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Tsukishima was getting used to having Hinata’s feelings in his head.
Ever since they acknowledged each other the emotions had been amplified. Even when Hinata wasn’t talking he was loud, it was like having him on full blast in his brain at all times. It was exhausting-- literally and figuratively.
One of the worst parts was how funny Hinata found his annoyance. Tsukishima would get annoyed, Hinata would get amused which would annoy Tsukishima more which would amuse Hinata more, over and over until something outside broke the cycle.
Hiding the fact they were soulmates was becoming difficult. Takeda-sensei knew and he advised them to tell Coach Ukai, which they did, and he also suggested they tell Ennoshita so he could better captain them but Tsukishima wasn’t ready for anyone on the team to know about them. And when he was ready he had to tell Yamaguchi first lest he hurt his best friend. (And he knew that Yamaguchi was already going to be hurt for keeping it from him for a year.)
It wasn’t only that people knew, it was that they were drawn to each other more than ever. When Hinata did something particularly impressive he looked towards Tsukishima for praise and when Tsukishima was proud of something he looked towards Hinata for validation. But it wasn’t just looks, his body ached to touch Hinata so they mastered the art of subtle affection.
During practice they stood or sat next to each other when they could, casually bumping hands or touching arms. If anyone had caught on or given them any weird looks, they hadn’t noticed yet. They sat next to each other during lunch and touched each other while they passed things, but lunch was a bit more dangerous because they were under Yamaguchi’s scrutinizing gaze.
And then, sometimes, after practice they would look at each other and be flooded with want-- who it belonged to was irrelevant-- and Hinata would go to Tsukishima’s house under the guise of extra tutoring but really he ended up pushed into Tsukishima’s bed as they ravished each other with hot mouths and hotter hands. Denying each other for a year, apparently, had an unexpected kick back.
Tsukishima had never heard about an overwhelming desire to touch your soulmate being part of the package so he did some research. Their biology didn’t like their attempts to ignore each other and was making sure they stayed close to each other.
Which maybe explained why they felt the need to shove their shirts up and press their bare torso’s together or makeout like they needed it to live. But it didn’t explain the moments when Tsukishima would watch Hinata lick the sweat off his upper lip and want to pin him against the gym wall (whatever he felt in those moments was enough to make Hinata blush). And it didn’t explain the moments when Hinata would watch Tsukishima tuck a loose strand of hair behind his ear and be completely enraptured.
Because despite their body’s desire to be close to each other, they still weren’t dating. They were simply soulmates who regularly made out because biology forced them to. Logically Tsukishima knew that it was dumb and they were only fooling themselves, but for the sake of appearances that’s all they were.
(But biology didn’t make him know that if he placed an open mouth kiss right under the hinge of Hinata’s jaw he would moan and arch his back, and it didn’t make Hinata know that if he put his hands on Tsukishima’s hips and forcibly changed their position his eyes would darken and he would take his lower lip between his teeth as he gazed up at his soulmate with eyes full of desire.)
But it was fine, they were still getting used to each other. Eventually they would adjust.
Tsukishima held a ball over his head and smirked down at his annoyed soulmate, “C’mon shrimp, show me one of those impressive jumps everyone keeps prattling on about.”
Hinata pressed himself against Tsukishima’s chest and grabbed at his arm, trying to get the ball back, “Give it here, Meanie-shima,” he tried to scramble up his side but Tsukishima pulled out of his grasp at the last second.
“That all you got?” Tsukishima taunted, holding the ball high over his head again.
“There-- there are more volleyballs,” one of the new first years spoke up but the two of them didn’t listen to them. He didn’t know that their game wasn’t actually about retrieving the ball.
Hinata scrunched up his nose, took a few steps back like he was trying to get a good run up to the net, and charged forward. Tsukishima held his ground, he could read his intentions well enough to know that Hinata wasn’t going to jump on him, but he waited for Hinata to jump up to swivel forty five degrees and lightly bomp him on the bead with the ball.
Their game was already playful but the wave of affection that crashed over him made Tsukishima have to take a step back. Hinata rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly in apology, even he knew that his feelings could be too much sometimes.
“I don’t get it,” the same first year as before said to Yamaguchi, “Why does Hinata-senpai put up with that?”
