Archive of Our Own

At 5:01 am Tsukishima wakes up in a cold sweat, to his dismay. He still had a good 30 minutes until he actually had to get ready for school, but he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

Because he had...a dream.

But it wasn't like his normal dreams, where he would be flying around his town and snickering at the inconveniences of random people on the street. It was calm, for one. Normally disaster would make itself known in his dreams. And two, he had company. He doesn't know who his company was, but someone was there, with him.

They sat in a vast, bright green field. No buildings, trees, or anything but sky and grass in his vision. The sky was a purple-blue as the sun began to slowly creep towards the other side of the earth. 

He looked down and delicately picked up a soft yellow flower from its roots. It departed with a quiet, almost inaudible snap. 

"Primrose," dream Tsukishima said.

"Ah." Said the voice next to him. 

"They represent youth and longevity. They symbolize young love; and mean something special when you give them to someone."

Tsukishima feels a rustling next to him, and a hand makes its way into his field of view, hovering next to the primrose still held delicately in between two fingers. The new hand is slightly darker and has brown speckles on its backside.

The voice from before is closer to his ear now.

"What does it mean?" 

Tsukishima turns his head to see the person next to him. But as he does, before he can see the face that matches the voice, his dream ends abruptly and he wakes up.

So that's where we are. 

Images of dotted hands and quiet fields run through his mind. He's not usually the type to analyze dreams, but this one felt so weirdly vague and meaningful he found himself wondering. What in the world did that all mean? 

He sits there, for a bit, in the dark-but-slowly-getting-lighter room. He racks his brain until his door is opened softly.

"Kei!! It's-"

Tsukishima looks up and he and Akiteru make eye contact.

"...5:30."

"..."

Staring.

"Sorry. Didn't know you were awake. I'll just.." he gestures away from the door "oops. You...ha." and it shuts behind him.

Tsukishima stands up from his bed, stretching. Normally he'd be feeling around for his glasses, but he's been up for 30 minutes at this point and was clear-sighted enough to see the things in front of him. 

He rustles through his closet, sliding on his button-up and pants. He makes his way to the bathroom, combing out his hair, brushing his teeth, and running a wet washcloth along the frames of his glasses. Throughout the day they collect all kinds of sweat and particles, so when he's able to he likes to start off his day with a clean pair.

He slides them on and exits the bathroom, where Akiteru and his mom are making breakfast for themselves.

"Welcome to the land of the living!" his mom says, as she swirls an egg around in her pan with chopsticks. She turns, pointing to the table with one of the sticks of wood. "Made you a plate."

Tsukishima walks over and eyes the plate. There are eggs and rice, among other things. They're small portions, and Tsukishimas secretly grateful, since his appetite is never the biggest— especially in the morning. He sits down and begins eating. Akiteru, holding a plate, sits down next to him.

Akiteru is currently on a break from college and is spending his two weeks at home. Tsukishima would be lying if he said he didn’t completely miss the presence of his brother there. Not like he would ever say that out loud, though.

"What were ya up to earlier?"

"Nothing."

"Well, that's certainly what it looked like," Akiteru takes a bite of his food. "Kinda creepy but...whatever.."

Tsukishima thinks about how he would react if he opened his brother's door in the morning only to see him staring blankly at the wall in a dark room. He supposes he might be the slightest bit weirded out as well. 

He gets up, places his dishes in the sink, and goes back to his room, where he unplugs his phone. 

Yamaguchi

Yams

Woke up and I can't go back to sleep... (5:38 am)

Yams

There's so many hours until practice why did I have to wake up now... (5:38 am)

Yams

Are you awake :(? 🗣 (5:56 am)

Yams

I know you wake up at ungodly hours where are you :'( (5:59 am)

Tsukki 

Hi (6:02am)

Yams

Hi!!!! Did you just wake up? (6:02am)

Tsukki

No, I was just getting ready for school (6:02 am)

Yams

Ohhh that makes sense (6:03 am)

Yams

I can't go back to sleep (6:03 am)

Tsukki

Well we only have an hour until practice anyways so it's too late now (6:03 am)

Yams

I guess...I'll get ready and come over, k? (6:03 am)

Tsukki

K (6:04 am)

Tsukishima puts his phone back down and gets his bag together. He spends his time re-organizing his papers until he hears a knock at the front door.

"Is that Tadashi???!" Akiteru calls out from across the house.

"Yeah," Tsukishima half yells.

There's a moment of silence until Tsukishima's door is opened by a freckled boy with a bag draped along his shoulder. His eye bags are prevalent.

"You look tired."

"Aw, am I really that bad???"

In all honesty, Yamaguchi looked amazing. Well, he always did. He could crawl out of a pit of mud and still be ready for a photoshoot.

In Tsukishima's opinion, anyways. 

"Not bad, just tired."

He turns back to his desk, where he slides the last of his papers in a folder and into the book bag.

"Well, I did lose an hour of sleep."

"Yeah, why's that? Usually it's hard for you to wake up."

Yamaguchi moves across the room and sits on the bed, resting his chin in his palm.

"Uh..I think I had a dream or somethin. I dunno, I can't remember it now tho...."

Tsukishima thinks about the dream he had that woke him up. Surprisingly, he could remember it. But he still had no idea what it meant.

"Must have been important enough to wake you up."

"Must have.." Yamaguchi yawns.

Tsukishima glances to his phone. 6:30.

"Want to start heading to school?"

Yamaguchi looks down at the watch on his wrist. Tsukishima just uses his phone, but he's always secretly liked how cool Yamaguchi looks when he checks the silver watch. 

"We'll be a bit early, but if you wanna."

"I wouldn't be surprised if those two idiots were already halfway there. It won't be that much of a difference."

"Hmm. I suppose." Yamaguchi stands up and stretches, rolling his wrists a bit. Tsukishima notices the way his torso curves, and how the button-up rides up the slightest bit as it does. He also notices the slight crinkle of Yamaguchi’s eyes and the bunching of his nose. His freckles move along with his skin.

Yamaguchi opens his eyes after a second and lets his arms and body relax, meeting Tsukishimas gaze and smiling. 

"Okay. Let's go."

Tsukishima throws the book bag onto his shoulder and both boys step out of the room, say goodbye to Tsukishimas family, and walk out the door.

Outside, it's grey and slightly chilly. 

"Woah. It's definitely gonna rain soon." Tsukishima looks over to Yamaguchi as they walk. His face is pointed towards the sky, and a slight smile is spread across his face. 

His favorite kind of weather is rain, Tsukishima knows. When they were younger he would practically drag Tsukishima out so they could splash in puddles and cup rainwater in their palms. 

Yamaguchi had always found things like storms fascinating. Disasters like tornados, lightning, thunder, tsunamis, etc. Although he'll always like simple rain the most, since it almost never causes harm to someone. 

Because of this, Tsukishima spent almost two weeks in his 7th grade reading books and learning about storms. Just so he could impress Yamaguchi with his vast knowledge the next time they met up. He didn't care much for storms, before Yamaguchi. They were always just another scary thing he would have to wait out in his house before going back to play. But once he saw how fascinated they made his friend he started to take an interest as well.

The next time Yamaguchi mentioned the weather Tsukishima laid out one of the many facts he had learned from his library books. Yamaguchi looked amazed. Tsukishima decided he really liked the feeling of knowing, especially when it made someone else's eyes sparkle. 

