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Tsukishima noticed something was wrong.
First, it was the eye bags on your face that became more and more prominent as the school year progressed.
Second, you started to doze off and space out from time to time in the middle of lessons and conversations.
After that, it was you missing lunchtime with him and Yamaguchi. You would always say that you needed to revise some notes for your next subject, but he always found you napping on your desk.
It was odd, he thought. You and Kei shared classes since middle school, but it wasn’t until both of you were in your first year at Karasuno High that you started interacting. At first, your interactions only consisted of greetings and asking about homework, but it smoothly progressed to chatting about other non-school-related things, which progressed to sharing emails and messaging at late night hours, to hanging out on the weekends.
“(L/n), continue the reading, please.” Your teacher instructed you. Unfortunately for you, you were not paying enough attention to the lesson being held. You just were looking at the beautiful morning through the window next to you. If it wasn’t for Kei, who was your seating partner, you would still be outside. He not so subtly kicked your shin, which resulted in you standing up and starting reading the passage you were supposed to.
“Thanks.” You mumbled once you finished reading and were seated. Tsukishima looked at you with his usual I-don’t-really-care face, but his eyes screamed worry. He just lightly nodded to you and both went to reassume what you were doing.
After the school day finished, you started to walk your way home, only to be stopped by the blonde.
“Are you going home?” You asked him.
“Don’t tell me that little head of yours forgot.” He answered, a smirk forming on his face. You only crossed your arms and pouted. Of course, you forgot today you were starting that stupid English project.
“I didn’t forget anything.” You countered. “But just to make it clear, we are supposed to …” Tsukishima just pushed a copy of “Alice in Wonderland” to you. Upon reading the book’s title, you remembered you had to read it and analyse it. “Yes, right. Alice in Wonderland. I didn’t forget. Let’s get going.”
After stopping at Sakanoshita market to buy some snacks, you both finally arrived at the Tsukishima residence. You were both received by her mother and Akiteru, who were having tea.
“Hello, (Y/n)-chan!” The woman greeted you and hugged you.
“How are you doing, Tsukishima-san?” You asked the woman while returning the hug.
“Fine, sweetheart. Thanks for asking. Kei told me you are working on a project today. I hope he isn’t giving you so much trouble. I know he can get a little grumpy at times.” Her mother told you, still holding you by your arms and inspecting your face. Akiteru laughed at his mother’s remarks about his brother and Tsukishima sent him a death glare. “I see you brought some snacks. Why don’t you go upstairs and get ready to work while I and Kei prepare some tea?” Kei’s mom looked at his son who had a puzzled expression on his face, urging him to agree with her.
“Yes, right. You know where my room is. Don’t touch any of my dinosaur figurines.” The youngest Tsukishima said.
“I can help, too.” You insisted.
“Don’t worry. Kei will join you in a few.”
“Okay.” You answered, deciding not to insist. “Nice to see you, Akiteru-san.” You said to the eldest of the boys.
“It’s not necessary to be so formal, (Y/n)-chan.” Kei’s brother dismissed with a smile. You smiled him back and headed to your friend’s room.
“Is she ok?” Akiteru asked once you were out of listening range. The mother looked at his youngest son and waited for his response. She noted that something was wrong with his son’s friend.
“I don’t know for sure, but she has been acting odd lately.” Kei just said.
Both mother and brother didn’t pry anymore. They knew better than trying to get nosy with Kei’s business.
“Here,” Kei told you as he handed you a cup of hot tea. He supposed he would find you asleep on his bed but, to his great surprise, you were reading your Alice copy, though, your eyes were slowly closing.
“Thanks.” You said, yawning and grabbing the mug. “So, we have to find examples for different literary devices that appear in the book, right?” You questioned as you read your notes.
“Yes. I’ve already marked some things that may be useful.” Tsukishima said while opening his own copy and notes. You both started drafting your work.
Time flies when you are not paying attention to it. You were so immersed and felt so at peace with your classmate that you didn’t realise it was dinner time until Kei’s mom came into his room to call you to have supper.
“Sorry for interrupting, but you two need to have something to eat.” Tsukishima’s mom said smiling and urging both of you to go downstairs.
“Is it dinner time already?” You asked in disbelief as you pick your phone up from the desk. Your eyes widened comically when you saw the digital clock on your phone screen. “Oh, God. I’m sorry stayed this late. I’ll get going.” You continued while you messily put your thing in your school bag.
“But I’ve already prepared dinner. I was counting on you to stay if that’s fine with you.” The woman said, trying to convince you.
You looked at Kei to see if he had had enough of you. He just shrugged at you. “Okay, Tsukishima-san. I’ll just call home and tell my parents I’m staying for a bit longer.” You answered, standing up and leaving Kei’s room.
“Can we have dinner here?” Kei asked his mother. “We haven’t talked about what’s going on with her, and I doubt she would if we’re with you.”
“Help me bring the things here, then.” His mother accepted with a small smile. She knew his son was aloof most of the time, but seeing him worried about one of his friends made her heart warm.
When you came back to the middle blocker’s room, everything has already been set for you to have dinner.
“This looks good.” You said while sitting in front of Tsukishima. Your stomach made an angry sound and your cheeks got red.
“You sound hungry,” Kei said.
“Well, it’s your mom’s food we are talking about. Of course, it makes me hungry.” You responded while taking a bite.
“Isn’t it because you have been systematically skipping lunch with me and Yamaguchi to have naps?” The boy asked back, looking at his food calmly. You stopped your arm midway from your mouth and looked at him. You were speechless. What were you supposed to say, anyway? He was right. You were such a mess. You wanted to tell him, you really did. However, a tiny voice inside you stopped you from doing that. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust your friend, but Tsukishima sometimes can be cold and snobbish, and you didn’t have enough energy to deal with his personality.
