Chapter Text
“We have three months off…” Hinata says to the rest of the team as they walk out of the gym.
“What am I gonna do with myself? Kageyama… Everyday, this summer, we’re gonna meet at this gym and practice our spikes nonstop, so by the time we come back in the fall I’ll be one step closer to being the greatest player anyones ever seen!”
“Not if I do it first.” Kageyama responds curtly.
“Guys, we're teammates here.” Suga said as he was already prepared to split them up in a fight if necessary.
“Can you jump 20 feet in the air Kageyama??? I don’t think so.”
“That's physically impossible you idiot.”
“I don’t care, you get what I’m saying.”
At this point, Hinata and Kageyama were up in each other’s faces yelling at each other. Suga glanced at the other players, signaling them to stop Hinata and Kageyama from once again trying to kill each other.
“Can’t those idiots talk about anything other than volleyball for more than three seconds.” Tsukishima grumbled to Yamaguchi as they started their daily walk home.
“I guess not.” He mutters in response.
Secretly, Yamaguchi had always envied Hinata and Kageyama’s ambition. A part of Yamaguchi would rather be seen as annoying yet ambitious than mediocre and tolerable. “Anyways, you’ve got any fun plans for the summer Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asks in an attempt to change the conversation.
“To stay as far away from volleyball as possible, how about you?”
Just because you're naturally gifted doesn’t mean you can just stop playing volleyball for three months, Yamaguchi thought.
“Well at least try to practice volleyball once or twice a week.” Yamaguchi insists.
“I’ve been practicing everyday for the past nine months, I need a break.”
“I suppose you’ve got a point.” Yamaguchi said as he realizes he’s getting nowhere with this conversation, “and I got a job at Mcdonalds a couple days ago, so I think I’m gonna spend most of my days eating their fries during my breaks. They aren’t the best fries around, but I guess they’ll do.”
“What? They're not floppy enough for you… snob.” Tsukishima says jokingly.
“I’m not a snob, I just have good taste.”
“I can’t see how you can eat those. Doesn't all the grease on those fries gross you out??”
“Not if it makes it taste better.”
“You’re unbelievable Yamaguchi.”
“You’re unbelievable Tsukki. Insulting something that you’ve never tried before, maybe that can be a goal of mine this summer. I’ll make you try those floppy fries at least once.” Yamaguchi says as he’s about to approach his house.
“Please, over my dead body.”
Yamaguchi walked up his driveway and glanced back at Tsukishima for a second before he said “See you later Tsukki! “
Tsukishima watched his friend walk up to the door, wishing that their short walk home lasted a little longer. Despite being childhood best friends, the time he spends with Yamaguchi never seemed to be long enough. Sure, he spent time with Yamaguchi at school and volleyball practice, but it isn’t the same to him. Walking home was really the only time where he got to talk to Yamaguchi without all those other annoying people around, but it sucks when the walk home only lasts for five minutes.
Yamaguchi opened the door to find the house was empty, he knew exactly what he was gonna find next. He looked at the fridge door and saw the usual messy sticky note his mom left him. “Working late again tonight, leftover pizzas in the fridge.”
He appreciated his mom's effort to try to lie to him about her whereabouts, but also found it kind of insulting, he’s not that naive. She’s been addicted to alcohol and gambling for basically his entire life.
On one hand, it’s difficult for Yamaguchi not to be bitter about his family difficulties.
On the other hand, he tries not to be too tough on her. She raised Yamaguchi as a single mom and overall raised him on good morals. She's made the effort to quit both gambling and alcohol multiple times. She's shown Yamaguchi the dark reality of addiction, and has shown that addiction doesn’t necessarily define a person. When she's sober, she’s got an upbeat, lively and extroverted personality that nobody could possibly dislike. Thinking about that makes Yamaguchi all the more upset. He feels that her addiction is a dark overcast that completely blinds everyone of that amazing personality she’s got. When people think of her, they only see her as the gambler or the alcoholic, they never see her as anything more than that, so he can’t help but have pity for her.
Of course he found it unsettling when he looked back at the bad times. Like the time when his aunt had to explain to a seven year old kid about why his mom “donated '' all their money or when she showed up to his fifth grade graduation drunk or all the times when Yamaguchi had to ask his friends for leftovers during lunch since he didn’t have his own lunch. Despite that, he still has hope that his mom will improve. He’s always believed that it’s never too late for a person to get better and improve themselves.
Strangely enough, his mother got home at a reasonable time, at least to their standards, maybe not to everyone else's, and she didn’t seem to be drunk either… “Maybe she was improving little by little afterall.” He thought to himself.
“Yamaguchi, we’re set for life.” She said happily.
He looked at her confused. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean we won 200,000 dollars, I was gambling today during my lunch break.”
Yamaguchi frowned when he realized his mother probably didn’t go to work at all today.