That's probably what got him into researching, now that he thinks about it. He read non-fiction books and articles until his eyes hurt. It was fun, learning on his own terms. Discovering new things.

He remembers when he came upon dinosaurs. He spent probably a whole month staying up into the late hours of the night reading about them. They had quickly became his favorite subject, and still are. 

But...storms second. Storms will always be his second subject.

"Probably. Do we need to go back and get an umbrella?"

"Only if you want to. I'll be fine though." Yamaguchi grabs his bag by the sides and holds it over his head and smiles. "I'll just use my bag."

Tsukishima shakes his head, a ghost of a smile creeping up onto his face. "You're stupid."

Yamaguchi lets go of the bag gently, letting it lay on his head. He then holds his arms out to his sides and tries his best to balance the bag on his head while he walks. 

"I make up for it with my amazing skill," he says, laughing as he teeters and shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

"That's gonna fall. You can't keep that up."

"What?? And you can?"

"..."

Tsukishima narrows his gaze and then promptly grabs his own bag. He slides it off of his arm and then carefully places it on his head while Yamaguchi watches. 

"Probably for longer than you can." He says as he holds his arms out.

Yamaguchis expression brightens, contrasting the dark gloom of the sky above them.

"Fine!! Whoever drops their bag first has to get the other person a meat bun after school!"

"Fine." 

And with that, they both adjust their bags and continue walking.

About two minutes later Yamaguchi trips on a rock.

He begins to fall, and, Tsukishima seeing this, rockets forwards to stop him. 

As they both move, their bags slip from their heads and fall to the sidewalk together with a loud thump.

Tsukishima, with his arm out to stop Yamaguchi, and Yamaguchi, holding onto Tsukishimas arm, stare at the book bags. Both of them. On the ground.

"..."

"..."

"...well.."

Yamaguchi pushes off Tsukishima’s arm and tumbles back a little, eventually gaining his composure.

"We both lost." He looks to Tsukishima, with a smile. "We have to buy eachother meat buns!!"

"That's pointless. That's just buying ourselves our own m-"

"No! It's completely different! We'll be buying them with different intentions...it changes the meaning of the meat bun."

"Meaning of the meat bun?" 

"Oh! Hey guys!!"

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima turn to see a bright truffle of orange bouncing towards them, alongside a taller tuft of black. They walk side by side, Kageyama holding a blue umbrella at his side and Hinata skipping up and down. He waves excitedly.

"It's early!!!!" He yells.

"I couldn't go to sleep!!!" Yamaguchi yells back.

"Did you try counting to 100?!" Kageyama chimes in.

"I was too awake for it to work-!" 

"Can we not have this conversation on opposite sides of the sidewalk?!" Tsukishima interrupts.

There's silence among the other three boys.

"Oops!" Hinata yells.

Once Hinata and Kageyama are close enough to speak normally Hinata grins lightly. "I got excited."

Tsukishima turns around and grabs both his and Yamaguchi’s book bags from the ground. He stands back up and hands Yamaguchi’s bag back as he throws his own over his shoulder. 

"Of course you did." He shakes his head and continues walking. 

"Why were your bags on the ground?" Kageyama questions.

"I tripped on a rock and we dropped them.." Yamaguchi sighs. 

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Tsukki caught me." Yamaguchi grins to the two, and then to Tsukishima, who only spares a glance before looking back to the sidewalk.

"Oh? Tsukki catch me!" Hinata’s voice proposes from behind. 

Tsukishima groans. "Don't call me that. And no."

"ThreeTwoOne!"

Tsukishima turns around to see a Hinata with his arms wrapped around his chest in a trust-fall position, rocketing towards the ground. 

Tsukishima takes a step back in shock. This causes Hinata to fall straight to the sidewalk face first with a loud and concerning crash.

"..."

"..."

"IDIOT!"

Kageyama drops to his knees and grabs onto Hinata’s shoulders, pulling him up.

"Are you okay?? What were you thinking?"

"I don't think he was." 

Hinata blinks and covers his face with his hands in bewilderment. He pulls them away, looking to his palms.

"Your nose is bleeding!" Yamaguchi exclaims.

The lower half of Hinatas palms are stained a dark red. There's not a lot of blood, but it's noticeable and dripping down to his wrists. 

"Idiot!! Cover your nose!" Kageyama reaches forwards and pinches Hinatas nose, pulling his head back to look up to the sky.

"What in the world are you doing???" Tsukishima steps forwards and kneels, slapping Kageyamas hands away. He then moves Hinatas head to face the ground and pinches his nose with a tissue he fishes from his bag. "If you hold his head back the blood will run down his throat." 

Hinata sticks his tongue out and replaces Tsukishima’s hand with his own, holding the tissue. "It tastes like electricity..."

"You mean copper."

"Same thing, blegh." 

He stands up. Yamaguchi hands him a travel pack of tissues and Hinata takes it.

Kageyama and Tsukishima get up as well. Tsukishima adjusts his glasses. "You're stupid."

"You're stupid for not catching me!!"

"I told you I wasn't going to!"

Hinata makes a mocking gesture with the hand holding the tissues. "Weh weh I'm Tsukishima and only want to catch Yamaguchi and not Hinata."

"Yamaguchi didn't have a choice in the matter, and I also care about what happens to him." Tsukishima turns around on his heel and continues the trek to school. 

"HUH?? What's that supposed to mean??!!!"

Morning practice goes by as usual. Groggy faces running across the court, hitting and receiving balls. Hinata and Kageyama look to be the only ones pumped up, even Noya and Tanaka seeming tired due to the weather. 

Although, besides those two, there is one other person who's doing surprisingly well.

Tsukishima looks down to Yamaguchi, whom he is helping stretch. There's a soft smile plastered across his face as he leans his body forward to touch the tips of his toes achingly. His fingertips just barely graze the fabric of his shoes.

"You good?" Tsukishima questions.

Yamaguchi puts all of his will into one last push, the pads of his fingers touching the shoes. He waits a couple of seconds, and then releases, almost falling over as he sits back. He looks to Tsukishima and smiles. The calm smile pulls his muscles and skin to stretch out his freckles ever so slightly. Tsukishima notices. 

Yamaguchi has always thrived in cloudy weather. It's to be expected, since it's his favorite after all. He seems to improve in all aspects when around something he likes. 

He shakily stands up and grabs Tsukishimas shoulders, easing him down onto the ground.

"Your turn,"

Tsukishima complies, sitting down and stretching his limbs out. Yamaguchi is kneeled behind him, a tight grip on his shoulders.

Tsukishima leans forwards and outstretches his fingers. They easily slide along the leather of his shoes.

"Woah! Not fair, your arms are longer."

After 15 seconds Tsukishima coils back and rolls his shoulders. "But my legs are too. It's even for me."

Yamaguchi releases his grip and stands up. He outstretches an arm towards his friend. "Guess I'll just have to practice more to get to your level."

Tsukishima takes his hand and heaves himself up.

"You're already at my level. You touched your toes. We're even."

"Hmm."

"Alright, everyone! We're gonna do more serve practices for around 20 minutes, and after that receives!"

Tsukishima nudges Yamaguchi with his elbow before walking towards the court. "Now here's where I have to get to your level."

Yamaguchi smiles as he trails behind. "Hehe. Your serves are great, Tsukki. We're even."

A light ding is heard, followed by the sound of the glass doors of Sakanoshita slamming back into place.  Yamaguchi and Tsukishima exit the market, both with a meat bun in hand.

