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It’s not a secret that Yamaguchi’s love language is mainly physical touch. Sure, he enjoys showing his love in other ways, like words of affirmations (which actually makes him too flustered for his liking) and quality time (though he’s found that he’d just want a long hug to pass the time), but he’s always preferred touch.
Even with many years of knowing each other, Yamaguchi doesn’t quite know what Tsukishima’s love language is yet, although he’s fairly certain it’s not the same as him. Tsukishima actually tends to shy away from touch, so Yamaguchi doesn’t mind moderating his amount of daily hugs if it means that his best friend isn’t uncomfortable. In fact, he makes these moderations almost unconsciously.
But when the two of them are (finally) together in a steady relationship, Yamaguchi’s opinion is forcefully changed. All those years where Yamaguchi would purposely force himself to lessen his hugs, high fives, and hair-playing built up and now they’re blowing up in his face. Suddenly, he’s hyper aware of each touch the two of them exchange. Yamaguchi finds that he wants to be touching Tsukishima all the time (not in a sexual way though, Yamaguchi has never cared for that sort of thing and he discovered the label of asexuality right before second year).
Of course, this heightened awareness that Yamaguchi has become accustomed to is proving to become a problem, because even Yamaguchi’s subconsciousness (who was supposedly fine with the lack of touch) now wants more hugs and more fleeting touches, no matter how subtle. However, he sees how Tsukishima moves away from contact with other people. Tsukishima never initiates high fives after points and only takes part in high fives if they’re shoved into his face. He freezes whenever Nishinoya and Tanaka tackle him after any particularly successful block. He never seems to move away from Yamaguchi though, and Yamaguchi feels terrible about it because he knows that Tsukishima feels as though that’s his job as a boyfriend.
And so, after a goodnight kiss that leaves Tsukishima red and standing as stiff as a board, Yamaguhci decides that he’s going to moderate his touch with his boyfriend. He doesn’t care if he can’t be satisfied with his way of showing love, he thinks that he’d much rather just show love in ways that doesn’t make Tsukishima flinch away.
He begins his resolution the next morning on the walk to school with Tsukishima. It’s not exactly cold out, but Yamaguchi’s hands have the tendency to either be sweating or freezing. This morning, they were freezing. He rubs them together as they walk instead of asking Tsukishima to hold his hands. Even so, Tsukishima stops walking with a ‘ tch ’. He reaches out and takes Yamaguchi’s hands without asking, wrapping them in his own hands that radiate heat.
Slightly flushed in a way Tsukishima could argue is caused by the cool morning wind, he says, “You should really start bringing gloves to school, Tadashi.”
Yamaguchi stares up at him, reading his face. Tsukishima doesn’t exactly look uncomfortable, and while Yamaguchi does enjoy the warmth, he doesn’t enjoy when Tsukishima is fidgeting stiffly as he is right now. So he pulls his hands away abruptly and shoves them in his pockets. Tsukishima blinks at him, brow furrowed. Yamaguchi wants to reach out and smooth it down.
“We’re going to be late,” Yamaguchi says instead, shrugging. “Thanks for the warmth though! I’ll try to remember gloves tomorrow.”
Tsukishima looks at him for a moment before nodding. Then he looks away and holds out his right hand for Yamaguchi to take, starting to walk once more. “You’re still shivering, stupid. One hand of warmth is better than nothing.”
Yamaguchi smiles slightly and takes his hand. He’s going to have to work harder to keep the contact to a minimum, but if Tsukishima offers to hold hands, there’s no universe where he would say no to him.
The team is used to Tsukishima’s lack of affection and the fact that when he does give affection in the form of words or giving out water bottles, it’s almost always towards Yamaguchi. However, it’s not like he’s an emotionless robot to the rest of them. Tsukishima is just someone who only gives compliments or encouragement when he feels that it’s necessary. The team isn’t upset by that though, it just makes Tsukishima’s occasional ‘nice serve’ or ‘nice kill’ mean a lot more than it should.
Therefore, when Tsukishima picks up Yamaguchi’s water bottle at the end of practice, no one bats an eye. Everyone’s packing up, and even the first years are used to this by now. Yamaguchi is unsure whether or not the reason they never comment on their relationship is because all four second years are obviously homosexuals or because Nishinoya and Tanaka are extremely protective. Maybe both.
(Either way, thank god for those two, because whenever homophobes comment on their relationship, Nishinoya and Tanaka are just instantly present to defend them. Yamaguchi swears that he heard them bark once while fending people off.)
