving his notebook into his face, elbow propped on the floor. He uses his free hand to shove the notebook away, huffing.
“Yeah, you did it. Finally.”
“Hey, at least I didn’t cheat! Or copy—”
“That’s also cheating.”
“—ARG! You get my point!”
Tsukishima reaches out to place a hand atop Hinata’s head, more so to get him to sit down than anything. But getting to pet soft hair is a bonus. It doesn’t get Hinata to stop ranting about how mean he is though, and of course, he couldn’t hold back on teasing the shorter.
“You’re such a kid, throwing a tantrum like this. What, do you need a snack or something to settle down, Hina-tan?”
He really wasn’t expecting the wide, bright puppy-eyes Hinata gives him at the mention of food.
“Can I?”
Tsukishima recoils at the suddenly bright gaze directed towards him. It’s nothing he’s ever seen before, and for some reason, his heart skipped a beat upon seeing stars in Hinata’s eyes. It’s the fatigue from being with Hinata for such a long time, for sure. Nothing else, he tells himself, lifting a hand to cover his mouth for a moment as a way to subtly check if his face is as hot as he thinks it is. And thankfully, Hinata, ever the airhead, doesn’t notice Tsukki’s odd hand motions. Or, he just doesn’t want to say anything about it. Tsukishima is (somewhat) thankful either way.
“I—I… guess we can take a quick break.”
Which turns out to be a big mistake, because Tsukishima learns the hard way that Hinata’s stomach is way, way bigger than it should be for someone his size.
(It’s also difficult to explain to his mom why they were missing almost a quarter of their pantry when she came home later that evening.)
(He says never again when Hinata asks if he can come over again, but he still marks next Tuesday as another study day for them, and makes a tiny note to stock up on snacks the day before.)
--
Tsukishima never once imagined that he’d have someone else appear in his day to day life like Yamaguchi does. Neither did his brother, who was currently having a cute little chat with the unnaturally bright human being in his home. Tsukishima glares at his older brother when he spots said man continuously shooting glances between him and Hinata, an immensely grateful expression on his usually already grateful face. The kid is a classmate turned friend, there is really nothing special to it, Tsukishima thinks, which of course he thinks that.
“Hinata,” Tsukishima grits, glancing at the wall clock across from him with the realization that their ten-minute break should’ve ended fifty minutes ago. “Are you almost done?”
“Aw, don’t be such a killjoy, Kei, Shouyou-kun here was just telling me about his dreams to be an idol! Isn’t that so cool?!”
In an instant, Tsukishima’s concerned expression becomes one of disbelief, turning his gaze to lock onto said idol-wannabe. Hinata flinches when they make eye contact, turning his head away with a hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Well, it is just a dream, I’m not so sure that it’s realistic—”
“Don’t be like that, Shouyou-kun, I’ve got faith in you!” Akiteru interrupts, sending the both of them into a compliment battle that leaves Tsukishima praying that one of them will just run out of these odd compliments.
(He’s heard his brother praise Hinata for being the type to remember to check the stove thrice before leaving the house. And fueled with pride, Hinata shot back with a sparkly-eyed, That must be from experience, huh, Akiteru-san! With that type of meticulousness—Tsukishima was surprised to hear that the kid even knew how to use meticulousness—I’d definitely trust my house to Akiteru-san!
He’s not sure that Hinata knows how many war flashbacks the whole experience statement gave his brother. Neither is he sure about why the war flashbacks encouraged his brother to keep praising the jumping orange. All he is sure about is that he’s currently in desperate need of some new braincells.)
He decides that enough is enough, and that he needs to take the passive out of his passive aggressive when he sees Hinata beginning to melt from the praise. So he walks over and picks the punk up by his scruff, cutting off whatever compliment Akiteru had halfway started.
“You can dream of being an idol after you raise your math grade up, Chibi.”
“And you, Aniki,” he shoots a glare at the oldest in the room, “stop distracting him. If you want to encourage him, tell him to finish his damn homework on time instead of all this stove bullshit.”
With that, Tsukishima turns around, Hinata still partially dangling from his arm, and walks them both back up to his room where they’ll hopefully make some progress before Hinata has to go home. His mom once offered to let Hinata sleep over, but God, Tsukishima only has so much patience to deal with an overly extroverted extrovert. He’s really out here doing all the teachers’ work for one (1) kid. He better get some sort of compensation or he’s going to send himself up to God (same day delivery) for a talk.
The thought brings him back to where he is now, with Hinata wriggling around like a kid waving around a strand of their string cheese.
“Stop. Moving.”
“Hey—WAIT—I WANT MORE COMPLIMENTS—"
Hinata looks more than dejected when Tsukishima tosses him back into his room. The math homework laid atop the small desk Tsukishima had out was glaring menacingly at Hinata, apparently. The blond was ready for yet another obstacle in today’s tutoring session, but luckily for him (and concerning for Hinata), the ginger was quick to bounce back into a good enough mentality when boba was promised. Cunning little fucker.
They manage to finish the homework Hinata brought along, somehow, don’t ask Tsukishima. He doesn’t really know what happened either. So now, he’s standing at his doorway, ready to greet Hinata a safe trip home or whatever his mom told him to do. The ginger has his shoes on, school back slung over his shoulder, and is partway through putting his scarf on when he starts to fiddle with his fingers. Oh no.
“What,” Tsukishima grits, eyebrows scrunching together to create the world’s most consecutive speed bumps in a row.
“Do you… do you think me wanting to be an idol is dumb? What if I’m too stupid to even become an idol?”
Not this. Anything but this. Tsukishima was born without a single sympathetic bone in his body, and he surely won’t be growing one anytime soon, which makes this situation all the more awkward. Hinata looks genuinely concerned, too, and for some reason, that expression makes Tsukishima want to refrain from beating his dream into the ground.
“I—”
“Kei, dinner is ready! Hurry before the food gets cold!”
The blond gives Hinata a somewhat apologetic look, to which the smaller responds with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his ears.
“Go eat! Sorry I took so long to leave. Tell Akiteru-san I’ll be back soon!”
Tsukishima barely gets an okay out before Hinata is gone. He spends the rest of his evening with the image of Hinata’s wide but dim smile in mind, the ounce of humanity left in him (thank you for that, Yamaguchi) eventually getting him to send a text to the other just before he falls asleep.
To: Hinata Shouyou
It’s not a dumb dream. I think you can do it.
Read 11:24 pm
From: Hinata Shouyou
:D
Read 11:27 pm
--
Things go a little smoother after that single text Tsukishima sends.