He didn’t say anything at first, He just stood there in pure shock that this was actually happening, He was expecting his mother to tell him any minute now that is all some stupid prank. Instead, she smiled at Yamaguchi “Aren’t you excited? Just think of everything we could do with this money. I could buy us a bigger house, I could send you to college, you and I could go to Europe, I could…”
“Not if you gamble it away before that happens,'' Yamaguchi interrupts.
“No, that's not gonna happen Yamaguchi.”
Yamaguchi looked at his mother doubtfully.
“Look, I’m gonna give you forty percent of the money, you can do anything you like with it, and since I have less money to spend on myself, I’ll spend it more wisely. Is that a deal?”
Yamaguchi shook his mothers hand hesitantly with all the hope in the world that his mother would keep her side of the deal.
Tsukishima woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. Nobody called him this late at night, so he assumed it was just a telemarketing call. He looked down at his phone, and that blurry number became Yamaguchi's name once he put his glasses on.
“That's strange, normally he’s fast asleep by now. I wonder if he’s okay.”
“What?”
“Okay Tsukki, you're not going to believe this.”
“Oh?” Tsukishima says curiously.
“You know how my mom has a gambling addiction right?”
“Uhh yes, you said that quite happily for someone that's basically been traumatized by it.”
“Well, she won 200,000 dollars and she's giving me forty percent of the earnings. She says that if she gave some money to me, she wouldn’t be so tempted to gamble it all away.”
“Does she really think that's gonna work?” Tsukishima questioned.“You realize your mom has gambled away money that's reserved for food and rent dozens of times, right?”
“That’s besides the point Tsukki.”
“That's 80,000 dollars.” Tsukishima said in disbelief that this was actually happening to his best friend. “So what are you gonna do with the money?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Surprisingly, I haven’t really thought about it that much.”
“Maybe, you could invest in the stock market, save up for college or…..”
“TSUKKI!!! I’VE GOT THE PERFECT IDEA!!!” Yamaguchi blurted out enthusiastically.
“Oh?”
“Let's go on a road trip!!!”
Tsukishima wanted to tell Yamaguchi that taking a road trip sounded like the dumbest idea he’d ever heard. There were a myriad of things Yamaguchi could do with the money, and he wanted to spend it on a spur of the moment road trip? If it was anyone else, he would’ve told his real opinion immediately. But he found it kind of cute to hear Yamaguchi uncharacteristically excited, and he didn’t want to crush his enthusiasm.
“That would be a fun idea, the only problem is neither of us can drive.”
“We can rent an RV and maybe we can convince one of the upperclassmen on the team to drive….We could invite the whole team!!! You guys are the only friends I’ve ever had, so I should repay the favor with a team roadtrip.”
Spending the entire summer in a cramped RV with Hinata and Kageyama sounded worse than hell itself to Tsukishima. Just thinking about it made him nauseous.
...But at least Yamaguchi would be there and if I survived a year of practicing with them, what harm would come of living with them for a few weeks…. What the hell is wrong with me?” Tsukishima asked himself. “What could possibly possess me to even consider going on a roadtrip with people I hate, even with Yamaguchi there, I still wouldn’t survive a day with those two around.
“So, if this trip did happen, would you go Tsukki??”
“Yeah sure.” He blurts without thinking.
What?? I meant to say no. Why did I say yes?
“Oh and I just texted Suga, he said he could drive!!”
“That's great…” Tsukishima says.
“And Hinata said he would go as long as he could practice spikes with someone, I’m sure Kageyama would be glad to help him out with that if he went. Wow, I didn’t think people would actually want to go!”
____________________________________________________
The next day, Yamaguchi was informing the rest of the team of his plan to go on a road trip….
“We would be leaving June 17th.” Yamaguchi said.
“And then when would we come back?” Daichi asked.
“August 1st.”
“Any plans of where we’re going and how we’ll get there?”
“I already have our route all planned out, we’d basically drive all around the west coast, we’d take route 2, then we hop onto the pacific highway and then we’d take route 66 and the great river road back.”
“Who would be driving and chaperoning this trip?”
“I was thinking that the upperclassmen could be the chaperones, Suga already said he would drive.”
“Just how I want to spend my summer, babysitting a ton of kids.” Daichi grumbled.
“Wait? You're actually letting Suga drive the RV?” He asked suddenly.
“Yeah, he seems responsible enough.”
“He’s the worst driver I’ve met in my life. He failed his driver's test twice, and when he did pass his instructor said ‘you passed, barely.’ Not to mention that he almost crashed his car multiple times because he confuses the brake with the acceleration. Don’t even get me started on the way he turns. He just randomly turns the wheel hoping for the best, when hand over hand is obviously the safest way to do it. If you let him drive, I’m pretty sure none of us would make it back alive.”
“Oh, Suga would probably let you drive, I think he just did it cause he assumed nobody else would want to drive.”
“Trust me, I would rather drive than let that maniac drive us.”
“So you're going??”
“I guess someones gotta drive the RV right?”
