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Later, Tsukishima Kei will clutch the rings tightly as he prepares to hand them over.
Later, Tanaka Ryuunosuke will cry as the vows are said.
Later, Tanaka Saeko will adjust her dress again and shake off the nerves.
Later, Tsukishima Akiteru will wake up, ready to get married to his love.
Later, there will be a wedding, tears, and cake.
Right now, there is an invitation.
—
Yamaguchi Tadashi, captain of the Karasuno volleyball team, watches carefully as Tsukki inhales, closing his eyes, reopening them to glare at the wedding invitation again, as if that will change anything written on there.
“Tsukki, are you alright?” Akiteru had knocked on Tsukki’s door and handed him an envelope and said he’d be back later before hurrying away, which means Tadashi gets front row seats to Tsukki go through all five stages of grief.
“This is fine. Great, I’m glad Akiteru is getting married. Good for him. Let’s get back to homework.” Tsukki pointedly does not look at the invitation in his hands. Ah, good old denial.
“You knew they were dating right? Why are you so surprised they’re getting married?” Tadashi tilts his head, grinning a little. He’s genuinely curious, sure, but he’s mostly just saying it to needle Tsukki.
“I knew they were dating, Yamaguchi. I was simply not prepared to face the fact that-” he wrinkles his nose in disdain, “- I’m going to be officially related to Tanaka-san, of all people.”
The Karasuno captain glances at the forgotten homework on the desk, then shrugs. “You’re going to have to call him Ryuunosuke now, you know. Or Ryuu?” In response, Tsukki drags his eyes up from the wrinkled invitation to glare at Tadashi instead.
“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
Tadashi stifles a laugh. “Sorry, Tsukki, your face is just so funny. You look like Hinata before our first match.”
“...”
“There’s another paper in the envelope, isn’t there?” Tadashi deflects before he gets a pillow to his face. “Read it out loud!”
Sighing, Tsukki pulls out the paper. “List of groomsmen. Best man, Tsukishima K-” he pauses, eyes widening.
Tadashi sits up straighter on the swiveling chair, eyes wide. “Tsukki! Are you serious? You're the best man?”
He just nods, staring at the paper. Pretending not to see his eyes misting over slightly, Tadashi launches himself at Tsukki for a hug.
“Oof!” Tsukki exhales at his full weight. For a second they lay there, but the middle blocker is still a severely emotionally repressed teenager, so he wriggles out of the hug and continues to look at the list. “Well, lucky you, you’re one of the groomsmen too. I’m not hugging you though.”
Tadashi sits up, grinning. “Oh my gosh, really? I’m so happy! I’m glad nii-san considers me close enough to be a best man!”
Tsukki uncrosses his legs and readjusts, rolling his eyes. “You’re basically an honorary part of our family.” He continues to read down the list of best men, ignoring Tadashi’s attempts at another hug.
Thirty seconds later, Tadashi gives up, starfishing on the floor next to Tsukki. “Well?”
“Well what?”
Before Tadashi can reply, there’s a knock on the door. He springs up and opens the door to see Akiteru standing there, looking slightly nervous. “Hi, Tadashi! Is, um-”
Nodding, Tadashi moves to let him into the room. “Yeah, he’s in here. I’ll be in the kitchen, see you Tsukki!" Akiteru definitely wants to talk about the best man thing, and Tadashi knows Tsukki will only clam up more if there are witnesses to him feeling emotions. With a final wave, Tadashi heads down to the kitchen. He's pretty sure there's cookies in the pantry…?
5 minutes later, Akiteru pokes his head into the kitchen. "Hey Tadashi! I'm done with Kei, you can head back up now." He starts to leave, but turns around again as if remembering something. "Oh right! You're okay with being one of my groomsmen? Sorry I wasn't able to ask you properly."
Tadashi just shakes his head, grinning. “I definitely want to be a groomsman! I want to help make sure your wedding is as perfect as possible.”
Akiteru nods, a smile gracing his features. “That's awesome to hear! I’m gonna - well, I should probably go back now before Saeko leaves without me,” he laughs. “We can talk more later!”
Tadashi closes the cookie tin and makes his way upstairs again, where Tsukki is sitting on the floor, flushed. He's probably allergic to talking about feelings.
“Are you okay?” Tadashi grins.
“Fine. I’m fine. Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
“Sorry, Tsukki,” Tadashi responds automatically. “Your face is bright red, just thought you should know.” Tsukki levels a Look at him, and Tadashi quickly starts searching for an alternate topic to distract Tsukki.
“Um, the - oh! Tell me who the other groomsmen are! Is it anyone we know?”
Tsukki is fully aware of what he’s doing, Tadashi knows. Still, he sighs, looking at the paper he’s still holding. “They’re mostly his friends from college, I don’t really -” Tsukki pauses again.