Tsukishima holds out the water bottle to Yamaguchi, who smiles in thanks and takes it from him. Their fingers brush during the exchange, and Yamaguchi jerks his hand back before any more contact occurs. After muttering a quick apology, he walks the other direction and almost runs face first into Hinata.
“Oh, Yamaguchi!” He exclaims, startled but grinning widely. “I’ve been meaning to ask but I keep forgetting, could you teach me about your jump serves? I saw that you learned those and I was like woah .”
Yamaguchi blinks. “Me? My jump serves are kinda shitty, though. Wouldn’t you be better off asking Kageyama?”
Hinata shakes his head. “Kageyama won’t teach me if I ask. Besides, I like your serves! They’re super cool and-”
“Okay, okay!” Yamaguchi interrupts him before Hinata can compliment him any more and cause him to explode. “I can teach you tomorrow, okay?”
Hinata jumps on the spot. “Thanks Yamaguchi, you really are awesome!”
And then he’s off to yell at Kageyama for more tosses. Yamaguchi watches the two of them bicker for a moment, a fond smile on his face. He wonders when those two will get together.
“Tadashi.”
He turns and nearly collides with Tsukishima’s face. “Tsukki!”
Tsukishima frowns and pushes his glasses back up his nose. Yamaguchi wants to reach out and touch his hair, but he doesn’t. He stays still as his boyfriend looks him up and down carefully. “You’ve been more anxious than usual for the past few days.”
Yamaguchi laughs nervously. “Have I?”
A look. “Quit playing dumb. You’ve been more jumpy than usual, and quieter than Hinata when he finds out that exam season is coming.”
It’s rare to have Tsukishima ask if you’re okay, so Yamaguchi knows that this statement is his way of asking. He also knows that he’s been too obvious when leaning away from touch. Not obvious to anyone else though, only obvious in a way that nobody but Tsukishima would be able to notice. So when he asks that, Yamaguchi feels guilty, because Tsukishima wasn’t supposed to notice that something is different.
The only option, Yamaguchi thinks sadly, is to lie. He looks anywhere but Tsukishima when he speaks.
“It’s just one of those weeks, I guess.”
“Hm.” And then there are warm arms wrapping around him, hugging him closely to Tsukishima’s chest.
They say habits take around 21 days to form. Yamaguchi never really understood how researchers managed to average out that timeframe, he always sort of thought that it was all bullshit. But he understands now that whether it’s 21 days or not habits take a long time to form, because he completely forgets to dodge the hug until he’s already hugging Tsukishima back.
Yamaguchi pulls away much earlier than he usually would, but then Tsukishima is holding his chin lightly so that he can’t turn away. Yamaguchi hates that he wants to stay there, he hates that Tsukishima knows that touches like these have him melting on the spot.
The look that Tsukishima gives him is not upset, and definitely not angry. It’s the soft, gentle look that Tsukishima saves just for him, the face that only Yamaguchi has ever seen because he doesn’t give it to anyone else.
“Tell me if I can do anything for you, okay?” Tsukishima says quietly, his voice matching the softness in his face.
You can stop touching me just because you know what my love language is , Yamaguchi wants to say. You can stop being such a good boyfriend and you can stop noticing when I’m acting odd. But he doesn’t say anything and just nods.
This is going to be a slow process , Yamaguchi thinks, as he leans in to give Tsukishima a quick kiss in thanks. He has to do this gradually; like the theory that if someone wore a slightly different colour shirt everyday for a year, no one would be able to tell that the shirts ever changed by the last day. He can’t just suddenly stop all the physicality, Tsukishima would immediately notice.
When he’s about to pull away, Tsukishima leans into the kiss. Yamaguchi can’t bring himself to move away because he really does love physical touch and Tsukishima makes his knees weak.
Thankfully, Kageyama chooses the perfect time to be a dick and yells at them to get a room. Suddenly aware of the people around them, Tsukishima pulls away to yell back at him some sort of taunt that Yamaguchi doesn’t process. Yamaguchi thanks Kageyama in his mind and goes to pack up his things.
This is going to be much harder than he anticipated. He realizes this during the walk home, when Tsukishima hands Yamaguchi his sweater without even looking at him and mutters something about not wanting him to complain about being cold. They both know that what Tsukishima really means is ‘ you’re acting off so I’m doing this subtly and giving it to you for comfort. ’
Yamaguchi has to stop himself from giving Tsukishima a hug. He really hates this.