Hinata pays attention more often, and he even once tried to refuse a break so he could finish thinking about the math problem he’d been stuck on. The blond seriously contemplated whether or not he was actually alive when that happened. He pinched himself for good measure and quickly regretted it when it left a bright pink mark that had his mom worrying about his confession rejection skills.
Other than trying harder in school, Hinata starts to gain confidence in his dream, too. Some people get it (Akiteru), some not quite (Tsukishima), and some people outright are fucking annoying about it. Like the classmate Hinata was currently talking to.
“I thought there was a height requirement to be an idol. How are you going to serenade girls with the all 162 cm you got?”
Hagakure something-kun nudges his goons after he sneers at Hinata, garnering a few chuckles and encouragements to keep going. Closing the door to their classroom, Tsukishima scans the room and wonders why none of the people here tried to shut the buffoon up.
“Hey, height isn’t everything,” Hinata huffs, eyes scanning over the flyer he’d collected this morning on his bike trip to school. Seems like he’s started his search for an agency he’d like to join. “Idols aren’t just meant to be ogled, y’know—lots of them are singers, or actors, or dancers.”
“Like you can do any of those things, Mr. Villager B,” Hagakure something-kun laughs at his own words first and continues laughing until his goons get the point and start to reluctantly laugh along.
“How would you know that?”
Tsukishima freezes at the cold gaze Hinata sends to the (other) idiot, his tone devoid of the playfulness from earlier.
“How would you know how much time and effort I’m putting into learning these skills so my mom doesn’t have to pay for lessons. How would you know how hard I’m trying to do better. How would you know about the time I spent practicing for that damn play just to recite two lines. How the fuck would you know?”
There’s a waver in Hinata’s voice that immediately concerns Tsukishima. He barely registers when he reaches out to grab the ginger and pull him out of class and to the big tree near the baseball field, the two of them sitting on uneven ground, the only sounds heard being the rustling leaves and Hinata’s sniffling.
The smaller’s got his knees bent, arms folded just atop to create space for his head to rest there without suffocating. Lunch break ended a good five minutes ago, both bells ringing, signifying that Tsukishima and Hinata were now skipping class. Not the first time the blond has done such a thing, but it is the first time he feels no guilt doing it.
“Why didn’t you tell him off sooner,” Tsukishima asks quietly, another moment of somewhat comfortable silence following his question.
“I don’t like being mean,” is the mumbled response he gets after a minute, the ginger still keeping his face hidden. If the mood were any lighter, Tsukki would’ve joked about not wanting to see his face. It’s a lie, though. Tsukishima does want to see his face, just to know how much Hinata’s still hurting.
“Then you should’ve left.”
“You’re not making me feel any better, you know that, right?”
“… My bad.”
Having some remorse, Tsukishima stays quiet for the rest of the time spent skipping class (it’s classic literature, he’s not missing out on anything).
Later that day, he’ll walk Hinata partway home. He’ll deny that he wrapped an arm around the ginger’s shoulder to tug him closer when they walked past Hagakure. He’ll also deny that he felt worry bubble in his stomach when Hinata doesn’t immediately send him an I’m home text. And he’ll deny the most that he decided to call Hinata to make sure he was home safe.
“Akiteru pressed on your number because he misses you.”
“Isn’t Akiteru back in university right now?”
“Sorry, typo, I meant my mom.”
“Tsukishima, this is a verbal conversation.”
The giggle he hears in Hinata’s voice makes his buffoonery worth it.
--
From: Tangerine
Hey look! I mastered a new dance!
[attached video]
Read 11:50 pm
To: Tangerine
Why are you awake
Read 11:55 pm
From: Tangerine
I could ask you the same thing!
Now tell me that I did well!!!
Read 12:00 am
To: Tangerine
It looks decent, I guess.
Read 12:03 am
From: Tangerine
Frick you
Read 12:05 am
To: Tangerine
No thank you <3
Read 12:06 am
--
“Are we spending too much time together?”
Is what Tsukishima asks during their weekly tutor—no, study sessions. Hinata looks up from his worksheet to shoot the blond a questioning look, eyebrows raised.
“Are you complaining?”
“No I guess… Yamaguchi just mentioned the other day that we’re stuck to the hip. Not like that’s actually possible with your height—”
“HEY!”
“—but yeah, he said we’re always together.”
Hinata frowns a bit, tilting his head in confusion, the eraser of his pencil against his bottom lip as he speaks.
“He knows he’s always free to join us, right? It’s not like we’re planning things to be exclusively for us only.”
“Yeah, I told him that,” Tsukishima sighs, erasing over a mark he’d accidentally scribbled onto his paper when his hand slipped earlier, “but he said he’d rather spend time with Yachi-san and Kageyama than be a third wheel around us.”
The silence that follows Tsukishima’s response has the blond antsy for something from the ginger. He mindlessly doodles little suns on the margins of his scratch paper, eyes nervously darting up towards Hinata ever so often. Did he cross a line there? It wasn’t even his words to begin with though. Maybe the third wheel comment made things awkward for Hinata? Hold on, does he even know what a third wheel is—
“It’s not like we’ve been spending a crazy amount of time together, anyways, what with you always disappearing right after our last class is dismissed.”
Oh. Now Tsukishima wishes he never brought it up.
He thought that Hinata wouldn’t have noticed that their multiple hangouts per week had slowly became just a weekly study session, but he should’ve seen this coming. Meaning that he wasn’t prepared for Hinata to call him out on it now of all times, leading to him turning away to scratch the back of his head in feigned innocence.
“I’ve no clue what you’re talking about—”
“Oh don’t act dumb with me, you… you long-limbed dinosaur! Are you avoiding me?!”
Tsukishima’s had his eyes closed for the entirety of Hinata’s short outburst, all because he figured something out in the last few weeks they’ve spent together. He has a weakness. A severe weakness to pouts. Specifically Hinata’s pout. And Hinata seems to have caught on, too. Especially with how he used that same pout to escape having to pay for desserts the last time they hung out (wow, that was a long time ago, Tsukishima’s brain supplies quite uselessly).
“Well?”
“Well…” Tsukishima contemplates the pros and cons of telling Hinata the truth.
Pro: Hinata will stop asking about it for now.
Con: Hinata will ask about it again soon. Probably tomorrow.
Pro: He stays truthful in their—ugh—friendship, dear God.
Con: He loses part of his pride.
Pro: If he opens his eyes right now, he can still catch a glimpse of that adorable pout—
Hold on.