"So? It tastes different, right?"

Tsukishima takes a bite. "It's the exact same."

"Huh???!" Yamaguchi wobbles forwards and turns to Tsukishima as they walk. "It's supposed to taste better now! Because I got it for you."

Tsukishima pulls off another part of the bun with his teeth. Objectively, it did 100% taste like a regular meat bun. But, he supposes, he can understand how it's different in other ways. He feels more careful about it, like since it was bought for him he wants to savor it more. If he didn't take the time to enjoy it, Yamaguchi’s money would be wasted. 

"Maybe."

"Maybe," Yamaguchi scoffs. He turns back to the road in front of him and takes a bite from his own. "Well, at least mine tastes good." He flashes a grin to Tsukishima once he swallows. "Cause you got it for me."

Tsukishima hums, adjusting the wax paper in his hand.

They continue to walk home as the sky progressively gets darker with every passing minute. The concrete around them shines subtly due to the previous rainfall.

"I'm sad I didn't get to go out when it was raining," Yamaguchi comments.

"I'm not. Your uniform would have gotten wet. What then?"

Yamaguchi tosses his trash into a nearby bin as they walk. "Well, you're not supposed to think about that in the moment." He looks to Tsukishima. "Your glasses would have gotten wet, too."

Tsukishima absolutely hates it when the lenses of his glasses get water on them. The process of wiping them down to get them clear again is a nightmare-- especially when he's forgotten his glasses case and he has to use the fabric of his blazer to wipe the liquid off. 

This causes him to usually take off his glasses when it's raining, which is a lose-lose situation in itself because instead of his vision being blurred by water droplets it's just blurred in general. Yamaguchi knows this.

"Whose to say I would have come out with you?"

"You always come with me after a bit of convincing."

As much as Tsukishima hates to admit it, it was true. Yamaguchi was amazing at convincing people to do things with him. He seems all timid and anxious, but underneath that, he's got a devious, cogent personality that's hard to resist. 

Tsukishima is about to reply when Yamaguchi stops. Tsukishima pauses as well, turning to see what caused the disruption.

Yamaguchi kneels down and picks something up from the ground. He examines it, blows on it, and then stands up. 

Turning to Tsukishima he hands it to him. 

It's a small, purple flower. 

Tsukishima takes it.

"...A primrose. They don't usually grow just out by the sidewalk though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. They thrive next to rivers or streams, or are planted purposefully. Cool that you just found one all by itself." 

Yamaguchis eyes light up. The same sparkle they always have when Tsukishima reveals a new fact. He'll never get sick of the expression. 

"Wait really? That's so cool then! What else is there?"

"Um.." Tsukishima looks down at the primrose, thinking. Out of the various flowers he had done research on, a primrose was one he never bothered to look deeper into. 

"Don't know. There's probably something, I just haven't read about it yet."

"Aw. Okay."

Yamaguchi begins moving forwards, and smiles at Tsukishima. "Well, you should keep it then. That way you can look it up some time."

Tsukishima delicately places the flower in his jacket pocket and walks alongside Yamaguchi. "I will."

Back home Tsukishima slides off his shoes, the damp soles rendering the wooden boards of the floor reflective. He sighs, hangs up his jacket, and heads to his room. There, he tosses his bag to the floor and flops onto his bed, face in the pillow. Rainy days have always made him tired.

He has responsibilities of course, but...first, a nap.


Trees curve and stretch to frame the dull, midnight sky. Complete silence washes over the forest as Tsukishima observes the nebulous atmosphere. His glasses are gone, and he can hardly see anything that isn’t 5 feet in front of him due to the darkness. He begins to walk, and as he does so he can feel the light breeze making its way towards him and through the branches.
The only light source he can make out is the soft glow of the moon, which looks like nothing more than a white blur in a sea of ink to Tsukishima. As he looks back down to the ground he finds another sharp contrast-- a bright pink. He kneels down, and upon closer inspection, he can recognize the white fade in the middle of the pink. A pink flower. He grabs it by the stem and releases it from the ground, holding it up to his face.

“A primrose.”

Tsukishima turns around to face the voice. He’s only met with the darkness that was there before.

“Those are special, you know.”

Tsukishima stands up, eyeing the primrose before fully facing in the direction of the voice.

“They represent youth and longevity,” he says.

“What else?” the voice asks.

The disembodied voice seems familiar, but Tsukishima can’t quite place his finger on it.

“I can’t remember.”

“Then try to.”


And with that, Tsukishima wakes up.

“Shit.”

He lays in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His glasses lenses are covered in patterns printed from the mattress and his face feels gross.
The dream he had was rapidly fading from his memory, but he could grab onto a few keywords, those being Flower and Voice. Both of which, right now, were self-explanatory.
Tsukishima digs around in his right pants pocket before pulling out a limp purple flower. The one given to him by Yamaguchi, just an hour or two before.

This was weird. Really weird.

“Kei!!!”

Tsukishima sits up in his bed and tosses the throw blanket off of him.
“What?” he yells back.

“Can you do the dishes? I gotta go pick up something!!”

Tsukishima sighs. He takes off his glasses and wipes them down with the cloth he keeps on his nightstand. Standing up he slides them back on and walks downstairs to the kitchen.

“You fall asleep?”

Akiteru is sliding on his shoes at the door. Tsukishima looks to the time flashing on the stove. It was 7:03 pm-- way too late to be taking a nap.

“Yeah.”

“Volleyball musta gotten you worn out!” Akiteru stumbles up to his feet, grabs his coat, and then opens the door. “Be back in a bit!” He says, twirling his keys in his hand and closing the door behind him.

Tsukishima proceeds to do the dishes as quickly as possible. Around 7 minutes later he slides the last plate back into the cabinet and shuts it. He then promptly turns on his heel and grabs the railing of the stairs, hastily making his way back to his room.

Once he’s at his desk he opens his laptop and types in a lengthy password. He then moves his cursor to hover over Google and clicks down. In the search bar he stops, fingers hovering over the keys but not typing anything.
After a couple of seconds of debating with himself, he decides on ‘flower repeatedly appearing in life’. It's vague, but specific enough that he hopes he can get results. If it doesn't end up giving him what he wants, he’ll type something like ‘primrose appearing’ or ‘symbol appearing’ instead. After making research one of his hobbies, Tsukishima likes to think he at least knows his way around the search bar a bit.
Sure enough, after scrolling, Tsukishima can safely confirm his experience was put to good use. He is presented with a Reddit thread (albeit, on the second page of google,) titled “I keep seeing the same flower when I'm with a specific person. What does it mean?”. He’d be lying if he said he relates to the title, but it seems the most helpful out of the rest of the results. In the body of the post, they detail their experiences, which after some scanning Tsukishima can confirm vaguely follows his own story. He scrolls down to look at the replies. 

For being such an odd topic, there's a surprising amount of users who share the same incident. After scrolling through more stories, which only validate Tsukishima's own further, he finds a reply that piques his interest.