“Tsukki?” No response. Curious, Tadashi hums and peeks over Tsukki’s shoulder to see what’s caught his attention.
On the paper, the name Tanaka Ryuunosuke is clearly written.
Tadashi doubles over laughing.
—
When Ryuu was younger and more optimistic, he thought his sister was the coolest person ever. She was smart and funny, and always seemed so put together. Plus, she’d buy him the soda Ryuu’s parents said he wasn’t allowed to get.
Now, looking at Saeko shovelling enormous spoonfuls of cake into her mouth, Ryuu thinks he might have been looking through rose-tinted glasses.
“Thish ome ishh pruggy goog,” she nods through a mouthful of cake, and Ryuu dodges the incoming crumbs. Definitely rose-tinted glasses.
“Hey, watch it! I don’t want your gross crumbs everywhere!”
Saeko rolls her eyes, swallowing her mouthful of red velvet. “Be nicer to your sister, Ryuu! Or I’ll switch you out for Yuu.” She totally would, Ryuu thinks, grimacing. They’re on their way to the tailor to get Ryuu’s suit fitted. Saeko wasn’t supposed to come along but she was almost done with her cake testing, so she’d grabbed the last slice and clambered into the car, much to the dismay of the cake shop owner. From the driver’s seat, Akiteru laughs.
“Saeko, don’t be too mean to him,” he calls. The bride-to-be just shrugs unapologetically and continues to eat the cake. Ryuu groans, slouching further into the seat to hide his smile.
Half an hour and many, many adjustments later, Ryuu stumbles out of the changing room. The tan suit contrasts with the navy blue shirt and looks pretty cool, if he does say so himself. He straightens, making his way to where Akiteru is muttering at something on a tablet.
“Hmm, the purple looks good, maybe if w- Ryuu!” Akiteru looks up and breaks into a smile. “You look so good in that suit! Do you like it?”
Ryuu steps back, flexing to show off his muscles. “Heh, of course! I gotta look good for my sister’s wedding!” He pauses, unflexing. “Speaking of, where’d she go?”
Akiteru gestures to the door. “She saw someone outside the window got their bicycle stuck in the gutter, so she went to help. She said the bike was a-”
Ryuu watches as he talks about Saeko, visibly lighting up. Akiteru looks so happy when he talks about her, Ryuu muses.
Standing across from his soon to be brother in law as he talks about Saeko with such emotion makes the wedding seem more…real. Yesterday, Ryuu had been overjoyed when Saeko gave him the wedding invitation, but it hadn’t really set in that she was going to leave. Now, in a tailor shop, Ryuu is hit with the full force of reality.
“-told her not the - oh, Ryuu, are you alright?” Akiteru looks up with a concerned expression at Ryuu, who probably looks constipated.
Ryuu takes a breath, forcing a grin. “I’m fine, just - Saeko nee-san’s probably the coolest person I know. I’m glad she has you, nii-san.”
At the words, there’s a pause, and Ryuu watches as Akiteru gives a wet sounding laugh. “I…thank you. I’m glad she’s had you as a part of her life.”
There’s a cough from behind them, and Ryuu turns to look at his sister to see her face caught in an odd expression.
“Nee-san? You oka-” he stumbles back as he’s caught in a vice-like hug.
“You’re the coolest person I know, Ryuu,” comes the muffled words from his shoulder.
When Ryuu was younger, he thought his sister was the coolest person ever. Now, he knows she’s the coolest person ever.
—
The wedding goes wonderfully, and Kei does not cry during the ceremony, shut up Yamaguchi. As people start filling into the reception hall, Kei makes his way over to an empty table, planning on not interacting with anyone for the next 20 minutes.
Three minutes later, Kei sighs as Ryuu sidles over to him. Hopefully, if Kei doesn’t acknowledge him, he’ll go away by himself.
“Tsukishima! We’re related now, you know! You should call me Ryuu-san!” Well. There goes that idea.
Kei winces. “No thanks, Tanaka-san.”
“I’ll definitely get you to say it one day, mark my words!” Ryuu dramatically shakes his fist.
“You do that.” Kei tries to make his escape, slowly shifting his chair away from the other, but Ryuu interrupts.
“Tsukishima!” Kei’s knee hits the table, almost spilling water on his navy blue suit, startled by the sheer volume of Ryuu. “I’m glad my sister is getting married to your brother, you know.”
Kei pauses, looking at Ryuu carefully. “That’s great.”
Ryuu laughs and thumps him on the back, for some reason. “I hope we can get along, Tsukki!”
Kei almost makes a snarky remark in return, but remembers Akiteru’s face as he’d said his vows and sighs loudly. “Me too, Tanaka-san. Me too.”
“It’s Ryuu-san!”