Saturday night, Tsukishima shows up at Yamaguchi’s house while he’s doing school work. He doesn’t even text beforehand, so Yamaguchi is startled when he opens the door. Tsukishima has Yamaguchi’s favourite sweet tea in his hand and gives it to him wordlessly before walking inside and ignoring Yamaguchi’s thanks. Sighing but smiling, Yamaguchi follows Tsukishima into his room.
Tsukishima walks up to Yamaguchi’s desk, taking in the mess that slowly formed throughout the day of work. He lets out a soft ‘ tch ’ and glances over his shoulder at Yamaguchi expectantly.
“Oh, go ahead,” Yamaguchi turns away to sit on his bed and Tsukishima quietly rearranges the mess of papers on the desk.
“You’re overworking yourself again,” Tsukishima tells him once he’s sitting on the bed as well. “You haven’t answered texts all day, you definitely haven’t eaten lunch, and your hair is a mess. I can guarantee that you haven’t looked away from your work in hours.”
To anyone else this might have sounded rude. To be fair, it does sound a little condescending and mean, but Yamaguchi knows that this is just the way that Tsukishima’s voicing his concern. This is the way that he shows he cares, coming over with a small gift and then helping him out in small ways that keep Yamaguchi from overwhelming himself. Yamaguchi has been overworking himself today and he knows it, but he has a lot to do and he just wants to get it all done. He starts to voice this to Tsukishima, but is interrupted by the usual,
“Tadashi, shut up.”
“Sorry, Tsukki!” These two phrases comfort him, oddly enough.
Tsukishima sighs and reaches for his bag, pulling out a paper bag filled with a croissant. A croissant , Yamaguchi thinks, and it almost makes him cry because he doesn’t think he deserves to be taken care of like this. Tsukishima might have the attitude of a closed off, slightly rude person, but little things like this prove that there’s more to him than just that.
“Eat and I’ll braid your hair out of your face. You need to take a break,” Tsukishima says as he hands the paper bag over. Yamaguchi almost says no, because of his ‘less touching’ resolution, but he’s really fucking tired and if he doesn’t have a form of physical affection soon he might just evaporate.
So he slides off his bed and sits between Tsukishima’s legs on the floor, facing away from him. He feels Tsukishima card through his hair as he begins the process of two dutch braids.
Tsukishima didn’t always know how to braid hair. With only a brother and no sisters or other siblings, why would he need that skill? Sometime in middle school though, Yamaguchi’s hair went through a rebellious stage and would not stay out of his face. Without telling Yamaguchi, Tsukishima taught himself how to braid hair and one day he wordlessly made Yamaguchi sit on the floor so he could braid it. They weren’t very good braids the first few times, but Tsukishima’s improved a lot over the years. That didn’t really matter though, because Yamaguchi would let him braid his hair even if it looked terrible. Yamaguchi never understood why Tsukishima went through that effort just for him, but it means the world to him nonetheless.
He finishes the croissant as Tsukishima finishes the first braid, and so he stares at the wall during the second one. Yamaguchi remembers with a jolt that he never gave Tsukishima hair elastics. Moments later, his heart almost explodes when he realizes that Tsukishima must’ve started wearing hair ties on his wrist just for Yamaguchi.
When Tsukishima finishes the second braid, Yamaguchi feels a lot calmer than he did twenty minutes ago, when he was stressing out about school work.
At this point, Yamaguchi would typically ask Tsukishima to braid his hair in return and end up braiding a few small braids onto his head. But he doesn’t. It almost makes him sad and he turns to see Tsukishma looking at him expectantly, ready to make fun of him for wanting to braid his hair.
“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi begins, “I love you and it was really sweet of you to do this. But don’t think I don’t know that you’re avoiding your own work right now so that you can take care of me instead.”
Tsukishima opens his mouth to protest but realizes that Yamaguchis is in fact correct. “What the fuck. Why did you call me out like that? That’s so messed up. Right after I braided your hair too?”
“You’re an idiot,” Yamaguchi tells him fondly and kisses him lightly. “Now go home and work or I’ll eat your shorts.”
His favourite threat is ‘I’ll eat your shorts,’ simply because it makes no sense and always confuses people while still sounding slightly threatening.
Tsukishima, instead of retorting with an equally stupid threat, just smiles. “If I wasn’t madly in love with you I’d be insulting your threats. You’re so stupid, you know.”