________________________________________
“A ROAD TRIP???? OF COURSE I’LL GO, YOU HEAR THAT TANAKA? WE’RE GOING TO VEGAS!!!!!!” Nishinoya yelled enthusiastically.
“Question.” Tanaka says. “Can we go to In & Out at least once? People around here have no clue what a good burger tastes like.”
“Is that even a question?” Nishinoya adds, “Our boy Yamaguchi wouldn’t let us down.”
“Sure, I would actually love to try their fries.”
“ONE MORE QUESTION. IS KIYOKO GOING????” Nishinoya suddenly asks.
“I actually haven’t gotten the chance to ask her yet. But I can do that right now.” Yamaguchi replied.
”Cause if she’s not going, we’re not going!!”
Tsukki’s right, they are obsessed with her to a weird extent. Yamaguchi thinks as he’s walking away.
________________________________________
“A road trip huh?”
“Yep.”
Kiyoko thought it over for a minute.
“I guess it could be fun.”
“Oh, That was a quicker answer then I expected
“I mean, what else is there to do around here. Might as well go to see what happens.”
________________________________________
“A t-trip with all those guys? What uh uh um, I don’t know, it seems kinda intimidating don’t you think Yamaguchi? I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and The Golden Gate Bridge and The Hoover Dam, and going to one of those Fancy Vegas Shows would be really fun. But uhhhh…” Yachi rambles nervously.
“Kiyoko's going.”
“OH! That might change things for me…”
…
“Of course I’ll go!!” Yachi exclaims suddenly.
________________________________________
“Aren’t RV’s like extremely dangerous?” Asahi asked nervously.
“I don’t think they’re any different than a truck or a bus.” Yamaguchi responded.
“But when you drive a truck or a bus, you need a license. If someone like Daichi or Suga were driving, they could easily lose control of the vehicle because of the wind or even because of other cars surrounding us.”
“It’s okay if you feel uncomfortable with being in an RV, Just let me know if you change your mind.” Yamagichi says as he’s about to walk away.
“But I’ve always wanted to go on a road trip like this since I was a kid.” Asahi mumbles. “and now that I finally get a chance to go and I’m just gonna chicken out?? You know what Yamaguchi, I’m willing to risk my life to go on a road trip with my friends, count me in!!”
________________________________________
“And why should I go on this road trip?” Kageyama asks.
“Cause road trips are fun. C’mon, when has there ever been an opportunity like this? We get to hangout with our friends on an all expense paid road trip across the country. Just think, when you're old and gray, you’ll look back at these memories you have with your team and smile. But if you refuse to go, you’ll spend the rest of your lonely life questioning what would’ve happened if you did go.” Hinata said.
“Hinata, I signed up for 3 training camps. I can’t miss that. Remember, I’m supposed to be the greatest player this world has ever seen??”
“No I’m gonna be….. whatever, that's not the issue right now. You could train with me, just think if we’re together all summer, we’ll have plenty of time to train and practice spikes together, plus the rest of the team can critique us. There is no better opportunity than this, not only for yourself, but for your volleyball career as well.”
“You just want me to go on this trip so you can have someone to practice spikes with, not cause you actually want me to enjoy myself.”
“ YOU WILL ENJOY YOURSELF!!”
“Would you stop it, I said I wasn’t going and that's final.”
“I won’t accept that.”
“Uhhh Hinata, you can’t force Kageyama to go.” Yamaguchi says awkwardly.
“YES I CAN YAMAGUCHI!! I’m not letting you or Kageyama go until he says he’s going on this trip.” He says as he aggressively grabs both of their arms.
“You realize I could easily overpower your weak attempt to hold me hostage.”
“Please don’t try to beat each other up again.” Yamaguchi mumbles.
“You will go on this trip.”
“Or what?”
“Then I’ll annoy you about it every second of every day until you give in, cause I'm not going if you're not either.”
“...You won't stop harassing me about it until I go, will you, Hinata?
“Nope!” Hinata says with a gleeful smile.
“Fine, I’m only going because I’ll get in trouble with Daichi if I beat your ass.”
“Soooo, you're going??” Yamaguchi asks.
“Yep, he is.” Hinata answers, “he’s pissed at me right now, but he’ll thank me later when he has the best summer of his life.”
________________________________________
“So who's going??” Tsukishima asks.
“Basically everyone on the team. You, Me, Daichi, Sugawara, Asahi, Nishinoya, Tanaka, Kageyama, Hinata, Kiyoko and Yachi.”
.
Oh my god, why did I agree to go, I’m gonna have to listen to all those morons during summer when I could’ve solely dedicated my summer to trying to forget about all of them. Shit shit shit shittttt. Tsukishima thought to himself.
“You know, I was expecting a lot this summer.” Yamaguchi says as he unknowingly interrupts his train of thought “But, I surely wasn’t expecting this Tsukki. I’m really excited.”
“Yeah, me too Yamaguchi.”