“Look, I’m not mad at you or Yamaguchi. It’s just that I’m not in my best moment. But that’s what it is: a moment. I’ll be fine, I just need time.” You answered nonchalantly and went on eating.
Tsukishima cringed at himself silently. That didn’t go the way he wanted. But then again, he used that tone characteristically of him. That tone full of sarcasm and disdain. That tone which didn’t show what he has actually been feeling for you.
“Fine. Whatever.” Said Kei. He felt hurt that you didn’t tell him what was bothering you, but he knew it was his, and only his, fault.
The rest of the dinner went fine. You and Kei talked about everything and nothing. You were preparing to depart when Tsukishima offered to walk you home. You were about to dismiss him but the look he gave told you it would be fruitless. So off you went. The walk was serene. It wasn’t too late but people seemed to have evaporated from the city. Neither of you emitted a word at first. It wasn’t until you strayed out of the way that one of you talked.
“Where are you going?” Questioned Kei.
You signaled him the park’s swings. You took a seat on one of them and waited for Kei to do the same. To your surprise, he positioned himself behind you and started to rock you.
“You know, I envy Hinata and Kageyama. A lot.” You uttered after a few moments. You didn’t need to turn around to know that Tsukki had disbelief and astonishment written all over his face.
“Why? Where did it come from?” Tsukishima asked in shock.
“Because they are free to do what they want.” You answered and stopped the swing. You turned around without leaving your seat and proceeded. “They both know what they want. They have a goal and they won’t stop until they achieve it.” A sad smile on your face while looking at your shoes.
“Yeah. They want to run after a bouncing ball. I don’t know what’s so cool about that.” The middle blocker countered with a smirk on his face.
“It doesn’t matter if it is as simple as that. They can choose what they do. Unless other people. Some aren’t that lucky, you know.” You countered, looking at the floor with a sad smile on your face.
“If that has something to do with your behaviour lately, then-”
“My parents want me to go to med school, Kei.” You answered before he could finish his utterance. “They told me they won’t be paying any other college expenses unless it is med school.” You added, voice trembling.
So, that was it. You were overthinking about university when you were just in your first year of school. Well, not that he was a stranger to that train of thought. On the contrary, he constantly was thinking about what he wanted to achieve and how far he wanted to get. But coming back to you, he knew why you were so worried. You hated all things related to medicine, you even avoided going into the infirmary at school. The reason for this escaped Kei’s knowledge. He remembered the first time you, Yamaguchi and him went to his house to have a movie night. It was near Halloween that you decided to have your get-together, and so, you agreed on watching some horror films. What the boys didn’t count on was the fact that you almost fainted when the monster ripped the head off of one of the characters and a stream of blood flowed out of the person’s body. Needless to say, the boys immediately stopped the film and put some cheesy rom-com. But it wasn’t the only instance this behaviour of yours manifested. When Tsukishima had his finger scarped while playing against Shiratorizawa, his brother had to remind you how to breathe. He said you became so pale he almost took you to the infirmary. Because of these and many others episodes, he couldn’t imagine you as a doctor.
“You shouldn’t give a fuck about what your parents want you to do,” Kei said after some thinking.
“Kei!” You stood up from the swing and turned to look at him. “You perfectly know I can’t do that. Our family is a physicians’ family. They’d rather bury me than having me doing any other thing than being a doctor.” You answered, tears starting to run down your cheeks.
“Well, then, let them burry you!”
“Tsukishima Kei!” You shouted and looked at him with venom in your eyes. “This is why I’m always thinking twice about telling you my problems. Would it kill you to show some concern about your friends?” And yet again, Tsukishima screwed it up again. “You know what? Go home already. Leave me alone.” You started to grab your things and turned to leave. You have barely moved six steps when you felt two strong arms hugged you from behind. You froze in your place.
“I know I’m a jerk most of the time-” the middle blocker started.
“To put it lightly.” You added mid sentences.
The boy only tightened his arms a bit and got closer to you, his chest against your back and his head on yours. “But I’m worried about you. I worry about your well-being. I noticed when you have only 3 or 2 hours of sleep. I notice when you haven’t eaten like for a day. I know when you are sad or angry. I know when you are happy, too. I may not say it but I care about you. I really do.” At this point, your tears were streaming down your face again. “About your parents, I still think you shouldn’t worry about it. We can save money. I can look for a part-time job to help. I have my own savings, too. That may help a little. If we ask my mother, she will happily help to pay your college-”. Kei again stopped talking. You had turned around and yanked him so he was face-to-face with you. As you inspected his eyes, you could see that he was being serious. Not a trace of falsehood on his words. After that, you softly caressed his cheeks with your thumbs before slowly closing the gap between your lips. After a brief moment, you disconnected your lips. Kei did not respond to your kiss and you were sure you had ruined your friendship with the boy you have liked since middle school.
“Sorry, Tsukki. I don’t know what I was thinkin-” You started while taking some steps back, concern written all over your face. But sooner than later, one of his arms pulled one of your arms forward and locked his lips with yours again. Some minutes later, he pulled you even closer on a tight hug. He thought that you wouldn’t see he was blushing furiously.
“We will work this out together. I promise. You’ll go to the college you want. It doesn’t matter where it is or how much it costs.” He reassured you, kissing the top of your head.
You rubbed your face against his chest and sniffed his soothing essence. And there, at that time, you knew you could count on Tsukishima Kei for anything and everything.