“Stupid but right,” Yamaguchi points out, grinning. “And the thought of me eating your shorts should have you trembling in fear. Your shorts are in danger.”
“Hate to break it to you, but I think my shorts are pretty safe. I’m wearing pants.”
They watch a movie at Tsukishima’s house a few nights later after practice. Once they’re in the house, Yamaguchi says a quick hello to Tsukishima’s mom and then follows his boyfriend into his room.
Yamaguchi almost teases Tsukishima for going soft when he sees the amount of blankets and pillows on the bed, along with the snacks laying beside them. He turns to Tsukishima with his mouth open to see his boyfriend’s face slightly red. Tsukishima mumbles some variation of a lighthearted insult before swearing and pulling Yamaguchi onto the bed to kiss him.
In the back of his mind Yamaguchi feels like he should pull away, so he tries to. But when he starts to lean back, Tsukishima lets out a noise of frustration and his hand that rests in Yamaguchi’s hair tightens. The grip makes Yamaguchi let out a soft noise and he immediately feels embarrassed. Tsukishima doesn’t seem to care though, and he tugs on Yamaguchi’s hair again in search of receiving the same noise again. The breath leaves Yamaguchi’s lungs and he gives up on pulling away, melting into the kiss. He blocks out all thoughts in his brain and reaches out to cradle Tsukishima’s face in his hands. He’s rewarded with a soft sigh when their tongues brush.
They never go past kissing. Back in the time before they were dating, when Yamaguchi first realized that he was asexual and grayaromantic, he was worried that Tsukishima was going to be disappointed in him. It wasn’t like he was sex-repulsed, but he just didn’t… want to have it? He didn’t feel that type of attraction. And he never had as many crushes as other people; he always felt like he didn’t really understand when other people talked about their romantic life. He had already told Tsukishima that he was bi, but somehow telling him this was much more difficult. It was different.
He’ll always be grateful for the way that Tsukishima reacted. He simply looked at Yamaguchi and shrugged. With that soft smile on his face he saves for Yamaguchi, he said,
“I was wondering when you were going to figure that out. Want me to act surprised?”
Tsukishima didn’t even look at him differently after that. He held Yamaguchi when he cried because the aroace spectrum sometimes makes him feel alone, and never says a word about it after. And when they started dating, Tsukishima told Yamaguchi that he knew that their love wasn’t lesser because of Yamaguchi being on the aromantic spectrum. He made it clear that he didn’t care that Yamaguchi was asexual, in fact he even said that he feels like he’s somewhere on that spectrum as well. And so they kiss, and that’s enough.
(Going past kissing does happen sometimes, but that’s their business and their business only.)
When they finally pull away from each other, lips red and hair messy, Tsukishima puts on a movie. Later, Yamaguchi will not recall which one it was because during the movie all his focus is used to keep track of how close he lies next to his boyfriend.
He sits further away than usual, but close enough that there is still contact. He holds his hand, but doesn’t lean onto his shoulder. Looks over at him but never leans in for a kiss. Yamaguchi cannot stop the physical contact for the life of him, and it frustrates him. If Tsukishima is able to put himself aside so that Yamaguchi can touch him, then shouldn’t he be able to stop? He wonders how he can be so fucking clingy even though he has no need to be.
The movie feels like it lasts for hours, and once it’s finally over Yamaguchi immediately launches himself out of bed and declares that he should get home because they have morning practice. Tsukishima furrows his brow.
“It’s one in the morning.”
“Yeah?” Yamaguchi smiles awkwardly. “My house is, like, a five minute walk away?”
“It’s dark outside, you’re not walking home,” Tsukishima seems to be holding in a laugh. “You’re fucking stupid, just sleepover.”
Yamaguchi nearly panics, because how is he supposed to stop the contact if they need to sleep in the same bed. It would set his progress miles backwards and so he immediately begins to protest. “I don’t have a change of clothes for sleeping or for practice and my parents will want me home-”
“You can wear my clothes,” Tsukishima says easily. “And I already told your parents you would be sleeping over while you were staring at the wall during the movie that you weren’t paying attention to.”
“Fuck you,” Yamaguchi says, and then grimaces guiltily. “Sorry. I’ll stay.”
And so they get ready for bed in silence. When they finally lay in Tsukishima’s bed, Yamaguchi is nearly falling off because he’s extremely close to the edge in the effort to stay far from his boyfriend. He says a quiet goodnight and then reaches to turn off the bedside light.
