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Day 1 ~ Date ▪︎ Teacher/Professor AU!
It started with a late night study session at Tsukishima’s house. Akiteru had ordered dinner for the three of them since his parents were out of town. Then Tsukishima finally managed to shoo his brother away long enough for the two of them to enjoy some quality time together.
Well, Yamaguchi saw it as quality time. He didn’t quite know if his blonde-haired friend felt the same way.
The truth was, the green-haired boy was harboring a bad crush on his best friend. But how could he not? Sure, their first meeting was a little rough, but he had been Yamaguchi’s knight in shining armor.
Alas, the boy knew that it was a fantasy that would stay in the depths of his mind.
“What’d you get for #12, Tadashi?”
The boy jumped, looking down at his homework. He praised every higher power that he had already finished most of the problems. “283.6 cm. You?”
“Same thing. I just wanted to check to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong.” He then went back to doing his homework.
Yamaguchi sighed, playing with his pencil.
He had it bad.
Sure they were best friends. Anyone who saw the two of them together could see that. But Tsukishima had never expressed any interest other than friendship. But at the same time, he never expressed much of anything.
But he also didn’t want to ruin what he had with Tsukishima because it would be worse if they weren’t friends at all.
“Do I have something on my face?”
Yamaguchi blinked. Was I staring? “No, why?”
“You’ve been staring at me for the past three minutes with this weird look on your face. It’s a little unnerving how intense your stare is.”
“Oh, sorry.” He looked down, fiddling with his fingers.
He heard Tsukishima sigh. “If you have something to say then just say it.”
“It’s nothing…”
“Your body language says otherwise.” Tsukishima turned back to his homework. “But if you don’t want to tell me then that’s-”
“Do you wanna go on a date with me on Sunday?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Yamaguchi’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Oh, um…okay! Great! Um…I guess I’ll text you the details. It’s getting late so I should probably go home.”
“Okay. Text me when you get home.”
“I will! Later, Tsukki!”
Tsukishima still hadn’t look up as he heard the front door open and close. He only got a few more seconds of silence before he heard footsteps. He still didn’t look up as he put his stuff away. “Why are you in my room, Akiteru?”
“Why did Tadashi just run out of the house?”
“Because he said he was leaving.”
“What did you say to him?”
“Nothing. Just that we could hang out on Sunday.”
The older blonde smirked, sitting on Tsukishima’s bed. “Did he really say that you could ‘hang out’?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Now, I know I’m not well versed in the art of dating-”
“Not at all.”
“Shut up!” He cleared his throat before continuing. “But with the way that Tadashi just ran out all flustered, I think you just agreed to go on a date with him.”
“I did not agree…” He stopped. He wasn’t really paying attention to his friend, but even he pointed out how nervous the freckled boy seemed.
“What exactly did he say to you?”
“Do you wanna go…” He turned bright red. He banged his head on his table. “Oh god…”
Akiteru tried his best to keep his laughter to a minimum. “‘Oh god’ what?”
“I think I just agreed to go on a date with Yamaguchi.”
“I think you did.”
“I just agreed to go on a date with my best friend.”
“Your crush, I might add.” That got his younger brother to look back up at him. “Have you ever thought about how he might like you back?”
“Stop saying stupid stuff.”
“Kei, you just got asked out on a date, for Christ’s sake! What more do you want?”
“You wouldn’t know romance if it hit you in the face.”
“Clearly, neither would you.”
Tsukishima groaned. “What’s today?”
“Friday.”
“I’m so screwed…”
“You got two days to get your life together-”
Tsukishima threw a pencil at his brother. It only made him laugh harder. Tsukishima wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "...I'm so screwed."
"It seems like Yamaguchi's in a really good mood today," Daichi said from his place next to his fellow third years.
Suga caught the ball mid set, turning to where he and Noya were practicing serves and receives. "He was on top of it this morning too. I wonder what happened."
"I don't know," Asahi shrugged. "He does look happier though."
"Asahi!" The brunette turned to Nishinoya. "Come help me with receives."