“Huh? Oh!” Yamaguchi’s face went through a few emotions very quickly, “Tsukki isn’t bullying him or anything! They’re actually friends, their relationship is just like that. You’ll get used to them soon enough.”
Tsukishima and Hinata both froze at the word ‘relationship’ and after a few beats of awkward silence they automatically parted from each other, not wanting to do anything that would arouse suspicion from the others about the true nature of their not-actually-a-relationship thing they had going on. Tsukishima felt the anxiety building between them and knew he had to calm them down before Hinata did something like puke on the gym floor.
He pulled his sports glasses down to dangle around his neck so he could rub his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Anxiety was replaced with affection like it always was whenever he did anything with his sports glasses, Hinata had a weird affinity for them. Tsukishima let out a small huff of laughter to himself, he thought that he would have to do more to calm them both down but that seemed to be enough. He was lucky that Hinata’s emotions were swayed so easily.
He still had Yamaguchi to worry about though. Did he know something? Did he figure it out on his own and was he waiting for Tsukishima to tell him? That would be like him.
In the club room after morning practice Tsukishima discreetly texted Hinata while they were getting changed. The message was a simple ‘Do you mind if I tell Yamaguchi?’ and he knew the second Hinata read it because he simply radiated approval. But still he glanced Hinata’s way and was rewarded with a beaming smile and a thumbs up.
Tsukishima kept his features neutral so no one looking at them would figure out that the gesture meant anything but Hinata clearly felt his relief.
Hinata fell in step with him as they entered the school building. He looked up at his soulmate and asked, “When?”
“Lunch, I guess,” Tsukishima shrugged. He wanted to get it over with sooner rather than later.
“Okay,” he nodded, “I’ll find you.”
He wanted to make a snarky comment about how the school was a big place and he couldn’t just say that he would find him and expect for it to be true, but Tsukishima believed him. He felt like if Hinata hid somewhere in the school he would be able to find him now too. Their bond was so weird; Tsukishima rolled his eyes to himself but, like he knew, Hinata looked up and stuck his tongue out.
“Can we talk?” Tsukishima asked quickly when Yamaguchi approached him during lunch. If he didn’t get it out now he was going to back down and he didn’t want to do that.
Yamaguchi looked at him curiously, “Sure, do you want to go for a walk?”
“Yeah,” he stood from his seat, “Let’s go somewhere.”
Tsukishima shoved his hands in his pockets and walked a step in front of Yamaguchi until they were out of the building. He didn’t know why but he didn’t think he could have this conversation inside. Yamaguchi silently followed behind him, waiting patiently for his best friend to be comfortable enough to talk to him about his problem.
Tsukishima stopped abruptly somewhere behind the school and turned around to face Yamaguchi, “I have a soulmate,” he blurted out.
Yamaguchi nodded, “Everyone does. You found yours then?”
He ran a hand through his hair anxiously, “I found him last year. It’s Hinata. We knew right after the 3-on-3 game we played because he demanded to shake my hand,” he tried to keep the fond smile off his face.
“You’ve known for a year? Why didn’t you tell me? Or the team?” Yamaguchi asked, sounding a combination of upset and confused.
Tsukishima sighed, he had wanted to avoid hurting his feelings but really he knew there was no way around it at this point, “Hinata and I didn’t acknowledge it until Nationals and--”
“Ten months!” Yamaguchi cut in, “You two waited ten months? Doesn’t that mess you up? Most people do it right away.”
Hinata chose that moment to poke his head around the corner, “Found you! Told you I would find you, I just needed to follow the grumpiness. No problem at all,” he smiled widely at the two of them, doing a great job of cutting through the awkwardness that surrounded them. But the awkwardness grew a bit more when he attached himself to Tsukishima’s side, slipping his hand into his jacket to grab at his shirt.
Tsukishima unconsciously leaned into his touch but looked away while Yamaguchi gaped at them.
“How could you follow his emotions? They’re in your head!”
Hinata shrugged, “They’re just like, zoomier when I get closer to him. But, also,” his cheeks turned red and he hid his face in Tsukishima’s arm.
Tsukishima sighed, “We didn’t acknowledge each other for ten months, and like you so eloquently put it, it messed us up. The major things are we feel a pull towards each other and we want to touch each other.”
“Kei,” Hinata looked up at him and Yamaguchi watched them talk without saying an actual word.