Before he can however, there’s a really loud, really fucking irritated sigh and Tsukishima’s hand is on his, stopping him.
“Okay, Tadashi, we’re not doing this shit right now.” Tsukishima pushes back the covers and sits up. Yamaguchi does the same nervously. “What the fuck is going on with you?”
Yamaguchi swallows. “I don’t know what you mean-”
“Cut the bullshit.” Tsukishima is swearing an awful lot, and Yamaguchi is looking anywhere but his face.
“Nothing’s going on, okay? Everything’s fine,” Yamaguchi rambles. “I’m fine, we’re fine, so please don’t be mad at me because I’m fine , I’m-”
“Tadashi.” The softness in Tsukishima’s voice startles him and Yamaguchi finally looks at his face. His heart drops and he suddenly wants to cry because he’s never seen Tsukishima look so heartbroken. He’s never seen Tsukishima look so uncomfortable. He’s never seen his eyes look so crestfallen. “Did I- is something making you upset?”
“No! Why would you think that?” Yamaguchi’s shaking his head immediately. He didn’t mean to make him sad. He starts to reach out but stops before his hand reaches Tsukishima’s face.
“Because of that,” Tsukishima tells him simply. “You’ve been doing that a lot. Reaching out, looking like you want to touch me, and then you just… don’t. You told me that you would tell me if I could do anything for you but you haven’t said a thing.”
“That’s because it’s not something you can fix for me!” Yamaguchi bursts out, frustrated. He immediately regrets it because of the way Tsukishima’s face twists. It goes from brief sadness to the cold face he puts up when he feels vulnerable. Yamaguchi wants to reach out to trace the slight frown on his lips, to kiss him and reassure him that nothings wrong and-
“There it is again,” Tsukishima looks at him sadly. “That weird look in your eyes. If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I can’t do anything and that’s my fucking job-”
“Your job? As what?” Yamaguchi snaps. “As my boyfriend? As my best friend?”
“No? It’s my job as someone who cares about you.”
“Caring about me shouldn’t be your job ! I don’t get why you have to make this so fucking difficult, I’m doing this for you!”
“Okay, so I phrased it wrong, sue me! Still, what am I making difficult? What are you-”
And then he can’t hold it in. All the built up hunger for touch wells up and explodes inside of Yamaguchi and he gets out of the bed in an attempt to get further away from Tsukishima. He stands alone and he feels cold.
“I’m keeping my distance, okay?” Yamaguchi squeezes his eyes shut. “I’m touching you less and hugging you less, because it makes you so uncomfortable and I can tell . You go all- all stiff and I can tell that you don’t like it, so I’m trying to stop! You do so much for me that you obviously don’t want to do. I’m trying- I’m just trying to do the same, Tsukki. I’m trying to keep the touch to a minimum so that you can just… ”
He trails off to take a deep breath and look at Tsukishima, who stares back at him with an expressionless face. He expects an angry retort, to be called stupid or pathetic, but it never comes. Tsukishima only says six words, the tone of his voice oddly strangled.
“But your love language is touch?”
“I fucking know that, I’m stopping because yours isn’t!”
And then Tsukishima is pulling him back into the bed and hugging him.
“You’re such an idiot,” Tsukishima says, his voice fond. He pulls back to look at Yamaguchi, and he’s fucking smiling . “You’re too considerate for your own good. So you’re telling me that you were acting oddly because you thought you were making me uncomfortable?”
Yamaguchi nods and Tsukishima reaches out to wipe the tears off of his face.
“Tadashi, if you made me uncomfortable, I would just tell you, okay? You know that.”
“But you like to make me happy and you’ve told me you don’t like touch, so-”
“I like your touch. I don't mind if it’s you.”
That stops Yamaguchi in his tracks. He swallows and looks at Tsukishima's face, trying to get a read on him.
“I don’t mind if it’s you,” Tsukishima repeats. He says as though it’s a known fact, or like he’s talking about the weather.
“Why?”
“Because you’re you,” Tsukishima says simply. “I don’t quite know how to explain it, but you’re the exception to my dislike for touch, apparently.”