Asahi sighed, not hiding the exasperated smile on his face. "Duty calls."
"Hey, Yamaguchi!" Suga called as Noya practically monkeyed onto Asahi. The boy turned. "Why don't you come practice with us?"
He ran up to Suga, who walked them over to where Daichi, Narita, Kinoshita, and Tsukishima were getting set up. "Thanks! I don't understand how Asahi can put up with Noya. He has too much energy for me."
Suga smiled. "He doesn't mind. Not when you have that…special person."
"Special person?"
"Yeah. You know like that person that you just tell everything to, you trust them. Could be best friends, could be dating." He shrugged. "I guess I'm not explaining it very well."
"Like you and Daichi-san?"
Suga blushed. "Yeah, I guess."
"You two are a really nice couple too."
"Oh, stop it you." He playfully smacked the first year's shoulder and smiled. "What's got you in such a good mood?"
"Oh, well…I have a date tomorrow."
Suga stopped. His smile grew. "Yams, that's amazing!" He hugged the first year.
Yamaguchi smiled, looking down at his senpai. "And what's even better…it's with Tsukki."
Suga gushed. "That's great! You finally asked him out?"
Yamaguchi nodded. "And I was wondering, would you be willing to come over tomorrow afternoon and help me? I plan on asking Yachi too."
"Of course I'll help! I'm so excited for you!"
"Seems like his positivity fed off on you, Suga," Daichi laughed as the two made it to the net.
Suga waved him off. "I'll tell you later. For now, let's just work with the middle blockers."
To say that Sugawara and Yamaguchi had stayed up almost all night was an understatement. They had discussed plans and food, then ultimately decided that a shopping trip was in order.
This is what led the two of them to be in Yamaguchi’s kitchen after said shopping trip while Yachi was upstairs in his bedroom, looking through his clothes at six in the afternoon.
Two hours before the date.
Suga was in front of the teen's stand mixer beating egg whites and Yamaguchi was standing over the stove, watching a pot of eggs boil while he waited for some rice to cool.
"I didn't know you could bake, Suga."
"Just something I learned to do to pass the time. It's fun and a bit of a stress reliever. And I have an excellent taste tester at my disposal."
Yamaguchi laughed, pulling out a bowl and adding in tuna, mayo, and soy sauce. "I'm surprised Daichi hasn't gotten pudgier since dating you." He then frowned, staring at his tuna mixture. "I just hope Tsukki likes it all."
"Are you doubting my baking skills?" He poured his cake mix into two cake pans before putting them in the oven.
"No, I just…What if I'm just in over my head? What if he doesn't like the food?"
Suga sighed, whipping off his hands with a dishtowel before bonking his underclassman on the head. Yamaguchi yelped, nearly dropping his handful of rice.
"You know how I am about being negative." He nudged Yamaguchi with his hip, wetting his hands and grabbing a handful of rice. "This is Tsukishima we're talking about. You guys have been friends since like…forever. One little date—with his favorite food, I might add—isn't going to ruin that." He chuckled, spooning some of the tuna mixture. "If it makes you feel any better, Daichi was the same way before our first date."
"How do you know?"
"Michimiya told me one day. Said he was a nervous wreck when she came over. He was freaking out over the reservation and what he was wearing. Apparently, he almost chickened out in the end so you’re doing better than he is.”
Yamaguchi laughed. He tried to imagine their put-together captain being so frantic. “You really think it’ll work out for me and Tsukki?”
“I mean, look how Daichi and I turned out! Just go out there and be you!” Yachi called him from upstairs. “Now get going. I’ll handle everything down here.”
“Why are the two of you in my house?!”
Tanaka and Nishinoya laughed, barging into Tsukishima’s room, ignoring how appalled the fifteen year old looked. “Your brother called my sister yesterday and told her that you had a date tonight.”
Tsukishima sighed. He made a mental note to kill Akiteru when he heard him laughing from his room down the hall. “That still doesn’t explain why the two of you are here , in my house, uninvited.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Noya asked, opening his closet. “We’re here to help you. What time is the date?”