After a few seconds Tsukishima scoffed, “Fine,” and Hinata immediately began untucking his soulmate’s shirt so he could put his hands on his bare stomach and back. As soon as they were touching tension leaked from their shoulders. Tsukishima slung an arm around his shoulder, burying his hand in Hinata’s hair and pulled him against his chest.
“Wow,” Yamaguchi said, completely amazed. The Tsukishima he knew was not a touchy person, “So when you two go study you actually…”
“We do study,” Hinata said, sounding content, “But we also touch a lot.”
Yamaguchi nodded even though it didn’t make that much sense to him, “How long have you two been dating?”
Tsukishima shook his head, “We’re not d--” he cut himself off and stood up straighter, “Stop that.”
Hinata looked up at him slowly, “Hmm?”
“Hinata,” he said warningly, “stop.”
Yamaguchi did not know what was going on.
“I’m not doing anything,” he titled his head back more.
Tsukishima closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Shoyou. Please,” he moved his hand to cup his cheek and brushed his thumb across his lower lip.
Ah, Yamaguchi understood now, “I can go if you want,” he said nervously. There was a weird energy in the air now and he was more than willing to leave to escape it.
“No,” Tsukishima snapped at him, “Hinata is going to leave,” he turned to his soulmate, “Go eat lunch while you have time, you can come to my house later. Just, we’re at school.”
Hinata pouted but agreed to his terms. He hugged Tsukishima tightly, waved goodbye to Yamaguchi, and was off to eat lunch in the little time he had left. Tsukishima took a few steps backwards so he could lean against the wall and tucked his shirt back in while taking a few more calming breaths to even himself (and Hinata) out.
Yamaguchi leaned against the wall a step away, “You don’t have to answer this if it’s too awkward,” he started suddenly, “But what was he doing?”
Tsukishima hooked his glasses on his shirt and scrubbed at his eyes, “He wanted to touch me more. It’s-- It’s not like desire or arousal but it’s want,” he put his glasses back on, “I think it’s a side effect. We really want skin contact.”
He nodded, “And why did you say no?”
“Just because it doesn’t start out as desire,” Tsukishima trailed off and looked away.
“Oh,” Yamaguchi said, “Are you having sex with Hinata?”
Tsukishima’s head shot around to look at his friend, “Yamaguchi!” he said, obviously scandalized.
Yamaguchi looked confused, “He’s your soulmate and you have a weird bond with him. Why wouldn’t you? I’d sleep with my soulmate.”
“I don’t need to hear this,” he pushed off the wall, “Let’s go back to class.”
Yamaguchi didn’t know what to expect when he asked Tsukishima to help him with his English homework but it definitely wasn’t this.
Hinata had come along for homework help as well, or whatever he did at Tsukishima’s house, and had promptly sat himself in Tsukishima’s lap. Tsukishima acted like this was the most natural thing in the world and put his hands up Hinata’s shirt so he could touch skin and rested his chin atop his head.
“So what do you two need help with?” Tsukishima asked lazily.
“Math,” Hinata groaned.
Yamaguchi chuckled quietly, “English sentence structure.”
Tsukishima nodded slightly at him, “Let me get him started first then I can help you out. Can you start on the worksheet and I can see where you’re going wrong?”
And he really intended on starting his own work but he got so caught up on watching the couple next to him-- and they were a couple no matter what they said. Tsukishima had leaned down to talk quietly in his ear and Hinata tilted his head back just a bit and closed his eyes to soak in his presence. They looked disgustingly in love.
“You’re not listening to me,” he heard Tsukishima mumble.
Hinata whined, “No, stay here.”
Tsukishima ignored his complaints and helped Yamaguchi through his worksheet. He gave him an annoyed look when he noticed that he hadn’t started it but didn’t actually comment on it, so Yamaguchi simply smiled at him. When he wasn’t trying to help Hinata or Kageyama, Tsukishima could be a patient and helpful teacher.
Even with Hinata in his lap he managed to be clear and attentive.
While Yamaguchi started on his other work Tsukishima turned back to Hinata to try and help him through his math homework. He heard his friend quietly explain the concepts and Hinata asked a few questions, but he must have gotten lost in thought because eventually he heard Hinata gasp and when he looked over he saw that Tsukishima had attached his mouth to his soulmate’s neck.
“Kei,” he gasped out as his hands balled into fists.