Tsukishima Kei, age 16, catches himself being gay in private and as a result, forces his eyes open to the unfortunate sight of Hinata’s pout. And before he or Hinata can catch him being gay on main, he sighs and gives in, ruffling his hair in annoyance. In the corner of his eye, he sees Hinata grin to himself for a split second before returning to that signature pout. He does hate it here.
“I joined the volleyball team,” he says, voice barely above that of a mumble rapper.
“What?” Hinata asks, and his confused expression is so genuine that Tsukishima would feel bad for telling him off, so he resigns to repeating himself, but louder.
“I joined… the volleyball team.”
Hinata promptly bursts into a frenzy of questions, the most repeated one being can I start your fanclub to which Tsukishima responds with a God please, no.
Hinata shows up to school the next day with handmade merch consisting of a Tsukkisaurus sweatshirt, a Tsukkisaurus headband, and a Tsukkisaurus poster (all poorly made, with the jersey number crossed out three times because he’d gotten four different answers from Tsukki regarding said number). It is (not) endearing in the slightest.
(“Oi, Yams, do you remember what you told me the other day?”
“I tell you a lot of things, Tsukki, you gotta give me a refresher.”
“The thing about… me spending too much time with Hinata…”
“Oh, that. What, did that question awaken something in you?”
“No, but it did result in an unwanted conversation. And now I’m gonna get back at you—”
“Tsukki, what—”
“—oh yeah, how’s the blondey with the tongue piercing? You guys have been getting chummy lately haven’t you? I wonder how auntie will react if I tell her you’re dating a delinquent from another school?”
“YOU WOULDN’T—”
Beep.
“—OH MY GOD, MOM, NO. MOM, NO DON’T PICK THE PHONE UP. IT’S NOT TSUKKI, IT’S NOT—DON’T ANSWER, IT’S SPAM!!!!”)
--
Year 2
By the force of sheer luck, Tsukishima was able to keep Hinata away from the volleyball club up until now. Meaning, he is now here. At the gym. In a front row seat. For Tsukishima’s debut game. Wearing that dumb Tsukkisaurus merch.
“Is that your friend?” Team captain Daichi asks, a fond smile on his lips as he points over to the overly excited ginger.
“No, I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. No clue who he is—”
“WOOOO YEAHHHH THAT’S MY BEST FRIEND RIGHT THERE!!! KEI, KEI, KEI, KEI—”
“So… best friend?”
Tsukishima has never wanted to be a volleyball so badly.
Needless to say, his debut game could’ve been better. Not the scoring part, oh no, Tsukishima’s got the read blocking down to a T thanks to some Tokyo upperclassmen who attended their last training camp. No, that’s not what could’ve been better. It’s the ginger that managed to hit the heads of everyone within his vicinity with the Tsukkisaurus poster he had in his hands.
Speaking of the devil—
“Tsukki, you did so well!”
The blond barely gets a moment to breathe after their announced win when Hinata all but pounces on him in front of the audience and his team. He would’ve let the kid fall to the ground with a pitiful plop but Hinata’s already injured enough from the excessive practice he does. He doesn’t really want to contribute to the smaller’s impending doom, so like a good friend, he catches Hinata as best he can.
Which is not super well considering the state of his legs after the lengthy three set game.
They tumble to the ground, to the side of the court, the rest of his team celebrating not too far away from them. Tsukishima hates that he registers Hinata’s weight on top of him as welcoming. But what he hates even more is the fact that he could barely control his blush as his (supposedly) straight friend straddled his waist, bright grin on his face.
Hinata’s hair is tousled from their little fall, and the face paint he has on his face is a bit smeared. The drawn on dinosaur now looks more like a spiky tadpole than anything, but somehow it suits him.
Tsukishima isn’t sure if their position right underneath the lights is a good or bad thing because Hinata looks like an absolute angel to him. One that’s currently cupping his cheeks and leaving his waist and sides warm between plush thighs.
“You did amazing! I knew you guys would win! I’ll treat you to strawberry shortcake on the way home!”
Hinata’s words start fading out as his face fades in, Tsukishima’s heart is racing more than it did when he was putting all his energy into the game. The light shining right above the ginger frames his face like a warm halo. Tsukishima Jr wakes up from a deep slumber, making his pants tighter. Wait, what?
Wait, oh no. Oh no. Are these the teenage hormones his classmates have been talking about? Is this the post-game adrenaline that lingers in the most awkward form ever? Yeah, that must be it. That has to be why his pants feel so tight all of a sudden—
“Tsukki?”
Hinata leans down a bit to check on Tsukishima, whose face is gradually becoming a concerning shade of blue. And it’s game over for the blond when Hinata does this. Their faces are mere centimeters apart and the sudden lean forward has his, uhm, bottom pressing up against places Tsukishima would rather not think about in public.
So in a frantic jolt in hopes of salvaging what is left of his dignity, he shoves Hinata off of him with an ungraceful squeak.
He ends up having to pay for desserts later.
--
From: Ew Shouyou
Hey hey hey heYYYYY
Read 1:20 am
To: Ew Shouyou
What in the ever living fuck do you want
Read 1:22 am
From: Ew Shouyou
I’m going on a family trip to Hokkaido in a few days
Do you want anything???
Read 1:27 am
To: Ew Shouyou
No I’m good, thanks for asking I guess
Have fun
Read 1:31 am
From: Ew Shouyou
Aw, you want a souvenir?? All you had to do was ask!
I’ll get you one don’t worry
Read 1:35 am
To: Ew Shouyou
In this economy?
Read 1:37 am
From: Ew Shouyou
Y e s
Read 1:39 am
--
Tsukishima dreams of chasing an orange—no, a tangerine. A little bouncing tangerine. For some reason, the tangerine is really heavy, and keeps making thudding noises.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
What the—why is it so loud?
Tsukishima eventually blearily wakes up, blinking his heavy eyelids open with his eyebrows pinched and nearly conjoined together. He hears the thudding again, but this time, he turns his head towards the noise, realizing that the sound was coming from his door and not from that tangerine he saw in his dream.
“What,” he grunts, knowing all too well that this specific knocking pattern was of his brother’s. His brother asks a muffled, Can I come in?, as he turns his head to check the time on his phone.
8:49 am
Way too early for him to be woken up on a Saturday morning.
“What do you want?”
His brother comes in anyways despite his annoyed tone, and he drops a tiny package right next to Tsukishima’s hand. It doesn’t look like anything Tsukishima would’ve bought himself—the thing was a bright, burn-your-eyes pink, with a poorly placed sticker that barely keeps the hem of the packaging from opening.
