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It’s a Friday night. Kei, Kyoutani and Koganegawa had agreed on to meet at a their usual bar at 21:00. However, Tsukishima had taken an earlier train on accident. So it was 20:30 when he arrived instead of 21:00.
It was not the worst thing that could have happened, so Kei shot the others a text that he was already there and that he was sitting in their usual booth. Kyoutani replied with a thumbs up. Truly a man of few words.
There were a few of other people in the bar, but it wasn’t too crowdy. For the first couple of minutes Kei went on his phone and scrolled through social media to kill some time.
After a while he stopped and put his phone away. He looked around the room, he liked to watch other people. It was interesting to think that every person in that bar had their own lives.
His eyes stopped at the bar. There was a couple... fighting? On closer inspection, Kei didn’t think that they were even a couple or that they were fighting. The attractive guy with almost greenish hair and freckles, who was facing Kei, looked extremely uncomfortable by the presence of the other guy. The other guy, with his back to Kei, was standing rather closely and tried to touch the cute guy. The cute guy looked panicked and tried to take a step back, however he was trapped between the bar and the other dude.
The situation didn’t sit well with Kei. It didn’t look like as if anyone was going to intervene and help the guy.
Kei stood up and walked over to the two guys. The cute guy seemed to notice him first. He looked up at him with big eyes, as if they were trying to say: ‘help me’.
Kei smiled at him. “Hey babe, here you are.” He said as he put his arm around the other’s shoulder. “I was searching for you. You look nice.” He even dared to wink at him. Akiteru always told him that he was a terrible liar, but he really hoped that his act was convincing enough for the other dude to leave the freckled guy alone.
Then Kei turned to the other guy. He looked old. Way older than Pretty Boy, who must be around the same age as him. While Kei was 22, this guy looked more as if he was somewhere in his forties. Gross, he must have been twice their age.
“What were you two talking about? He wasn’t bothering you, was he?” He gave a pointed look at the old man.
“I- uhm I …” The old man started, but he looked rather intimidated by Kei. That wasn’t that surprising. Everyone would be intimidated by a 195.3 cm tall volleyball player.
“That’s what I thought.” Kei grimaced. Then he turned back to Pretty Boy. “You want to sit down in our usual booth or would you rather go outside and take a breather?” He asked. Kei hoped that the message was clear that he didn’t have to play along with Kei if he didn’t want to.
Pretty Boy gave him a shy smile. Wow he was truly beautiful when he smiled. “Thanks, but I’m fine Tsukki. Sitting down sounds nice.”
Tsukki? Who was Tsukki? Was that supposed to be a nickname? And if so, how did Pretty Boy know his name? Did he watch the Sendai Frogs regularly?
Despite being confused, Kei took his hand and led them to the booth. Kyoutani and Koganegawa weren’t there yet, but it wouldn’t be too long before they would arrive.
Pretty Boy looked relieved as they sat down. He shyly looked up at Kei. “Thank you. That guy was really bothering me and he couldn’t take no as an answer.”
“It was nothing. I don’t like creeps like him.”
“My name is Yamaguchi Tadashi by the way.” Pretty Boy, or Yamaguchi, said.
“Nice to meet you, my name’s Tsukishima Kei. But I have a feeling you already knew that.”
Yamaguchi blushed furiously. It was kind of cute. “I-Uh yes. You play for the Sendai Frogs right? I recognized you.”
Kei raised his eyebrows. “But why the nickname?”
Yamaguchi scratched the back of his head. “Well I figured that you were pretending to be my boyfriend and you called me ‘babe’, so I thought I would call you a cute nickname as well.” He explained.
“Oh yeah, that explains.”
Then there was a short silence between them.
“If you want to leave, that’s okay too, you know that right?” Kei began to say. He didn’t want Yamaguchi to feel obligated to keep him company. “I think the guy left already and two of my teammates are coming soon, so I would understand if you would like to leave.”
Kei wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but it looked like as if Yamaguchi’s face fell a bit. “Oh… Sure. I didn’t mean to intrude. Sorry… and thanks again.”
Shit, Kei didn’t mean to scare him away or give him the impression that he didn’t like Yamaguchi’s presence. Yamaguchi stood up but before he was ready to leave the booth Kei grabbed his hand. “Wait! I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Ow.” Yamaguchi’s voice sounded hopeful.
“You’re welcome to join us… if you want to.” Kei tugged at Yamaguchi’s hand a bit. Yamaguchi took the hint and sat down again. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t staying here against your will.”
“Oh! No I’m enjoying myself. You’re nice company.” Yamaguchi gave him one of his beautiful smiles again. He had nice eyes and he smiled they seemed to sparkle.
“Hey Tsukishima!” Someone called out for him.
Kei turned around. Koganegawa was waving enthusiastically at him and Kyoutani followed in tow. Kei nodded his head, as a way to greet them.
“Who’s this friend you brought with? I didn’t knew you were bringing someone. Wait are you two dating? Is this you breaking the news to us?” Koganegawa asked.
Kei blushed and out of the corner of his eye he could see Yamaguchi’s cheeks turning pink.
“Kogane, Kyoutani, this is Yamaguchi Tadashi. Yamaguchi, these are Koganegawa and Kyoutani, my teammates.” Kei said as he pointed to one another. “And no, we’re not dating. We just met actually.”