LJFI7839 5 years ago

\\ I experienced this a couple of years ago as well, and at the time I couldn't find anything that related to me; or at least gave me a clue on what it was. I had to find out for myself, which was tiring, so I’ll tell you what I did and hopefully it will be of some use to you.
I was in my senior year of high school and had recently met a girl I really liked. We hung out constantly, and it wasn't long before I developed feelings for her. It didn't really matter to me, if I'm being honest. I’ve never been the type of guy to let feelings like that get in the way of anything.
It wasn't until I started seeing roses every single time I was with her .
It started off as “oh, look at that rose” whenever we would walk back home after school. It was weird, seeing a random rose growing in the middle of the sidewalk, sure, but I didn’t think anything of it. But it just kept happening. Suddenly there would be a bed of roses on our path home. Someone with a bouquet of roses in their bicycle basket would drive by. A pre-grown rose bush was suddenly installed next to the creek we liked to sit by. 

I never believed in those “angel numbers” or “universe signs”, but it was actually starting to get stressful. So I gave in and decided to do something about it.
Around the third time roses appeared, I had already picked up on the fact they were only with her. So that was the first step out of the way: identification.
I then looked up the meaning of roses. Of course, we all know they’re pretty much the universal symbol for love, but I did it anyway, as confirmation. And I was right.
After some wrestling with myself, I could come to the conclusion that the roses were only with her, and that roses meant love, and that the fact I liked her probably had something to do with it . 

Could I have been overwhelmed with paranoia? Yes. But I was going to go through with the plan regardless.

On a Saturday, when we were free of school, I confessed to her with a single rose. She smiled, said they were her favorite flower, and accepted.
Not only did the roses push me to do something I would have never done, but they stopped appearing after that. Haven't seen any ‘random roses’ with her since.

EDIT: YES guys we are still together! I actually proposed a couple of months ago, in February. And yes, it was with a rose. And yes, we always keep some in a vase on our dining room table ;) //

The thread underneath the reply was filled with congratulations and quite a few people thanking the user and saying they would try for themselves.

So..easy enough. Tsukishima just needs to confess with a primrose.
….but to who?
He doesn't like anyone, as far as he can remember. He’s never really pursued any of the girls who have asked him out, and he sure as hell doesn't care about anyone who doesn’t talk to him first.
It’s nearing 7:30, and he hasn't completed any of his homework yet. So he bookmarks the website, closes out of the tab, and decides that next morning he’ll begin to conduct his investigation.

Being a detective is a lot harder than they make it look in the movies.
Especially when he's hardly investigating and is mostly just trying to solve his own emotional turmoil. 

They’re currently taking a break during morning practice, and Tsukishima is taking the time to observe every single one of his teammates.
First, Hinata.

Tsukishima can almost already confirm with himself it’s a no , but he reasons with himself and goes through the effort of evaluating the red-haired boy anyways. 

He’s small, really small. Standing up, he reaches just past his Tsukishima's shoulder and no more. He would have to actually bend over if he wanted to do anything other than slap him across the face (like he usually wants to).
He’s also extremely energetic. He rivals Noya and Tanaka, and he can’t imagine being able to spend a whole day one-on-one with someone that bouncy.
Granted, Hinata had his moments of calmness, which to Tsukishima were actually quite flattering in a way. When he was serious and thinking, he was tolerable and pleasant to be around.
But that was maybe only 20% of the time. Tsukishima would never go through the effort of bearing the remaining 80%.

There's also Kageyama, who’s irritable and generally out of touch when it comes to social situations. On the court he's amazing, Tsukishima has to admit, but once he steps off of it Tsukishima's almost certain he drops about 50 IQ points.

Also….Tsukishima's pretty sure the king has a thing for Hinata. 

Cycling through the other members, he comes across Suga, who’s nice, but also overwhelming in his antics. There’s Ennoshita, who Tsukishima actually doesn't mind, but no, Kiyoko, who-- Tsukishima will have to be honest-- has never found all that attractive, Daichi, who is just way too overbearing, and the list goes on.

He’s gone through so many analyses he could probably write a research paper on the volleyball club. And get a pretty decent grade on it, too. 

He’s just about done when he receives a tap on his shoulder. He turns around.
“Hey, break is over,” Yamaguchi informs.
Right. Yamaguchi.
The one person Tsukishima hadn’t gone over.
He didn’t think he needed to, really. They’ve been friends forever. If Tsukishima had a crush on him, he’d know by now, right?
“Sorry.” Tsukishima sets his water bottle on the ground and jogs back onto the court, getting into position for receiving practice. As he does so, he thinks.
Yamaguchi is one of the few people Tsukishima finds bearable.
He’s mild, but not to the point where he cant get loud or share a laugh or two. He’s always looking out for him, and sometimes it’s annoying, but he’s helped Tsukishima more times than he’s hurt him. He recalls being pulled forward by his collar, yelled at for the first time by his friend, and actually feeling proud. Yamaguchi was the person who motivated him to step outside of his comfort zone. Even just a little bit. 

He also practically knows Tsukishima like the back of his hand. He’s aware of his boundaries; knows when he or others crossed them. He also knows Tsukishima doesn’t mean harm when he tells him to shut up. Just fires off a “sorry” and never takes it personally. Tsukishimas always appreciated that.
He knows what he likes. Always tugging at Tsukishima's sleeve when he spots a strawberry cake on a table or a flyer for a movie he’s heard Tsukishima fawn over the trailer for more than once. 

He also shares Tsukishima's interests, as Tsukishima does with his. They complement each other like that. They’re able to sit in comfortable silence, and simultaneously make fun of people loudly on dating apps.

On top of that, Yamaguchi is pretty. Really pretty.

His skin is tanner than Tsukishimas, and freckles dot his face, shoulders, and legs. His hair is a weird middle ground between green and brown, and his eyes are a light hazel. They don’t mix with a soft chocolate brown or have speckles of gold in it like Hinata or Nishinoyas. But they light up when he’s excited, and that’s infinitely more breathtaking than a couple of yellow streaks.
He also has a snicker that Tsukishima can’t get enough of. Whenever he dishes out a clever quip, he can always hear the light laugh of Yamaguchi next to him, and that alone is more validation than he can wish for. 

When he thinks about it, Tsukishima isn’t sure how his life would be going if Yamaguchi wasn’t in it. He’s sure he’d be on roughly the same path, but he wouldn’t be the exact same person. Although he’s known for his lack of filter, he has one. A thin one, at least. And that, along with his self-awareness, can all be credited to Yamaguchi. 

Yamaguchi is practically perfect. He’s calm, but outgoing. He’s reasonable, but can get caught up in others' antics. He’s understanding, but also pushes others to improve themselves. 

In all honesty, Tsukishima could see himself in a relationship with someone like h-

“Tsukishima! What's wrong with you?”
Tsukishima looks to the ball bouncing behind him, and then to coach Ukai, who has directed attention towards him.

“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi's voice questions from the other side of the court.

Tsukishima was so caught up in his thoughts he nearly forgot he was in practice. His body had been on autopilot for a good minute or two.
“Nothing. Sorry.” Who knows how many balls he had barely gotten back up in the air or nearly missed. He re-adjusts himself and Tanaka serves another ball to him from across the net. 

As he cleanly bumps the ball back into the air, he quickly goes over what just happened.
Yamaguchi.
They’re just friends...right? That’s all there is to it. Friendly admiration. Only thing Tsukishima feels.
He spares a glance to Tanaka's left and spots Yamaguchi jumping into the air, hitting a completely still ball over the net and falling back down to his feet. He’s completely focused back on practice and he smiles as Noya, who's next to Tsukishima, fails to receive the serve.
Tsukishima feels a sharp, warm stab through his chest as he observes the proud expression his friend wears.