Tsukishima takes one look at it, then looks back up at his brother, unamused.
“What’s this?”
“Shouyou-kun came by earlier to drop it off!”
“…Hinata came by to drop this off?”
“Oh yes,” his brother chuckles, waving a hand dismissively. “He says it was from his trip to Hokkaido last week. He wanted to stay and give it to you himself, but he was feeling tired and ended up deciding to go home instead. Ah, he also left behind a bag of fresh tangerines.”
Tangerine. Tsukishima’s head hurts. Things finally sink in.
“Oh, God, Hinata came by.”
“Yeah, I’ve been saying that,” Akiteru pauses before tilting his head at his younger brother curiously. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”
“Yeah, after you leave,” is the curt response he gets, though Tsukishima is already sitting up in his bed, miniature package in hand.
Akiteru makes a noise of offense but makes no further comments, which Tsukishima is grateful for. Though he does get a childish raspberry blown at him. Typical of Akiteru, honestly.
Once his door was shut, he groggily puts on his glasses before opening up the package all the way (not like the sticker made that difficult), and immediately purses his lips at what he finds. A strawberry shortcake keychain.
As if on cue, his phone lights up, and he glances over to see none other than Hinata Shouyou’s name on his screen.
“Hinata,” he answers coldly.
“Tsukishima! Did you get what I gave you?!”
“Yes, and I hate it.”
Hinata laughs, and it’s a bit too loud and a bit too bright for Tsukishima’s likings, but for some reason, the tips of his ears warm up anyways.
“Did you miss me?” Hinata asks, his voice raspy (perhaps from the alleged nap he just took).
“You were gone for a week.”
“A week is a long time!”
“…”
“So…?”
Hinata’s voice sounds too sweet and soft and pouty, oh my God.
“Fine, I missed you. Happy?”
“Mmmm, sure. Remember to put the keychain on your bag, okay?! If I don’t see it hanging on your bag tomorrow, I’m going to shatter your kneecaps.”
“…Can you even reach?”
“HEY!!!”
--
“How’s Hinata?”
Tsukishima grunts at the question, raising his head to lift an eyebrow at his smug looking childhood friend.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… you guys have matching bag charms now, so I’m assuming you and Hinata are getting along well? More than I last checked, perhaps?”
Shit. He thought he already took the damned thing off earlier that week, God. His eyes travel to where Yamaguchi is pointing, immediately locking onto the little tangerine charm that hangs off his bag. Yamaguchi makes some vague noise and wiggles his finger towards Hinata’s bag, currently hanging on for dear life on the side of his desk, a little strawberry shortcake charm hanging off the strap.
The blond dreads having to turn back around to face Yamaguchi, because he just knows his childhood friend is already sporting a look that resembles the aunties across the street who ask him if he has someone he’s interested in. Sighing, he reaches over to take the charm off, shoving it into his bag.
“I just forgot to take it off. I only had it on because Shou would get upset if I didn’t use the thing he got for me.”
“Mhmmm. Sure, Tsukki, whatever you say.”
“What, why do you sound like that? And stop giving me that look, you look creepy.”
Yamaguchi turns to his side, hands linked together behind his back in a feigned look of innocence. He shrugs his shoulders and gives a small hum in response to Tsukishima’s deep scowl.
“Oh, I dunno. I just feel like you’ve been caring for Hinata a biiiiit more than you think.”
“What?!”
“Don’t act dumb, Tsukki, I’ve seen it all. You’ve paid for his lunch, you know what his favorite drink at the vending machine is, hell, you let him listen to your music!”
Okay, alright. It didn’t seem like Tsukishima was playing favorites or anything, but listening to Yamaguchi list these things out like they were crimes makes it seem that way. He lifts his hands in defense, leaning back in his chair.
“What, I’m not allowed to make friends anymore? I thought you were the one who wanted me to learn how to make friends.”
“And I did! I really did! But this! This is incredibly different! You don’t even treat me like this—”
“TSUKISHIMAAA! LOOK, I MADE A SNOWMAN!”
Both boys turn their heads to find a completely flushed Hinata covered in snow, carrying in his hands a tiny snowman. The ginger bounces over to Tsukishima’s desk, lowering his hands to show the sloppily broken twig pieces forming rectangles around the snowman’s eyes—fuck, were those glasses? Is that supposed to be him? Tsukishima clears his throat, trying to will himself not to blush. Not like he has to try very hard because he’s already immediately fussing over something else.
“Haven’t I told you that you need to wear a scarf and gloves outside?!”
Tsukishima glares at Hinata, making the ginger cower. He notices this, sighing before he reaches into his bag to bring out his cleaned lunch box, opening the lid.
“C’mon, put the snowman in here and then put on some gloves, your hands are freezing.”
Though he grumbles, Hinata still ends up listening to Tsukishima anyways, eventually waddling over to let Tsukishima wrap his own scarf around the shorter’s neck. He also ends up wearing gloves that are far too big for him, which Tsukishima finds disgusting (read: adorable), especially when he wiggles his fingers to show that they fill out a little bit over half of the gloves.
“Wah, you’re so grown, Stingy-shima! My hands are tiny compared to yours!”
“Everything of yours is tiny, it’s not just when you compare it to me.”
“ACK! You don’t have to do me like that!”
“To be fair, you made it easy for me to tease you.”
“No, you’re just mean! Meanie-shima!”
Hinata makes him promise to place Snowy-shima (how creative) in a safe, cold space for now so that he can take him home later. God knows why he actually listens to the energetic ball of sunshine, but he does. His mom does question why his scarf and gloves are missing when he gets home, and his brother teases him for having a half melted snowman in his lunch box.
(Tsukishima managed to slip the charm back onto his bag before he walks Hinata partway home that day, to which the ginger exclaims that he feels so honored.)
(And partway into his homework that night, he realizes that he never processed when Yamaguchi went back to his own seat.)
From: Shouyou
tsuKKIIIIIII I realized I never gave your scarf back! I’ll wash it and bring it back tomorrow?!??
Read 9:50 pm
To: Shouyou
Just keep it.
Read 9:52 pm
From: Shouyou
Is this a trap?!?!?! Are you gonna ask me for my panties in return?!?!?
Read 9:55 pm
To: Shouyou
You have panties?
You know what, don’t answer that.
Read 9:58 pm
From: Shouyou
HAHAHAHAHA WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO KNOW, DINOSAUR BOY
Read 10:01 pm
To: Shouyou
Kinda, yeah
[Saved as draft]
--
Knowing that his childhood best friend knows about his feelings, Tsukishima calls Yamaguchi out into the courtyard like some elementary schooler just to tell him to go fuck himself.