Yamaguchi looked away again when he saw a hint of Tsukishima’s tongue but he still heard his friend say, “You got that one right. Can you do it again?” in a voice he had never heard before.
Yamaguchi cleared his throat loudly to remind them that he was still there, “I’m almost done with this, please wait a bit longer before you decide to have sex or whatever.”
Tsukishima removed his mouth from Hinata’s neck so he could better glare at his friend, “We’re not--”
But he was cut off by Hinata turning around in his lap awkwardly, “You wanna have sex with me?”
They stared at each other, for a moment Yamaguchi didn’t know what they were doing but he realized that they were having a silent conversation through their feelings alone, it was an amazing feat for a couple who hadn’t been together all that long. Yamaguchi wondered how long he was going to have to wait for them to finish their talk but he didn’t have to wait long because after another minute they lunged towards each other for a heated kiss.
He was going to remind them that he was still here but Tsukishima put his hands on Hinata’s shoulders and pushed him away, “No, I don’t want to,” he said out loud.
Hinata’s face fell, “Why not?”
Tsukishima let out an annoyed grunt, “You’re my soulmate, I get that. But if I’m going to sleep with you I want to know it’s because I want to do it and not because some weird biology in me thinks I should,” Hinata opened his mouth like he was going to respond but Tsukishima cut him off before he could, “Also. I want to know that it’s what I want and not your feelings in my head.”
“Don’t be so full of yourself,” Hinata crossed his arms, “Who’d want to have sex with you?”
Tsukishima raised an eyebrow and Hinata blushed.
“Anyway,” Yamaguchi spoke up before they forgot he was there again, “You should probably ask a doctor about it, who knows how it’ll affect your weird touching thing.”
Hinata made a face and pulled at Tsukishima’s shirt to reveal his chest, “Why would that matter?” he asked as he pulled his own shirt up and pressed their torso’s together, like Yamaguchi’s comment had reminded him that they could be touching more.
“He’s right,” Tsukishima said, running his hands up and down Hinata’s bare back absentmindedly, “It could fix it or it could make it worse, we don’t know.”
“How long can you two go without touching, anyway?” Yamaguchi asked curiously.
Tsukishima shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe that’s something we should find out.”
Hinata groaned and buried his face into Tsukishima’s neck, “Starting later.”
Tsukishima felt Hinata buzzing with anxiety. It was day one of their experiment about how long they could go without touching and it was already proving to be difficult. They regularly went about twelve hours without touching, from the end of afternoon practice to the start of morning practice, but longer than that was uncharted territory.
Tsukishima was trying his best to stay calm but his own grumpiness won out, mixed with Hinata’s anxiety and discomfort it was a bad combination.
During class Tsukishima tried his hardest to pay attention but Hinata was full of nervous energy. He tried taking deep breaths to call them both down but Hinata always felt things stronger than he did so his feelings were overpowering. He wanted to go see him and reassure him that they were okay but if he saw him right then they were definitely going to touch.
At least it didn’t physically hurt.
Practice was difficult. They tried to stay on the opposite side of the gym but they were used to lining up in number order and that meant being right next to each other. Just yesterday they used that time to subtly touch each other without anyone else noticing. But now they grit their teeth and look straight ahead and powered through.
If anyone noticed how they bolted away from each other immediately, they didn’t comment on it.
“Are you going to Tsukishima’s house to study again?” Kageyama asked after practice officially ended, obviously annoyed at how much time they had been spending together lately.
Hinata and Tsukishima shared a look. It would probably be a bad idea if they were alone in Tsukishima’s room together right now. If they didn’t have the promise of self control or social decorum then who knew what they would get up to. They could already feel the want swirling between them.
Hinata shook his head, “Nope! Let’s do extra practice!”
The next day was even worse but they made it all the way to afternoon practice before their resolve broke.
Or, Tsukishima’s resolve broke.
Hinata lifted his shirt to wipe away the sweat that had gathered on his upper lip when he felt someone grab his hips and push him against the wall. He immediately dropped his shirt down to see what was going on and a second later Tsukishima was kissing him, growling slightly about how he lowered his shirt and how they now had less potential skin contact.
But Hinata didn’t care, he wrapped his arms around Tsukishima’s neck and kissed him eagerly. The want they felt bounced around and amplified until they could barely hear anything else around them.