“Nice to meet you two. Yeah, Tsukki kind of saved me just now from this creep.” Yamaguchi said when Koganegawa and Kyoutani sat down next to him and Kei.
Koganegawa’s eyes widened. Oh no, Kei thought. “Tsukki! Nice nickname, I might use that one as well.”
“Please don’t.” Kei deadpanned.
Koganegawa ignored him. “But that must be scary, I hope the creep didn’t bother you too much.”
Yamaguchi smiled at Koganegawa. “It wasn’t too bad. He was kind of harassing me and he didn’t understand that no really means no, but before it could get out of hand Tsukki went up to us and pretended to be my boyfriend so the creep would leave me alone.”
“You’re kind of a hero Tsukishima.” Kyoutani commented.
Koganegawa clapped him on his back. “Wow Tsukki, nice job.”
Kei looked away. “It was nothing, everyone would have done the same thing.” He couldn’t help to blush even more.
The rest of the night went along great to Kei’s surprise. Yamaguchi was a really nice person and he got along easily with Kei’s two teammates. Yamaguchi told them about how he in high school also played volleyball, but that he had stopped when he went to college. Kyoutani asked him if he missed it. Yamaguchi had shrugged and answered that he missed it sometimes, but he also enjoyed to see them play and that made him happy too.
After a few beers Kei had started to become a bit more snarky. It was easy to poke fun at the other costumers in the bar and every time he made a joke, Yamaguchi would laugh. There was one particular comment that made Yamaguchi laugh so hard he had to wipe away some tears that slipped.
Normally, Kei had a hard time meeting new people. But Yamaguchi was different. In some kind of way it felt like he understood him. As if Yamaguchi and him had been friends their whole lives.
Before he knew it, it was the end of the night.
“Do you have a way to get home?” Kei asked Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi nodded. “Yes, I’m taking the train. The train station isn’t too far away from my apartment.”
“I’m taking the train too. Where do you get off?”
“The second stop.”
“Me too. We could take the train together if you want?” For some reason Kei was glad he could spend some more time with Yamaguchi.
“Sure Tsukki. Are Koganegawa and Kyoutani coming too?”
Kei looked over at Koganegawa and Kyoutani, both of them were engaged in a lively talk about their last practice. “I think they are taking a taxi, they don’t live too far away from here.” Kei answered.
“Okay. Then I will say my goodbyes and get my coat.”
Yamaguchi turned to Kei’s two teammates and said his goodbyes. “It was nice to meet you two! And I’ll be cheering for you at your next week’s match.”
“You’re coming?” Kyoutani asked.
“Of course!” Yamaguchi sounded genuine. Then Yamaguchi turned back around to where Kei was standing. “I’m going to get my coat.” He said as he pointed to the direction where the garderobe was.
“Okay, I’ll wait.” Kei said. Yamaguchi nodded and walked off to the garderobe.
Koganegawa walked up to him. “Get home save Tsukki.” He said as he gave Kei one of those shoulder hugs.
“Please stop using that nickname.” Kei grumbled.
Koganegawa looked disappointed. “But you don’t seem to have a problem with the nickname when Yamaguchi calls you that.”
“Well… Well that is because it’s different.” Kei hoped that Koganegawa didn’t notice that his ears were turning pink.
“How?” Koganegawa sounded genuinely confused.
Kei looked away and crossed his arms. He really didn’t want to talk about it right now. “It just is.”
“Okay man if you say so, see you at practice!” Kyoutani and Koganegawa waved as they left the bar.
Kei sighed, he knew he was acting weird but he really didn’t feel like talking about it with Koganegawa. He would probably get interrogated by the two of them next practice about Yamaguchi.
When Yamaguchi returned from the garderobe they walked together to the train station. The whole ride they talked about different things. About Yamaguchi’s job, Kei’s brother, how Yamaguchi was the volleyball captain in his third year, their favorite foods (floppy fries and strawberry shortcake) and Kei’s job at the museum he recently got. Kei even felt a bit disappointed when they had to cut their conversation short, because they arrived at the stop where they were supposed to get off the train.
“I had a really nice time Tsukki. And thanks again for protecting me from that creep.” Yamaguchi said as they stood outside in front of the train station.
“It was really nothing Yamaguchi.” Kei said. “I was glad to be your fake boyfriend.”
Yamaguchi smiled at him. “So… I guess this is where we part ways.” Kei noticed that Yamaguchi was fumbling with his hands. Was he nervous?
Kei knew that he himself was nervous. He didn’t want to part ways with Yamaguchi. He liked to be around him and he liked to make him laugh.
“It doesn’t have to be.” He said as he looked Yamaguchi in the eyes.
“It doesn’t?” Yamaguchi repeated.
“I could give you my number, if you would like? You know, so you can call me if another creep bothers you. Or for something else, like if you want to go on uh..” Kei cleared his throat. “on a date or something.” God Kei was really terrible at being casual.
Yamaguchi beamed at him, his smile was radiant. “Yes!” he said enthusiastically. “I mean, yes I would like that.” Kei found it cute how a blush colored Yamaguchi’s cheeks pink.
As they exchanged phones, their hands brushed. Kei felt like a middle schooler with a crush, with the way that touch felt like an electric shock.
“See you soon Yamaguchi.”
“Bye Tsukki. I’ll text you!” Yamaguchi gave him a little wave before he turned around.
As he watched Yamaguchi walk away, Kei felt lighter than he had ever felt before.