He soon realizes that this was the perfect opportunity to oof himself when Yamaguchi laughs and responds with,
“Yeah sure I’ll do that once you fuck Hinata!”
Later that night, Tsukishima looks into the pros and cons of hiring an exorcist. Asking for a friend, he says.
--
From: Shouyou
I’m signing up for auditions rn!!! Wish me luck!!
Read 4:12 pm
To: Shouyou
Good luck, tangerine
Read 4:13 pm
From: Shouyou
Thanks, Kei HEHEHEHE
I’ll be sure to remember you when I’m famous! :’))))
Read 4:30 pm
To: Shouyou
How was it?
Delivered 2:30 pm
To: Shouyou
Hey, Shou?
Is everything okay?
Delivered 3:45 pm
To: Shouyou
You okay?
Can you text back so I know you’re good?
Delivered 9:15 pm
--
From: Shouyou
I fucking blew it.
Read 3:14 am
--
Towards the end of spring, Hinata starts to have less and less time for Tsukishima. This wasn’t like how Tsukishima hid volleyball from Hinata, though. The ginger told Tsukki all the time about his daily schedule and how it would change depending on what company he’s aiming for.
The first audition he ever signed up for (almost two months ago at KRSN Entertainment), he completely failed. Last month, he tried for Fly High!! Entertainment, which ended up being a bust considering how they wanted those auditioning to be part of an idol survival show as the scapegoats for instigating drama early on. Needless to say, Tsukishima wrote an email for Hinata to send to his interviewer. Just last week, he applied for Shimada Entertainment, only to get a half-assed rejection email from them the next day, claiming he wasn’t the ideal image of an idol for them. And last night, he’d sent a video recording audition to MSBY Entertainment. He’s been checking on his phone since the early morning for a hint of something from the company.
It’s a little nerve-wracking to see Hinata’s eyebags darken, to see him lose the baby fat around his face and his tummy, to see little bruises and cuts litter all over his body. Tsukishima’s failed to say something, anything, in the past few months that he’s seen Hinata torment himself. And now they’re sitting across from each other in Tsukishima’s room, their respective studying materials splayed across the table.
“Shou, are you free tomorrow? Do you want to hang out after school?”
“Hmm, I gotta practice, so I don’t think I’ll have any free time left. Sorry, Tsukki.”
“Then do you want to at least stay for dinner?”
Hinata grimaces at the offer. It isn’t the first time he’s done this at the mention of food. When he got through the prelims at Fly High!! Entertainment, they’d set all their “trainees” on a strict diet. Complete bullshit if you ask Tsukishima. They want these trainees to dance with their all without any of the energy provided from food and drink and sleep. Absolute trash.
“N-no, thanks for the offer though—”
Hinata moves to put away his notebook and instinctively, as if he thought Hinata would simply vanish, Tsukishima reaches out to grab onto Hinata’s wrist, earning him a loud yelp and a teary-eyed Hinata staring at him.
“Shou?”
“M-my wrist hurts, could you not touch it—”
“Let me see your arm.”
“Kei?”
“Let me. See. Your arm.”
Tsukishima’s heart was already racing at the thought of the ginger being injured yet again from his practicing. Most of the time, it was easy to gloss over. Hinata fell on his butt trying to do a dance move and now he has a bruise on his left ass cheek. Or Hinata accidentally hit the barre in the studio he’s training in and now has a bruise on his arm that leaves as easily as it comes. They were tolerable, as Hinata told him. Easy to forget about once he really got into his training.
This didn’t feel like it was in the process of going away. This didn’t feel like an old bruise, period.
“Shouyou, give me your arm.”
“No—”
And at that moment, Hinata’s phone rings.
It’s saved under Meian-san, the person who interviewed Hinata over the phone for MSBY Entertainment. The ginger is quick to snatch up his phone and answer it on the spot, dull eyes suddenly rejuvenated with a youthful sparkle.
“Yes, hello, Meian-san!”
Hinata’s sleeve falls just far enough for Tsukishima to see the array of bruises splattered across his skin. He wants to hold Hinata by the shoulders, and shake him, and scold him, and tell him that if he can’t take care of himself in this kind of profession that he should just leave, but he can’t. It’s not because Hinata is on the phone, but rather because he can’t guarantee that he can portray his emotions properly. The ginger has worked so hard in the last year to improve on absolutely any and every quality that companies find ideal for potential idols to have. He can’t just tell Hinata to give it up, that’s selfish.
Lost in thought, Tsukishima doesn’t notice when Hinata’s expression brightens even further. Or how he ends the call with a squeal and the ear-to-ear grin that Tsukishima’s missed so much.
“Kei, I did it!”
“Huh,” responds Tsukishima, very intelligently.
“I… I got through the prelims at MSBY Entertainment!”
Hinata goes off tangent by himself following the announcement, as if Tsukishima was never in the room.
“Oh boy, I gotta rearrange practice times so I can work on the new routine. What if I don’t have time to practice during the day? Maybe I can ask to stay an hour after closing? Would that work? Will they let—”
“Shouyou.”
Completely forgetting the little incident that happened right before Meian called, Hinata turns to Tsukishima with a wide smile, “yeah?”
“Congrats on making it through prelims, but—”
The ginger’s face immediately sours at Tsukishima’s tone, eyebrows pinched together out of concern. He scoots closer to Tsukishima, whose eyes were glued to the sleeve that was now covering the row of bruises he saw earlier.
“Kei?”
“I want you to succeed, and I want you to achieve your dreams. But why does it have to be at the expense of your health? Do you not understand how concerned others would be if they saw the amount of bruises you have on your arm?”
“I—”
“Do you even eat enough? Or sleep enough? Have you had any free time at all in the past few months? Have you gone out at all? It doesn’t have to be with me—but have you? Are you taking care of yourself at all?”
Tsukishima gently grabs ahold of Hinata’s right arm, his free hand rolling up the sleeve to show Hinata the stark contrast of yellows, blues, and purples against his skin. Hinata purses his lips at the sight, it’s clearly not the first time he’s acknowledged the toll that all this practice is taking on him. His gaze is dismissive, and he turns his head away when he gets a good look at Tsukishima’s concerned expression.
“I’m trying, you know it’s difficult when I need to practice and all—”
“Are you really? Are you actually trying?”