Tsukishima looked at his phone. “In like an hour and a half.” He’d gotten a text from Yamaguchi as he checked the time. It simply said ‘make sure you don’t eat anything :)’. The blonde shrugged before typing a quick reply, tossing the phone on his bed.
“Where ya going?” Tanaka asked, sitting on the teen’s bed as he watched Noya file through his closet.
“None of your business.”
“Who’s the poor sucker who asked you out?”
“None of your business.”
“It’s Tadashi!”
“Shut up, Aki!”
“You got a date with Pipsqueak?!” Tanaka laughed. “Hey, Noya, make sure he looks real nice!”
“He said we’re not going anywhere fancy.”
“Well, we’re not gonna let you go out in a sweatshirt and some sweatpants,” Noya said before tossing a pair of cargo shorts to Tanaka.
“It’s summer. I wasn’t going to do that anyway.” He looked at the shorts that Tanaka had handed to him. At least they had started out fine.
“Just sit back and trust us, Tsukishima. Let the love experts handle this.”
The blonde snorted. “Who? You two?”
“Who’s the one in the room with a boyfriend?”
“Not Tanaka.”
“You know what you, little bean sprout! You should be thanking us that we went out of our way to help you like responsible senpais.”
“But I never asked for your help-”
“Do you own a white t-shirt?” Noya interrupted, poking his head out from the closet.
“I own plenty of white t-shirts.”
“Great.” He tossed a dark blue and green flannel at Tanaka before emerging from the closet. “Go change and then we’ll see if we need to fix anything.”
Tsukishima rolled his eyes as he went to one of his drawers to grab a white shirt. He glared at the two second years, who hadn’t moved. “Get out.”
“There you go! Sometimes you just have to curl those stubborn pieces down.” Suga shook his own head to prove his point, unplugging a flat iron. “It also makes them more bouncy.”
“Thanks again, Sugawara. You too, Yachi. I’d be so lost without you.”
“You made it easy," the blonde replied. "You have a lot of good outfits in here.”
Yamaguchi looked at himself in his full-length mirror. Yachi had managed to dig out an old pastel green and white striped shirt that he thought he’d lost ages ago, along with a collared undershirt and a pair of dark wash jeans.
Suga checked his phone. “Thirty minute mark. I think it’s time for you to head out, Yamaguchi.”
“Already?”
“The sun set about thirty minutes ago. You don’t want it to get too dark while you're walking.”
“I guess you’re right.” The three of them headed into the living room, where Suga had already made a picnic basket for the two of them. “I’m getting nervous again.”
“It’s okay to be nervous.”
“And remember what I told you? Take that nervous energy and channel it into good feelings!”
“When you told me that, I thought you were going to die because of your nerves.” He grabbed the basket, putting his phone in his pocket. “Well, I guess I’m off.”
“Have fun! I’m gonna walk Yachi to the station, but text me if you need anything.” Yamaguchi locked the door behind them (his mom would probably be gone pretty late since she was a nurse) before the three of them went their separate ways.
It didn’t take him long to get to Tsukishima’s house; one, because he’d been there so many times since elementary school and two, because he knew the way by heart. He rang the doorbell. He was greeted by the oldest Tsukishima. “Hey, Akiteru-kun! Is Tsukki ready yet?”
“Hey, Tadashi! He should be. Why don’t you come inside and wait?” He opened the door wider and the green-haired boy stepped in, standing just inside the doorway.
Akiteru went farther into the house. “Kei! Tadashi’s here!”
Yamaguchi heard more voices from upstairs and was just as surprised when he saw three people come downstairs. “Noya-san? Tanaka-san? What are you two doing here?”
“The little pipsqueak dressed up nice, Tsukishima. You better be good to him.”
Yamaguchi couldn’t help but laugh as Tsukishima came out from behind them, grumbling something the teen couldn’t understand.
Akiteru came back from around the corner. “Now, have fun you two. And don’t break my brother’s heart, Tadashi.”