Well, shit. 

Walking out of the club room as fast as he can after practice, still heaving his bag over his shoulder, he tries his best to ignore the questions of Hinata and Kageyama as the door closes. He prefers it if he could get away from people as soon as possible right now--

Okay, well, just because Tsukishima might like Yamaguchi doesn't mean he's the cause of the primrose situation. This was just one part of step one. He still needs to confirm if Yamaguchi and the flowers are related. 

He’s seen the flower three times in the past few days, and only once were they with Yamaguchi. Every other time they were in a dream, and Tsukishima can hardly even recall one of them.
“Tsukki!!” Yamaguchi rushes down the stairs to catch up with Tsukishima. Tsukishima slightly jumps before forcing himself to settle down as Yamaguchi makes his way to his side. 

“That was fast.”
“Well,” Yamaguchi breathes, “ you were fast.”

“Just didn't feel like listening to those two idiots bicker anymore.”
Yamaguchi laughs at the comment and pulls out his phone, swiping along the screen a couple of times. Tsukishima stares as they walk, beginning to admire the slight grin Yamaguchi has plastered before being interrupted by a screen shoved in his face.

On it is a web page featuring a small diner, one that looks to specialize in sweets more than anything. Yamaguchi pulls his phone back down.
“This one just opened up not too long ago...I wanna go. Only like a 26-minute walk from here.”
He looks up to Tsukishima as he slides his phone back into his bag. “Wanna go after school?”
Tsukishima pretends to consider. “Yeah. I’m free.”
“Nice!” Yamaguchi fist pumps and they walk into the school, making an early start to their first class. 

School only seems to drag on. Throughout the day Tsukishima pays more attention to people than he ever has before. He feels like he’s a middle school boy again, eyeing everyone they interact with and imagining a future with them.

Unfortunately, Tsukishima can't imagine many of those hypothetical futures being very bright. Every time he tries to convince himself “hey, maybe I like that person,” his mind immediately wanders back to Yamaguchi. It gets to the point where when he looks back down at his notebook in English, his notes have developed from what's on the board to his friend’s name. He glances up to Yamaguchi worriedly, whose across the room, and immediately feels stupid for it because he’s literally three rows away, he can’t see your notebook, idiot.
He manages to conceal the rapid beating of his heart when he sits down next to Yamaguchi during lunch and while he’s pushing Yamaguchi's back down in stretches. He can’t tell if his heart always had this reaction and he just never noticed, but either way, it's nothing Yamaguchi should be concerned about. 

Tired and worn out from practice, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi make their trek to the diner.

“It’s nice not having to walk with everyone else. We should go this way more often.” 

Yamaguchi snorts. “We can't go out to eat every day after practice!”

“I didn't mean that. We should just avoid them more.”

“But then it would take longer to get home! Would you wanna spend all that extra time?”

Maybe if it was all spent with you.

“It would be worth it if it meant peace and quiet.”

“You’re so mean, Tsukki.” 

They carry more light conversation until they approach the diner. The outside is painted a pastel, off-white pink, and the windows' glass is dark and tinted. Tsukishima pushes open the door, letting Yamaguchi step inside and then walking in after. 

A worker greets them from the counter, and they walk up to it. The tables and counters are a stark, dark rose-brown, and the chairs are the same color with pink cushions.  

Yamaguchi collects the menu from a stand on the counter. He looks over the piece of paper, oo-ing and ahh-ing at various options before resting his finger on a title.
“Ooh...can I have the Namagashi?” He smiles at the worker as he looks up from the menu.

“Of course. Matcha tea, too?”

“Oh yeah yeah. That too.” He turns the menu in his hand and Tsukishima leans down slightly to scan over it.

“Mitsumame. And just water.”

The employee nods, punching in a few more keys on the machine in front of her and then smiling. “We’ll have it out shortly, sit wherever you like.”

Yamaguchi puts the menu back and throws out a thank you as he walks over and finds a seat next to one of the windows. Tsukishima sits down across from him.
“It’s so cozy in here,” Yamaguchi notes.

Tsukishima hums an agreement as he wraps his bag’s strap around the chair. When he turns to look at Yamaguchi, he notices something in front of him.

There, on the center of the table they’re sitting at, rests a clear vase with two light pink flowers inside. 

Yamaguchi follows Tsukishima's gaze and reaches out towards the flowers.

“They’re pretty. They match the vibe.” 

And a beat later, “Hey, these are the same as the flower we found yesterday!”

Tsukishima swallows, shaking his stare away from the flowers. “Yeah, I guess they are.”

“Speaking of, did you ever look it up? Some more fun facts and stuff?”

Tsukishima tries his best to relax in his seat. “Uh, no, I didn't get to. Got caught up with homework...” And desperately trying to figure out why I kept seeing these goddamn flowers. “I will tonight.”

“Awh, okay. Don't feel pressured to or anything. You’re just really good at learning, is all.”

“I know.”

Yamaguchi lets out a laugh, and Tsukishima feels like the tense air (that he’s sure only he felt) between them falls away a little. 

“Feel like I hardly got to do anything in afternoon practice today,” Yamaguchi sighs, letting his hand fall away from the flower in front of him. “Didn't even get to practice my serve.”

“You’ll be going over to Shimada on Thursday, won't you? And you got to in the morning.”

“Well, yeah. But I guess I wanna be able to work on it every chance I get, you know?”

Tsukishima rests his chin in his palm and forces himself to look out the window. He’s always been regarded as a regular and has never had anything in particular that he’s wanted to practice relentlessly before, like Yamaguchi’s jump float. Though, he could probably relate Yamaguchi’s frustration to his own. But in his case, his is less related to volleyball and more related to potentially falling in love with his best friend .

“I guess.”

An employee walks over and places two cups at their table. Yamaguchi smiles a “thank you!” and the worker bows before walking away.  

Yamaguchi places his tea to his left, next to the window, and Tsukishima unwraps his straw and stirs around his iced water. 

They continue to converse while at the diner, receiving their desserts and eating, Yamaguchi reaching across the table to steal a couple of pieces of fruit from Tsukishimas dish, and Tsukishima immediately taking a namagashi from Yamaguchi’s plate. When he pulls back and realizes the piece he had taken is shaped like a flower, he’s unsettled, but quickly eats it in fear of dwelling on it any longer and bringing attention. Tsukishima pays for their food, leaving a whining Yamaguchi to walk behind him, because “Tsukki, why didn't you let me pay…?” And Tsukishima keeps it contained that it’s because every time you pay you make conversation with the employee and I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible after I saw that stupid flower .  And instead just brushes it off with a “Because I wanted to, now stop complaining about it”.

He feels kind of bad for wanting to go home so badly because he always enjoys his times out with Yamaguchi, but this particular day has held way too many epiphanies and all he wants to do is go to sleep. 

Walking home, Yamaguchi complains about English that day and Tsukishima can't say he relates considering he spent most of that period daydreaming. Yamaguchi pulls out a pair of earbuds and the two listen to a playlist they had composed together a couple months ago until they wave their goodbyes when Tsukishima reaches his street. 

Tsukishima shuts the door behind him, heaving out an exasperated sigh and sliding his shoes and jacket off. Akiteru greets him and Tsukishima replies with a grunt as he walks over into the kitchen and to the sink. Sliding on latex gloves and turning the water on, Akiteru talks from the living room, on the couch.
“It’s mom's birthday Thursday, will you go with me to the store in a couple of hours?”