“What the fuck is going on?” Tanaka wondered out loud.
“Uh,” Yamaguchi said, “They're soulmates. But they, uh, have some special circumstances.”
Hinata moaned when Tsukishima bit his lower lip.
“I’ve had enough of that,” Tanaka said.
He marched over to the two of them, grabbed Tsukishima’s shoulder, and roughly pulled him away from Hinata.
Tsukishima’s knee jerk reaction was to fight, Hinata was his and he could do whatever he wanted, but feeling Hinata’s embarrassment stopped him.
“Go home you two,” Ennoshita said. Tsukishima and Hinata both snapped their attention to their captain who was just filled in by Yamaguchi. “Apparently you two need some time.” He wrinkled his nose.
Hinata took Tsukishima’s hand and pulled him out of the gym. “See you tomorrow, bye,” he called to the others.
There was a long silence until, “Soulmates?!”
Tsukishima practically dragged Hinata to his house. Hinata could only try to keep up with his long stride, eventually giving up and letting Tsukishima pull him along. Once in his room Tsukishima pushed Hinata to the floor and shoved their shirts up so he could press their torso’s together.
But it wasn’t enough.
“Take your shirt off,” Tsukishima mumbled against Hinata’s lips while tugging at the hem of his own shirt.
Hinata was eager to comply, sitting up just enough to pull his shirt over his head before laying back down on the floor.
Tsukishima ran his hands up and down Hinata’s sides until he hit the waistband of his shorts and tried to push those down as well.
“Tsukishima, wait,” he gasped, “I want to but you don’t, remember?”
“I do want to,” he insisted.
Hinata pushed his hands away, “No, you said not until you knew that it was you who wanted it.”
Tsukishima kissed him hard, “Shut up, don’t tell me what I want.”
“Fine,” Hinata sat up again, “I’m telling you what I want then,” he kissed him slowly, drawing it out until they were laying back down on the floor again.
They were too caught up in each other to hear the knocking at the door but they did hear it open and Akiteru say “Hey, Kei, do you-- oh.”
Tsukishima looked over his shoulder, “Aki! Not now!”
Tsukishima grit his teeth as he watched someone else touch his soulmate. A few days had passed since their incident at the gym and Hinata said they actually had to talk about it with them.
“So you’re soulmates with this asshole?” Tanaka pointed at Tsukishima who was more concerned about the arm he had slung over Hinata’s shoulders.
Yamaguchi snickered quietly next to him, clearly enjoying his plight. Kei glared at him.
Hinata nodded eagerly, “He’s not that bad,” he said, defending Tsukishima’s character as weakly as possible.
Kageyama scoffed, “I can’t believe you’re supposed to be with someone like him.”
Tsukishima’s anger spiked and Hinata was at his side in a moment squeezing his hand to calm him down.
“We work really well together,” he said, rubbing his thumb against Tsukishima’s knuckles, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Ten months?!” the doctor shouted, “How on earth did you manage to go ten months without affirming your soulmate bond? That has some serious side effects,” she took a moment to see how they were sitting, “Which I imagine you’re experiencing.”
Hinata smiled sheepishly at her but Tsukishima kept his face blank.
“Okay, I’m going to assume you have an overwhelming desire to touch each other.”
“Yes.”
She checked something off, “Do you feel like you can talk in your head with your emotions?”
The two of them squinted and looked at each other, “That’s not normal?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. Can you transfer actual words to each other?”
“Oh god, you mean if we waited any longer I’d have to hear his thoughts?”
The doctor hummed, “Some people like that,” she checked something off again, “Does being apart feel painful?”
Hinata shook his head, “I miss him and I wanna be with him but it doesn’t hurt.”
“Can you locate each other based on feeling?”
“Yeah!” Hinata said loudly, “The zippy feeling.”
She wrote down a few more things, “So the good thing is that there’s nothing terribly wrong with waiting that long despite the serious side effects I mentioned earlier. The biggest thing is that if you’re apart for too long you might get sick, you’ll require more affirmation than a normal soul pair. But for the most part too long means to the tune of six months or so, so if you two really can’t stand each other, which doesn’t seem to be the case, you only need to meet up twice a year.”
“That’s good,” Tsukishima said carefully.
“But for now,” she finished writing, “I’d suggest sticking together.”