He saluted. “Yes, sir!” He then turned to his best friend. “Ready to go?”
“Anything to get me out of this house.”
Yamaguchi refused to tell Tsukishima where they were going until they had gotten to the location. The blonde looked around. “Tsutsujigaoka Park? What’s so special about this place? Your mom used to take us here to see the cherry blossoms all the time.”
“The location isn’t anything special,” Yamaguchi shrugged, opening the picnic basket to grab a blanket. He spread it out on the ground. “But I thought we could go stargazing. It’s been years since we’ve done it and it’ll be way better than doing it in your backyard.”
Tsukishima smiled, sitting down. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?” He watched as Yamaguchi took out two containers—one with tuna onigiri and the other with egg sandwiches. “You made all this?”
Yamaguchi nodded. “And I have another surprise.” He pulled at the strawberry shortcake, which had been placed in a cute little cake tray that Yamaguchi had bought at the store. He smiled at the way Tsukishima’s eyes lit up behind his glasses.
“Also homemade?”
“Suga-made cause I can’t bake to save my life but it’s not storebought if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You didn’t have to do all this…”
“But I wanted to!” He blushed, turning away. “I wanted our first date to be special.”
This time, it was Tsukishima’s turn to blush. He knew they could both be jerks at times (him much more than Tadashi), but he had to admit that the boy was kind to a fault. He pulled something out of his pocket. “Then I guess it’s my turn to give something to you.” He held up a little french fry phone charm. “Aki gave it to me as a dumb gag gift but…I thought you’d like it.”
“I love it.” He then clipped the charm to his phone. He then looked up when he caught something reflecting in Tsukishima’s glasses. “Look! A shooting star!”
Tsukishima looked up. “I’m surprised. Most meteor showers don’t happen until next month.”
"Well, that just makes this one extra special." He took a bite out of the onigiri. "By the way, Tsukki…why were Tanaka-san and Noya-san at your house?"
The blonde groaned, taking an onigiri from the box. "Don't ask…"
The two of them continued to talk long after they were finished eating (Yamaguchi agreed to take the onigiri and sandwiches while Tsukishima would take the leftover shortcake) and just continued to look at the stars. Though Tsukishima was more focused on the boy laying down to his left.
His eyes were lit up by the overhead stars as he rambled on about something random. Then Tsukishima began to scan his face. The boy's freckles were scattered just like the stars. He smiled to himself.
"What has you so happy?" Yamaguchi sat up to meet Tsukishima's eyes.
The older boy shrugged. "Just thinking about how your freckles are kinda like the stars."
Yamaguchi hadn't been expecting that. "What do you mean?"
"Your face is like the sky and it's covered in stars. It's like you have your own personal galaxy with you at all times."
Yamaguchi blushed, taking a deep breath. It was now or never. "The only thing missing is my own personal moon."
Tsukishima smirked, placing a hand on Yamaguchi's cheek. "Funny…I've always had the moon but no stars."
"I know a guy who might have some stars."
"Really? Where can I meet him?"
The two of them leaned in, meeting in the middle. Tsukishima's lips tasted like strawberries. Yamaguchi couldn't help but giggle.
Tsukishima backed away with a pout. "What?"
"Nothing. I just can't believe I was so worried." He moved to lay back down, motioning for Tsukishima to do the same.
"Worried about what?" He twirled Yamaguchi’s cowlick when the boy put his head on his chest.
"Worried that asking you out would ruin our friendship." Tsukishima hummed before he continued. "But Suga said that I was worried for nothing and I guess he was right."
"Aki said it was obvious that I liked you."
He grabbed Tsukishima’s free hand. "I didn't know. I always just thought that we'd be good friends." He looked back up at the sky. "...So are you my boyfriend now?"
Tsukishima laughed from above him. "Yes, Tadashi. I am."
Yamaguchi hummed. "Thank you…my own personal moonlight."
Tsukishima kissed the top of his head. "Anytime, Starlight."