Tsukishima squeezes clear soap onto a plate. “Why do I have to?”

“Because you’re her kid too, Kei.” Akiteru leans back, grabbing the remote and switching between channels. The volume is low. “I’ll pay for it. I just want it to actually be from both of us this year.”

Usually, on his mother’s birthday, Tsukishima gives Akiteru a very vague list of ideas and then Akiteru goes out and does the shopping, the wrapping, and usually the gifting. Tsukishima never knows what’s inside the box until his mom opens it. Of course, he usually gets her a card the day of on his walk from school, but besides that, it’s always his brother. 

He sets the plate aside to dry and grabs a cup. Here go his plans of a nice nap. “Fine. Just not for too long.”

Akiteru crosses his legs. “Okay.”

Tsukishima continues to scrub at the few dishes in the sink until there are none left. He grabs the head of the faucet and pulls, extending it, washing away the bubbly soap stuck to the walls of the sink. Once everything is down the drain he pulls his gloves off, opening a nearby trash can with his foot and throwing them in. He then grabs his bag up from the floor and walks up into his room, promptly shutting the door behind him and sitting down at his desk. He unpacks various notebooks and binders and begins his homework. ….But not before letting his head fall down onto his desk dramatically.
Being around Akiteru, he couldn't express his utter exhaustion from his time out with Yamaguchi. Tsukishima's heart felt like it was beating at 100 miles an hour the whole time, and if it weren't for his usual uninterested nature he’s sure he would have broken down in the diner, right then and there, and dropped everything onto Yamaguchi at once. 

He groans, slowly lifting his head up as if it were a weight, and opens his math binder. He grabs a pencil and begins to work on a piece of scrap paper, making sure he’s actually writing down equations and not a certain someone's name. 

Around two hours later, Tsukishima is laying down in his bed watching a documentary on his phone when there's a knock on the door. It’s then opened a second later, Akiteru peeking his head through. 

“Time to go!” He flashes a smug grin when Tsukishima sighs. He removes his headphones, placing them down on the nightstand, and sitting up.

“I’ll be out in the car, don’t be too long,” Akiteru says, before softly closing the door. Tsukishima waits for the sound of his brother's footsteps fading before standing up. He finds his glasses on his desk, wipes them down with a cloth, and then slides them on. He doesn't bother a look in the mirror before walking out of his room, shoving his shoes on, and walking out through the door, locking it behind him. The sky is filled with a light orange color. Practice had ended particularly early, so it felt as if there was an extra hour to be spent. Tsukishima walks out onto the driveway and then slides into the passenger's seat of the car. Akiteru changes gears and backs out, one arm on the steering wheel and one gripping the back of Tsukishima's seat, making his way onto the road and then driving forwards.

“Where are we going?” Tsukishima questions.

“There's this really cool embroidery shop I found...and there's an antique shop near it too. After that, I wanna check out the florists.”

Tsukishima suppresses a hitched breath. “Does mom really need flowers this year?”

Akiteru lets out an offended gasp, glancing sharply at Tsukishima before looking back at the road. “Uh. Yes! EVERYONE needs flowers on their birthday!”

“I don’t get flowers on my birthday.”

“Everyone except you. You’d leave them to wilt.”

“Why are we getting flowers two days before we need them?”

“We’re not getting any, I just want to browse. Every time I go to get flowers the day of I spend like an hour trying to figure out what would be the best. I want a gameplan.”

Tsukishima huffs and crosses his arms across his chest and leans back, head against the seat and looking out the window. Buildings pass by his vision, rendering them nearly blurs as the car drives down the road. 

“You’re making dinner tonight, right?” Akiteru asks.

“No. It’s your turn.”

“ Huh ? Tuesdays are your days!!”

Even though Akiteru was only visiting, the chore cycle would always immediately organize itself to add the boy the moment he stepped through the door. Akiteru was never safe.

“Last week I cooked on your Thursday because you wanted to go out with friends. So you have to do three this week.” 

“Well, shit,” Akiteru groans as he makes a left turn onto a road lined with small stores. “I’ll just...pick up something on our way back.”

They continue to drive down the street until a small parking lot makes itself known up ahead. The car turns and they back into a vacant space on the black concrete. 

They both step out of the car, Tsukishima shoving his hands into his pockets as they make their way back onto the shop-coated street. 

A tiny bell sounds when Akiteru and Tsukishima walk into the florist’s shop, Akiteru holding two dangling bags. Tsukishima mentally prepares himself when he steps through, taking in a small breath, closing his eyes, and opening them once again when the door closes.

“Welcome!!” A voice from the back of the shop greets. A lady shoves her way through various plants as she nears the two. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Actually,” Akiteru adjusts the peach-colored shopping bag looped around his forearm, “I'm hoping to find something good for like..a birthday?”

“Ooh yes, yes. For who?”

“A mom,” Akiteru answers.

The florist's eyes light up and she turns on her heel, gesturing for Akiteru to follow. “I know just the flower! Come over here.”

Akiteru follows the employee and Tsukishima is left to stand at the entrance. He hesitantly takes a step to his right, observing the flowers and leaves surrounding him. Ropes of green line the walls, contrasted by bright pinks and oranges. Roses, Daisies, Succulents, Orchids…

But not a primrose to be seen. 

This almost unsettles Tsukishima. He continues to search for the flower, but all he can find is maybe every other flower in existence .
In a fit of silent almost-panic, he turns around and scans the store through clear shelves. His eyes catch a person, and he walks up to the glass counter near the back of the store. The worker standing there looks up from their clipboard.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Do you guys have any primroses?” Tsukishima inquires.

“Umm..” The employee glances at a paper on the wall next to them. After a second they look back to Tsukishima. “They’re not in season right now, but even then we don't receive many. Maybe rarely in bouquets. I could try to find some if you place an order.” 

They’re not in season and even when they are they’re not common. Yet Tsukishima had managed to see them multiple times in the past couple of days??

“I’m okay. Thank you.”

“No problem, my apologies.”

Tsukishima turns around and walks away from the counter. In an attempt to push the dwelling of that conversation to a later time, he begins to approach Akiteru, who is bent over looking at an array of flowers. Akiteru notices and stands up, pointing to the options in front of him. 

“Daisies or Carnations?”

“Carnations,” Tsukishima replies. “They represent motherly love in some places.”

“Ooh.” Akiteru turns to Tsukishima. “I’m gonna arrange a bouquet and then we can go, kay?”

Without acknowledgment but acknowledgment enough, Tsukishima walks away and to the front of the store to wait. The sight of flowers starts to make him more and more anxious as he makes his way there. He thought if he saw a primrose he’d throw up, but the fact that there aren't any primroses, yet he had managed to see one almost every time he was with Yamaguchi, made him feel even sicker to his stomach.
Akiteru walks up a couple of minutes later, a slip in his hand. Tsukishima looks up from the social media post he was reading.
“We can go now,” Akiteru says.
A sigh of relief escapes Tsukishima. “Good.” He turns around, opening the door, and walking out onto the sidewalk. It nearly shuts in Akiterus face and he lets out a small “hey!” before flailing around with the handle, stumbling outside, and hitting Tsukishima in the back of the head. 

Earlier that day, after the diner, Yamaguchi had received a call from Hinata. He explained Kageyama was busy, and practically begged Yamaguchi to go to the park with him. 