“I don’t understand,” Yamaguchi says quietly. “You always hug me back because you’re my best friend, you hold my hand because you’re my boyfriend-”
“When will it get through your dumb head that I do that shit because I love you?” Tsukishima sighs. He reaches out and knocks lightly on Yamaguchi’s forehead before sweeping a bit of hair behind Yamaguchi’s ear. “I like touching you. I like it when you go red when I hold your chin and I like how you cling onto me like a fucking koala. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to. My family was never affectionate in that way, you know. We never really hug each other, and we most definitely don’t say ‘I love you’ You were the one who taught me how to do those things, Tadashi. It still… startles me, sometimes, how open you are with physical touch and saying nice things. I’m still learning how to let myself have that type of life, to have you making me feel so-”
He cuts himself off with a sharp intake of breath.
“You make me feel things, good things , and it’s strange. I don’t really know how to deal with it because I can’t control how much I love you and it’s scary. Look how sappy you’re making me, see?”
That gets a slight, wet laugh out of Yamaguchi. He looks like he wants to say something, but Tsukishima doesn’t need to hear it. He knows.
“C’mere.” Tsukishima wraps his arms around Yamaguchi tightly, who lets out a soft sniffle. He laughs a little. “It’s okay. You can hug me all you want, I know how dependant you are on physical touch-”
“I love you,” Yamaguchi interrupts Tsukishima’s teasing by whispering into his ear. “Thank you.”
“I love you too. But don’t pull this shit again, alright? You read enough to know what miscommunication does to people, am I right or am I right?”
Yamaguchi nods. He’s never been more grateful for Tsukishima’s blunt nature. He’s never been able to be so honest with people when it could hurt their feelings in any way and that’s one of the reasons why Tsukishima is such a good match for him. He also knows that he’s the only person that can get Tsukishima to be out of character, to get soft and kind and gentle. He takes some pride in that.
They fall asleep hugging each other, legs intertwined and faces squished together on the pillow. Yamaguchi wakes up and doesn’t feel the need to pull away. He lets himself have this, lets himself love freely.
And if Tsukishima wakes up to Yamaguchi braiding small braids in his hair and pretends to remain asleep so that Yamaguchi can continue, no one has to know.
After that night, Yamaguchi trashes his resolution. He holds Tsukishima’s hand on the way to morning practice. He continues to hold it when they walk inside and Tanaka makes a snarky comment about him wearing Tsukishima’s practice shirt but Yamaguchi doesn’t care. He gives Tsukishima a kiss before class and Tsukishima doesn’t pull away until Yamaguchi does, even though there are people around. He lies down with his head on Tsukishima’s lap during lunch, and laughs when Hinata complains about his lack of relationship while Kageyama stares directly into the ginger’s soul as if deciding whether or not to grab him and kiss him.
Tsukishima packs up Yamaguchi’s lunch that day before he can protest, and that’s when it clicks for him.
Tsukishima’s main love language is acts of service. Cleaning up for him, holding the door open for him, braiding his hair, warming up his hands on cold days, making sure he has somewhere to stay when it gets dark, and most obviously, letting Yamaguchi touch him. Sure, Tsukishima has other ways of showing love, but doing little things for the people he cares about? It’s so obviously important to him.
Yamaguchi immediately peppers Tsukishima's face with kisses, tackling him and almost falling over. Tsukishima yelps quietly and stiffens and Yamaguchi pauses, afraid he’s done something wrong. But then Tsukishima lets out a low chuckle that causes Kageyama to mutter something along the lines of ‘ You fucking idiotic, happy, adorable couple. I hope you mess up your serve receives at practice today and have to run extra laps’ . It’s so ridiculously stupid and specific that Tsukishima doesn’t even say anything back, he just laughs into Yamaguchi’s neck. Yamaguchi relaxes at that and kisses his boyfriend’s hair.
When Hinata accepts that it’s his responsibility to drag Kageyama away and does so, Yamaguchi pulls away to look at Tsukishima’s face, taking in the slight flush of his cheeks and the way that his glasses are slightly askew. Yamaguchi reaches forward to fix them and grins. Tsukishima goes red and scoffs, but Yamaguchi can tell that he’s pleased because he leans forwards to kiss Yamaguchi softly.
“I love you.”
Tsukishima says it first this time, and it startles Yamaguchi so much that he almost falls over. Once he recovers and isn’t about to trip, he says it back. Tsukishima shakes his head at the flustered way he says it, but he’s smiling and that’s all that Yamaguchi is able to think about. He makes a note in the back of his mind to communicate more, because things seem to work out once you bring them into the light.
He also makes a note in the back of his mind to readjust Tsukishima’s glasses more.
(He wouldn’t mind a few more kisses.)