“Look, can’t you pick another time to talk about this? Why don’t we just put this issue aside for now—”
“Until when? Until you collapse and I have to go visit you in the hospital?”
Hinata gapes at Tsukishima, the blond’s teary eyes clearly something he never expected to see. Immediately drowned in guilt, he sets himself onto Tsukishima’s lap, personal space be damned, to cup his friend’s face in his hands.
“Oh, Kei, oh no, please don’t cry. I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were worrying this much.”
Arms wrapped around Hinata’s waist, the taller leans in to bury his face into the crook of Hinata’s neck, letting the warmth from his body reassure him that Hinata is here. He’s alive and well enough to move around on his own and speak in that annoyingly considerate tone of his.
“How can I not be worried? I’ve been watching you all this time—you look so… so dead sometimes. You’re so exhausted and you don’t even know it. You won’t let yourself acknowledge that you need rest, but how can you not do that when rest is so important to growth?!”
“I’m sorry,” Hinata whispers again, this time against the top of Tsukishima’s head. One hand strokes the blond’s hair while the other draws random lines and shapes against his shoulder blades. Despite being the one comforting Tsukki in the moment, the ginger still feels his eyes prick with unshed tears. “I… I just want to be good, y’know? There are so many people who are better than me at acting, and singing, and dancing—and a lot of them aren’t even trying to aim for being an idol! And then there’s me, who still manages to fail an audition even after countless hours of practice.”
“I thought I couldn’t afford to catch a break, Kei.”
“But you can. And you should,” the blond responds with a huff, not minding that his glasses fall off when he turns to nuzzle his face against Hinata’s chest. “You have a month before the next section of the audition starts, right?”
“Yeah…”
“So take a break. You can’t be an idol if you’re not alive to do it.”
As if already knowing that Hinata would try to refute and justify himself with some motivational monologue, Tsukishima quickly sits up to pinch the smaller’s lips between his fingers. Their faces are close, so close, that he can just lean in and kiss the damn fool, but scolding him has to come first.
“Take a break, or I’ll tell your mom about all the bruises you’re hiding, with photo evidence.”
And with the power of mom, Hinata ends up nodding in agreement. Tsukishima kind of wishes it was just him that made Hinata agree to take care of himself, but this will have to suffice for now.
The next few minutes are spent in a comfortable silence, with Tsukishima back in his pouty position with Hinata in his lap offering him soothing touches and words of reassurance. Then he moves away to tend to all the bruises, quick to tell Hinata to take off his clothes so Tsukki can do a full body scan. The ginger blushes a deep red, and tries to vehemently refuse, but with how determined the other is to take care of him, he can’t really escape. So he swallows down the insecurities to show Tsukishima all of him.
“Let me come to your practices when I can,” Tsukishima says in the middle of putting patches of Salonpas on Hinata’s mid back.
“I’ll ask mom if she can start making lunch for you starting tomorrow. Akiteru can handle breakfast since he leaves later than mom does.”
Tsukishima leaves a feather soft kiss on the top of Hinata’s head, uncaring that he might out himself.
“I’ll get you a new water bottle to carry around since the one you have right now is janky.”
His hands easily envelop each of Hinata’s, the sight unfairly endearing to the blond.
“You can sleep over if we end up doing homework too late, my bed is big enough for the both of us.”
Gently, he lifts their joined hands up to his lips, pressing a kiss against his own hands, hoping for the warmth to transfer through.
“Eat snacks when you can’t eat full meals.”
Tsukishima’s teary-eyed again by the time he finishes tending to Hinata. And all the ginger can do is hold him close and respond to each of his concerns and suggestions with a soft,
“Alright, Kei. I will.”
--
To: Shou
Have you eaten yet?
Read 7:30 pm
From: Shou
Yessir!
[attached photo of Hinata sitting in his home’s still installed kotatsu, face content and cheeks full as he puts a thumbs up next to the empty plate set in front of him]
Read 7:32 pm
To: Shou
Good, I hope you ate well. Don’t forget to drink water
Read 7:34 pm
From: Shou
Aye aye, cappy!
Or should I call you mom bc of all this nagging HAHAHAHAHA
JKJK DON’T KILL ME
Read 7:35 pm
To: Shou
Don’t try me bitch
[attached photo of the Tsukishima family’s set of kitchen knives]
Read 7:38 pm
From: Shou
A-aye aye, cappy,,,
Read 7:39 pm
--
From: Shou
Hey
Read 1:20 am
To: Shou
Tf are you doing awake
Read 1:21 am
From: Shou
Can you open the front door? I’m getting cold
[attached photo of Hinata in a thin sweater and shorts standing in front of Tsukishima’s front door. He’s baring his teeth as if he’s mid-shiver, eyebrows pinched together with his free arm around himself]
Read 1:21 am
--
Tsukishima doesn’t think he’s ever moved faster in his life. His heart is racing, eyes widened in concern when he opens the door to an smug looking Hinata. Perhaps it’s time for another three-hour lecture (cuddles and kisses included, if possible).
“Shouyou, what the fuck—”
Tsukishima freezes at the email Hinata has up on his phone screen. Freezes as Hinata nudges the device closer to him with a warm smile. Freezes as he reads through the lines following the big, bold Congratulations at the very beginning.
And when he’s done, he looks at Hinata like a fish out of water, and the ginger responds with a smile, eyes sparkling under the moonlight as he sniffles out a choked, “I did it.”
Tsukishima picks him up on the spot and twirls him around, relishing in the sounds of hiccups and giggles coming one after another. He turns his head to smile into bright orange hair, and though he eventually sets Hinata down, he refuses to let him go.
“You did it. I’m so proud of you.”
--
Year 3
“You want boba?”
Tsukishima asks from his spot in bed, ears taking in the sound of Hinata flitting about in his room. The ginger has taken to a long, long skincare regimen, only barely halfway done with it when Tsukishima offers to buy the sweet drinks.
“Yeah, why not,” comes Hinata’s reply, which actually sounded a lot more like sheah, hai no’ because of the face mask he has on.
Humming, Tsukishima takes the confirmation from Hinata and places their orders, not bothering to double check with Hinata because he already knew what he wanted to drink. How could he not after all this time?
Later, when the drinks come, Tsukishima will purposely hold Hinata’s drink over his head just to watch the ginger struggle to get it from him. Not because Hinata touches his chest and rests his head against him when he gives up with a pout. No, not at all.
“You’re an asshole,” Hinata says when he has his passionfruit green tea in hand.
“You love this asshole,” Tsukishima responds, not even bothering to look away from his phone screen, before taking a long sip of his strawberry shortcake smoothie.