Yamaguchi, still high off of his outing with Tsukishima, agreed.

At the park, Yamaguchi tossed the ball into the air, jumping and hitting it over the net. Hinata didn’t move, as when he looked to the side he saw the ball hit out of bounds.

“That’s your third one!” Hinata exclaims. He looks through the net, to Yamaguchi on the other side, who is running a hand exasperatedly down his face. “What’s wrong? Tired?” 

Yamaguchi straightens up, heaving a sigh and walking over to collect the ball.

“Just lacking motivation, I guess. Sorry. I’ll serve it normally this time.”

When they make it back home, Tsukishima immediately walks into his room, barely giving his mom a greeting as he closes his door and flops onto his bed. The sky had turned a complete dark black now, small white dots peppering the area. The last thing Tsukishima sees is the moon, framed perfectly in his window before shutting the curtains. He changes into sweatpants and a t-shirt, brushes his teeth, wipes his face down with a wet towel and, lies down. He turns around in his bed, pulling the covers along with him. He’s about to click on a youtube video when he receives a notification. 

Yams

I just beat that level in the game you showed me! I think my reaction time is getting better >:) (8:48 pm)

Tsukishima pulls his left arm out from underneath him.

Tsukki
Cool (8:48 pm)

Tsukki
I’m going to bed (8:48 pm)


Yams
Oh? It’s so early! Are you ok? (8:48 pm)


Tsukki
Yes. Just tired (8:48 pm)


Tsukki
Goodnight (8:49 pm)


Yams
Ok. Goodnight Tsukki :) (8:49 pm)

Tsukishima exits out of his messages with Yamaguchi, swipes back to YouTube, and presses play on the hour-long video of ambient noise. He turns the screen face down and closes his eyes, slowly but surely falling into a calm sleep. 

When he opens his eyes, he’s laid down on the floor of a tan room. He rises slowly, immediately recognizing the striped bedsheets and small succulent on the window frame. 

“Yamaguchi?” 

He glances to the bed. It’s made neatly, not a person on it. He walks across the room, feeling the fuzzy brown carpet underneath his feet, and opens the fairy-light rimmed door. Instead of the normal muted colors of his friend's house, the walls are painted a bright yellow, the floor tiles a dark green, and the furniture is all white. He steps through the hallway, admiring the almost hideous decor. 

Every door he passes is wide open, and the kitchen is just as empty as the rest of the rooms. He looks to the front door- his shoes aren't there. He’s about to turn back, see if he has his phone, when a crash is heard from the other side of the house.  

He paces across the kitchen and looks to where the sound came from.
Shattered, across the green rug of the living room, is a large brown flower pot. Dirt lines the surrounding walls and petals decorate the furniture. He’s about to step forwards when another sound makes itself known.

“Oh no!”

Tsukishima jumps and turns around. Yamaguchi shoves past him and to the pot, immediately kneeling down next to it and taking in the mess.

“Yamaguchi?”

Yamaguchi frantically starts collecting the clay pieces around him.
“You didn't get here fast enough!” He almost sobs the words out.

Tsukishima, taken aback by the tone of Yamaguchi's voice, grips the wall next to him.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Damn it, you were too slow! You always are! When will you just get the hint?” He runs past Tsukishima, throwing the shards into the trashcan before running back to continue picking the debris. 

Tsukishima takes a step forward, and when he does, Yamaguchi's head whips around to stare daggers at him. He stops in his tracks. 

“What's wrong with you? Why are you so upset about this?”

Yamaguchi scoops up soil into his palms. “Whatever. I can’t keep putting in all the effort, it’s too late now.”

“Too late for what? ”

Yamaguchi grabs a flower petal, turns, and holds it out accusingly at Tsukishima. It’s a light yellow. “ This!! Too late for this, Tsukki! You waited too long and now everything’s gone and broken and it’s your fault!!” 

“I didn't know it would break?! I didn't even know that damn flowerpot was there until a minute ago!” 

“That's not my problem anymore!!” Yamaguchi huffs, standing up and shoving Tsukishima out of the doorway with his elbow. His palms are still holding a handful of dirt. “Go home.”

“Are you serious? You’re going to kick me out because of some dirt? A couple of flowers?”

“I don’t expect you to understand. Just go.”

“I-” Tsukishima, unable to think straight, turns on his heel and stomps to the door. He curls his fingers tightly around the handle. He sees red.  “Fine. I don’t feel like dealing with this right now anyways.”

“You never have.”

With that, Tsukishima violently opens the door, not sparing another glance behind him before he steps out of the frame.

When his foot touches the concrete on the other side, he feels a sharp pain run through his head and he finds himself immediately shooting up in bed, eyes blown wide, hand gripping his forehead instead of a handle. 

The pain quickly fades and he drops his hand to the covers beneath him, letting out an annoyed sigh. 

This dream is the first one that’s successfully made his heart race . The broken clay, yelling at his friend, stomping over to the door, everything about it made him feel guilty. Not that he has anything to feel guilty over. Dream him was the one who yelled back, and dream Yamaguchi was the one that sobbed at the flower that meant so much to him. Not real. 

Speaking of, why did that flower mean so much? Although the memory is fleeting, Tsukishima can figure it’s some sort of metaphor pertaining to his current situation, and decides he’ll decipher it as a warning later on. 

His phone is quiet, and the light shining into his room is faded and dull, letting him know it’s only the early hours of the morning, before the birds have gotten the chance to sing their songs. 

Exasperated, frustrated, and groggy, Tsukishima stands up out of his bed and opens the door to grab a glass of water. 

Tsukishima still feels sick when he’s shoving his shirt down over his head after practice. Most of the team has exited the club room, and he feels like a snail as he’s zipping up his duffel bag and lifting it up slowly to his shoulder. 

He thinks he’s alone when he hears the door slam shut behind him again, but he’s immediately proven wrong when he (once again) hears the clank of thin metal across the room. 

“It’s your mom's birthday tomorrow, right?”

Tsukishima turns around, squinting at Yamaguchi as he stretches his limbs.
“Yeah.”

Yamaguchi has always insisted on getting something for the Tsukishima’s birthdays. Tsukishima always purposefully avoided telling his friend when one was coming up in order to avoid the hassle, but Yamaguchi always remembered. 

“Wanna go to the florists with me? I wanna get her a rose or something.” Yamaguchi cranes his head, flashing a smile. Tsukishima's heart jumps in his chest. 

“I just went there with Akiteru yesterday..”

Yamaguchi lifts his own matching bag to rest on his shoulder. He moves along the room and pushes open the door slightly.
“So you don’t want to come?”

“...” 

Tsukishima was tired, but he hardly had any homework that night, and passing on an opportunity to test out the flower theory was beyond him. 

“I’ll come.” 

They begin their walk to the florists, Yamaguchi rambling about math while Tsukishima listens quietly with his headphones around his neck. Both he and Yamaguchi are in college prep classes, so hearing his friend rant about the stress he usually kept internalized was almost...comforting, in a way.

“Don’t even get me started on English…”

“What happened with English this time?” Tsukishima sighs.

“Yachi was busy with something so Hinata and Kageyama asked me for help. I already warned them I was bad, but they insisted…” Yamaguchi pulls his phone out, squinting at the screen before promptly cramming it back in his pocket. 

“It was a nightmare! They kept trying to encourage me but I could tell I was just making them even more confused.” He covered his face with his palms, groaning into them. “It was so embarrassing. I felt so bad.”