“Ugh.”
--
A week after hearing about Hinata’s trainee status, Tsukishima is asked to walk Hinata to his new dorms for the first time. He accepts, of course, because how could he not?
The dorms are closer to the school than Hinata’s own home was, which meant two things: Hinata won’t freeze to death on the way to school anymore, and Tsukishima can actually walk him home now without the trip being over two hours. The blond can imagine that Hinata would be elated about this new information, too. Especially considering how tired he’s been recently from practice, the shorter walking distance should seem like a dream come true.
Well, Tsukishima thought very wrong. For some reason.
Their walk to Hinata’s dorms was long over, and since then, the two (well, just Hinata) have been frozen by the front doors. Tsukishima’s reluctance can be explained: he walks in without Hinata, security guards see him without Hinata, he gets tossed like a salad.
“So… when are we gonna go in?”
“Sh-shut up! I’m trying to build up my courage!”
“Weren’t you here like, two days ago, when you brought your stuff here…”
“W-well, I didn’t see any of the other trainees when I first moved in because it was at ass o’clock! Now, they can see me! Oh my god, they can see me. What if they don’t like me, Kei?!”
Hinata turns to latch onto Tsukishima like a lifeline, tiny hands surprisingly strong as they push and pull at the blond’s shirt until he starts resembling those noodle balloons at car dealerships. In response, Tsukishima simply sighs, having had an inkling in the back of his mind that perhaps Hinata was simply self-conscious. Why? He doesn’t know, because to his knowledge, Hinata is a sweet, loveable, adorable, little ball of sunshine—
“Keiiiiii, what do I do—”
Tsukishima stops Hinata mid-wail, one hand pressing Hinata’s cheeks together to effectively muffle whatever else he had to say.
“Shut up and listen to me.”
Hinata jerkily nods, probably out of fear.
“You are going to go in there and you are going to fit the fuck right in with everyone, okay? I’ve never met someone who could genuinely dislike you—except me of course, but you’re lucky we’re friends now—”
Still fish-faced, Hinata raises a brow at Tsukishima, who casually continues talking.
“Anyways. I don’t think anyone could actually dislike you. But if you get the feeling someone does, just let me know, we can have a nice talk. Now go in there, greet your fellow trainees, and give me a fucking room tour already.”
Hinata moves without any complaints.
--
“Did they fix the common bathroom yet?”
Tsukishima asks during their daily call, his phone propped up on a nearby water bottle to display Hinata cozily wrapped up in his blanket.
“No,” the ginger huffs, arms unconsciously following along to the choreography video on his laptop. He makes little tutting noises with each movement, completely focused, and rewinds the clip to continue his lowkey practicing when the video is over. “We still have to share with the girls. Meian-san just said that the plumber kept rescheduling or something like that.”
“What kinda plumber—”
“Ah, shit!”
Surprised, the blond turns his head to his phone screen, watching Hinata scratch at his head in frustration. He silently raises a brow, already having an idea of what happened.
“You mess up?”
“I hate that part,” Hinata huffs with a pout, resigning even more into his blanket cocoon. “Why does it have to be so fast?!”
“Just work on it tomorrow, you’re tired already. Go to sleep.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Tsukishima sees Hinata hold back a yawn at the mentioned S-word. Of course the little fucker is tired. And of course he still doesn’t realize it. Lifting a hand, Tsukishima taps at the top of Hinata’s head through the screen as if the touch could be transmitted.
“Oi. Go to sleep.”
Hinata grumbles, sounding like a disgruntled kitten. He’s clearly falling asleep, if his slitted eyes are any indication, and he raises his eyebrows as if that’ll open his eyes for him. What an idiot (my idiot, Tsukishima’s brain provides, very unnecessarily).
“Shouyou.”
“Mmh?”
“Sleep.”
“Fine,” Hinata huffs, going quiet for a moment before he adds on, “Love you.”
And God, if only he knew what that did to Tsukishima’s heart.
Tsukishima refuses to hang up the phone, leaving Hinata on his nightstand when he settles down to sleep, letting the soft snores and memory of an unexpected love you soothe him to sleep.
--
Their daily calls continue in that manner. Hinata calls him, he picks up, they talk until one of them (read: Hinata) falls asleep and then they do it again the next day. A lot of the time, it’s just Hinata rambling, which Tsukishima doesn’t mind. He likes listening to the ginger talk about his day. There’s a lot that goes on behind closed doors that he doesn’t get to witness firsthand, so it’s nice to be filled in on everything.
He’s learned a lot about Hinata and his trainee life since. Like how Hinata will just start dancing with his hands and feet when he’s sitting down because he can’t stay still. Or how he’s been doing his best to keep up with the training regimen while still taking care of himself because he’s scared of getting a Tsukishima lecture. Or how he’s made lots of friends since moving into the dorms.
(Tsukishima once (out of jealousy) asked Hinata why he doesn’t hang out with his trainee friends more and promptly had a heart attack when Hinata pouted and said that they weren’t him. God almighty.)
Recently, he’s learned even more. Like how there’s a new training regimen being added into Hinata’s daily practice, so his free time is even less than before. Or how Hinata loves his vocal trainer because she listens to the same meme music that he listens to (All Star is a fucking masterpiece said Hinata when Tsukishima invalidated his taste in music). Or how he’s been working ten times harder since MSBY Entertainment took in another handful of trainees.
“It’s difficult, but fun,” Hinata tells Tsukishima, who despite looking distracted, hums along. “I do miss it at home, though.”
“That’s understandable,” Tsukishima responds softly, mindful of Hinata’s somber expression.
Hinata’s brought it up a few times in the past two months or so he’s been at the dorms. And it truly is understandable considering Hinata’s spent his entire life living with his mom and then Natsu, only to have their contact be reduced to rushed video calls and forgotten texts. Tsukishima is just lucky that Hinata can save him so much of his time.
Silence fills the call for a moment before Tsukishima hears it. A sniffle. And immediately, dread fills his entire being.
“Shouyou? What’s wrong?”
He looks over to Hinata, the ginger violently rubbing his fists over his eyes as he chokes on a sob. Tsukishima tries calling out to him again, and then a third time, and then a fourth, where Hinata finally responds to him with a pained hiccup.
“S-sorry, I don’t know why I got so overwhelmed all of a sudden. We were just talking about Smash Mouth and now I’m crying—”
Tsukishima quickly shushes him, heart squeezing painfully when Hinata lifts his head to show bloodshot eyes and drying tear tracks. “No, no, it’s okay—ah fuck, I’m so bad at this,” he glances at the clock at his nightstand, then back at Hinata. “Can you give me fifteen minutes?”