“That’s what they get for not heeding your warning.”

Tsukishima turns, pushing open the door to the florist’s shop. He lets Yamaguchi walk in and then lets go, the door closing behind him as he steps in.

Nothing has changed. Not that anything would. It’s been a day. The walls are still decorated with dark green vines, bright white and purple lights shining down on the various plants. Yamaguchi's eyes light up as he scans the shop, holding a plant's large leaves in-between two delicate fingers. He lightly pets the plant, which Tsukishima finds a bit odd, but he’s grown used to seeing Yamaguchi's innate passion for nature in action over the years. 

“Look at how cute this one is,” Yamaguchi coos.

Tsukishima leans over Yamaguchi's shoulder to observe the plant in front of them. It’s a small succulent, leaves a mix of brown and light green, small drops of water resting on the plant. 

It looks normal.

“...Yeah, super cute.” He awkwardly rocks back, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Can we get the flower and go?”

Yamaguchi sets the pot in his hand back on the clear plastic shelf, looking around the store and spotting an employee in the corner, walking towards them. Tsukishima walks closely behind.

Yamaguchi slides a quick glance at Tsukishima.
“What’s the name of the flower we found again?”

Tsukishima covers up a splutter with a stiff cough.

“..Primrose, but-”

Tsukishima is cut off with a quick nod from Yamaguchi, smiling at the employee as they near. The employee sets a couple more plants down on the stand in front of them before turning to the two boys, a small smile on their face as well.

“Hi! Anything I can help you with?”

“Do you have any primroses?”

The employee seems to ponder for a second. Tsukishima is about to speak up, say they don't before the worker opens their mouth.

“We got some today, actually! Over here,” they begin walking to the other side of the shop, and Yamaguchi happily follows. Tsukishima is dumbfounded. 

The employee kneels down, pulling out a couple of pots from the bottom of a shelf and placing them down on the wooden edge of a flower bed. They’re all different colors, ranging from a vibrant pink to light lilac. 

Tsukishima can only look on in shock as Yamaguchi admires the petals, picking up the pots and holding them up to the light, smiling. 

“Do you have a restroom?” He quickly asks.

The employee looks up from the flower they’re inspecting and points behind them to a single green door.

Tsukishima stalks forwards, pushing open the door and walking into the tiled bathroom. Once the clicking of the door is heard he lets his head fall back, hitting the cold wall. 

There isn't any more denying it. Every time he’s with Yamaguchi he sees the same goddamn flower and every time the same Reddit reply pops into his head. They didn’t have primroses yesterday. They weren’t expecting any. And then...just suddenly...

He knows what he has to do, and although he’s afraid, he’s almost more willing to get rejected than to endure the torture of knowing every day. 

A couple of minutes later, when he’s collected himself, Tsukishima steps outside of the bathroom. Yamaguchi leans off of the wall next to the door, a paper bag hanging from his fist.
“While you were inside I got some daisies. You think she’ll like it?” 

Tsukishima turns, heading over to one of the flowerbeds.

“Yeah. Daisies are her favorite.”

“Really?! I didn’t know!”

Tsukishima picks up a plastic-wrapped flower from a small compartment jutting out from the side of the flower bed. The flower is the regular pastel yellow, the plastic shining various rainbow shades in the light. There's a bright thin ribbon around the base of the head. He turns, grazing Yamaguchi as he walks over to the counter and pulls out his wallet from his pocket. As he pays Yamaguchi observes from the side, occasionally glancing down to his own purchase still in his hand.

Once Tsukishimas is done, both of the boys walk out of the store. The sky above them is now a light grey, clouds covering the normal light blue. Their footsteps are muted by the sidewalk. 

“It’s gonna rain soon,” Yamaguchi observes.

Tsukishima replies with a quiet hum. 

They continue to walk side-by-side in silence. There's a thick air between them, and Tsukishima doesn't know if it’s just him or if the feeling is mutual. Every time he tries to steal a glimpse of Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi is looking right back, and they both have to awkwardly look away and pretend like they didn't just catch each other staring. 

Tsukishima grips the flower in his hand a little tighter each time. 

There's a lump in his throat. He wants to get down on one knee and confess in the rain like in the movies. Well, want is a strong word. More like he has the urge to. 

Unfortunately, there is no rain and no matter how desperate he is, he’s absolutely not destroying his pride like that either. 

So, when they’re alone, on a long stretch of sidewalk, Tsukishima stops.

After a couple of seconds, Yamaguchi notices there's no longer a presence beside him and he turns around, making eye contact with Tsukishima. This time it lasts longer than a couple of seconds and neither of them look away in embarrassment. 

“Um.”

Tsukishima twiddles his fingers, one hand still holding the stem of a flower and the other feeling incredibly empty.

He sighs, holding the pastel yellow flower in front of him.

“I like you.”

Deafening silence.

Tsukishima feels like his feet are wrapped in concrete, stuck to the ground. He feels unbelievably tense and he almost wants to make a run for it.

Maybe he would. If he wasn't stuck.

He wants to say something, maybe salvage the situation, laugh, and pretend it was a joke.

The faint rumble of thunder is heard in the distance, and a smile cracks along Yamaguchi's face. Tsukishima is pulled out of his thoughts as he re-focuses his eyes, catching the sight of his friend laughing into his hand.  

Yamaguchi steps forwards, hands closing around the petals of the flower still in Tsukishima's hand. 

“I was getting worried you didn't.” 

Tsukishima blinks. “What?”

Yamaguchi's eyes flutter open, and there is nothing but fondness and relief reflecting in them.

“I’ve been seeing these flowers every time we hang out for like a month. I was worried you knew but just didn’t feel the same way.”

“...Wait, so..you’ve known about them all this time?”

“ Yes! I kept trying to drop hints in hopes that you would say something..”

“..I didn’t realize anything until a couple of days ago.”

Yamaguchi laughs, shaking his head as he stares down at the yellow cupped in his hands. “You’re so dense.”

“So...you could have said something this whole time. But instead, you just gave me vague hints until I caught on.”

“I was scared you would be weirded out.” Yamaguchi's smile doesn't waver as he gently lifts the flower out of Tsukishima's hands. The brown bag hanging off his wrist bumps Tsukishima's elbow in the process. 

“Do you know what these flowers mean when you give them to someone? Did you ever look it up?”

Tsukishima gives a quiet, almost guilty shake of his head.

Yamaguchi takes a light inhale.
“When you give a primrose to someone, it means you can't live without them. That you want to be with them forever. They represent young love.” 

He looks up, wearing a wide smile that makes the corner of his eyes crinkle and his freckles stretch.

“I wouldn’t mind being with you forever.”

Even though the sky above them is cloudy, Tsukishima feels blinded by the metaphorical sun that shines from behind Yamaguchi. He tries his best to catch his bearings.

“That sounded stupid.”

Yamaguchi laughs. “You’re more stupid.”

He opens his arms, stepping forward and engulfing Tsukishima in a tight hug. Tsukishima immediately relaxes underneath the touch and he brings his arms forwards to embrace his...friend...crush? Back.

“I like you too, by the way.”

Tsukishima sighs, letting his head rock down and rest on Yamaguchi's shoulder. His hesitation this whole time was for naught, as just a step away stood the sun, the stars, and everything encompassing his vision with open arms.

And all it took was a flower.

“Good. I was getting worried.”