“For what,” Hinata sniffles, tears still falling despite all his efforts to wipe them away.
“Just give me fifteen minutes, okay?”
And with that, the blond ends the call, quickly pocketing his phone before making his way through the house, grabbing some things with him. He bangs at Akiteru’s door, yelling out that he’s borrowing his bike before he’s out of the house, into the cold, and on his way to Hinata.
--
There’s a sense of déjà vu when he texts Hinata to open the door for him because it’s fucking cold. Then there’s another sense of déjà vu when he sees the ginger opening the door frantically, chest heaving from having sprinted down two flights of stairs.
“Kei?!”
“I said give me fifteen minutes, did I not?”
“I didn’t think you’d show up here—”
Tsukishima cuts Hinata off by shoving something into the shorter’s chest. Something soft, with cat ears, and familiar looking glasses.
“What—”
“For you. Your mom dropped this off at mine last week saying that Natsu thought it looked like me or whatever. I like it and all, but I think you should keep it.”
In hindsight, this sounds like a confession. The thought comes too late for Tsukishima to care, so he presses on, cheeks warming at the sight of Hinata cradling the plush toy to his chest.
“You can… you can hug it when you miss us. Just… remember that we’re with you, I guess.”
Fuck, he’s screwed, isn’t he? Hinata’s looking at him with those wide doe eyes, sparkling with unshed tears and oh fuck, he realizes that Tsukishima likes him, doesn’t he? The blond returns his grip onto the bicycle handles, mentally preparing himself to get on and the fuck away from Hinata’s dorms when he feels two arms circle around his waist. Followed by a face nuzzling into his chest.
“Thank you, Kei,” Hinata says, the words muffled against the material of Tsukishima’s shirt. “I thought you were overwhelmed by me being overwhelmed and asked for fifteen minutes of silence.”
“Why would you think that? I wouldn’t do that type of thing.”
Slowly, Tsukishima lets go of his bike (Akiteru’s bike) in favor of hugging Hinata back. This way, he can barely register the cold breeze that hits him. The two must look ridiculous to anyone glancing outside or walking past: a tall blond in a dinosaur shirt and sweats with holes near the knees, and a small ginger wearing Christmas pajamas despite it being April. Oh well, Tsukishima’s bid farewell to his pride since the moment he realized Hinata was no longer just a classmate. So he just hugs him closer and tighter and hopes no one can see his knees.
“I just… I just thought that would be the case because you hung up so frantically. But then you texted me to open the door. I swear to God, I’ve never moved so fast in my life, not even when Meian-san announced yakuniku night.”
Tsukishima scoffs before responding, cheek smooshed against Hinata’s hair now, “Don’t be so quick to assume, Hinata-san.”
“Eww, what’s with the Hinata-san?! Go back to calling me Shou, you overgrown beanstalk!”
“In a moment, Hinata-san.”
Once back home in the comforts of his bed, Tsukishima receives a picture of Hinata kissing the cat plushie. He might have punched his pillow and screamed into his sheets when he saw it. Perhaps he even saved the picture and made it both his lock screen and home screen. Not like Hinata will find out.
Which he doesn’t, but his mom does.
--
I’m not whipped, Tsukishima tells Yamaguchi, who made Lenny eyes at him after hearing about the cat plushie incident.
I’m not whipped, Tsukishima tells himself as he walks past the front doors to Hinata’s dorm, waving hello to the security guard who can now recognize him by the back of his head. I’m not whipped, he thinks to himself again as he walks up the stairs to Hinata’s room, holding a box of the ginger’s favorite pastries in his hand. I’m not whipped, he repeats one last time as he knocks on Hinata’s door, ready to come up with an excuse as to why he’s here other than “I wanted to see you”.
When he doesn’t get a response, Tsukishima knocks again, hearing the pitter patter of Hinata’s feet against wooden floors. He’s probably scrambling to get to the door. What an idiot, Tsukishima thinks, a smile making its way onto his lips. He quickly wipes it off, though, because he’s not whipped.
A moment later, the footsteps get closer until they come to a stop, and instead, Tsukishima is greeted with the sound of Hinata’s bright voice.
“Who is it?”
“Kei,” he responds, and just to prove he’s not whipped, he adds on, “What, can you not see through the peephole with your height?”
“You meanie! And here I was about to open the door for you—”
“I brought pastries.”
Hinata opens the door, and Tsukishima’s glasses immediately fog over.
He’s dressed very minimally, what with his short shorts and a tank top with arm holes ripped so far down, Tsukishima can see side boob, front boob, every boob. The sight is beautiful, of course, but the blond thinks his glasses have now cracked.
“Wah, I’ve been craving the cream puffs from here, how’d you know?!”
Hinata grabs the box from Tsukishima, completely oblivious to the taller’s current predicament as he opens the box to look inside. He ahh’s and ooh’s amidst Tsukishima’s lingering realization of side boob and front boob.
Tsukishima remains dazed until the end of his visit where he can finally admit to himself that I’m so fucking whipped.
--
From: Shou <3
THEY WOULDN’T GIVE ME EXTRA MEAT EVEN THOUGH I GAVE THEM PUPPY EYES
THIS IS SOME BULLSHIT
I WANT MORE MEATTTTT
Read 10:21 pm
To: Shou <3
Wow what a surprise
Read 10:22 pm
From: Shou <3
Also, earlier today I fell during practice and guess what
Hey
Guess what
KEIIIIII
Read 10:31 pm
KEIIII GUESS WHAT
Read 10:31 pm
To: Shou <3
Chill I was brushing my teeth
But what
Read 10:31 pm
From: Shou <3
I heard someone fart. I think it was my dance coach
He hella tried to make it seem like he just coughed
But. The. Smell.
Read 10:34 pm
To: Shou <3
Damn it do be like that
Read 10:35 pm
From: Shou <3
OH MY GOD DID YOU JUST MEME
DID YOU JUST BFUISDFJKSDFJS
I’M SENDING THIS TO AKITERU-SAN AND YAMS
Read 10:36 pm
To: Shou <3
I no longer have any shame, do as you will
Sent 10:38 pm
You didn’t actually send it did you?
Sent 10:45 pm
Shou?
Sent 10:51 pm
Are asleep you menace
Should’ve told me you were tired
Almost gave me a fucking heart attack
Sleep well
Sent 10:52 pm
I love you
[Saved as draft]