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”I have waited my whole life for this,” Hinata declared solemnly as the team huddled together right before the match were to begin.
“Idiot,” Kageyama retorted, “we have played against Nekoma before. In nationals, too.”
“Shut up,” Hinata’s lips curled into a petulant pout. “You know what I mean.”
“What did you mean, Hinata?” Yamaguchi piped in, sounding too energized for someone that had to deal with Hinata and Kageyama on daily basis with Kei.
Kei sighed inwardly. This was all to be expected, after making it this far in the national tournament with this team, with his classmates and underclassmen. The second and first years were maybe a little intimidated, even despite some of them having seen it all before as well.
“I mean,” Hinata said, quietly, “this is our last match, isn’t it?”
“There’s going to be a lot of others, dumbass,” Kageyama huffed, one hand over Hinata’s back and the other over Kei’s. “This isn’t the end of us.”
At some point, Kageyama’s confidence in that might have grated on Kei’s nerves; right now, they only made Kei heave out a sigh as something like exasperated fondness for his dumb teammates came forward.
“That’s not what I meant!” Hinata huffed, and slammed the side of his head against Kageyama’s. “Ow!”
“What the hell was that for!?”
“You were being dumb!”
“Kageyama, Hinata,” Kei sighed, irritation replacing what previously was fondness. “We’re going out there soon, so say what you have to say.” Kei pointedly smacked his hand against Kageyama’s back, as hard as he could from his huddled stance.
“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi snickered as Hinata continued, a sly smile on his lips, “look up. To the audience.”
Kei knew that tone of voice, and he also knew the most popular topic Yamaguchi had been using against him for the past few weeks and months.
“He didn’t.”
“He did.” Yamaguchi sounded absolutely delighted in the meanest way possible. “I got him the ticket.”
“Yamaguchi.”
“Yes, Tsukki?”
“I absolutely loathe you.”
Yamaguchi’s laughter was drowned out by Hinata and Kageyama arguing yet again; Kei wondered if the assigned captaincy had been an elaborate revenge on Ennoshita-san’s part.
Kei pointedly refused to look towards the audience, to try to search for the bedhair of his boyfriend.
Kuroo’s presence meant a lot more than Kei was willing to show Yamaguchi.
Being his oldest friend and his vice-captain, Yamaguchi knew it all already anyway.
The match itself was what he had grown to expect from Nekoma; especially Lev’s development and growth into Nekoma’s reliable ace had been something he had expected.
Partially, he knew he had expected it because Lev shared similar qualities as Hinata: annoying, determined to a fault, demanding the very best from his setter either in words or in gestures and looks, and most importantly – intense beyond belief.
And he was pain in the ass to block.
He thought he could hear Kuroo’s “go, go, Tsukki!”, and the flush that spread over his neck and face was hardly from the physical exertion at that point.
Yamaguchi grinned at him, showing that he too had heard, and Kei rolled his eyes behind his glasses.
In the middle of the match, there was hardly any time for sassy remarks about it, though Hinata seemed to use the opportunity regardless to comment, “Kuroo-san sure is nice, cheering us on instead of his old team.” The pointed look and the knowing grin on Hinata’s face made Kei bristle.
“Shut up, Hinata,” Kei grumbled, but it was a weak protest, and Hinata only grinned wider, victoriously.
“You looooove him.”
“Shut up, Hinata.”
Lev’s face at the last block was a sight worth seeing; lips curling and eyes widening as wide as they could go, Lev could only watch the ball from the corner of his eyes as it hit the court, just barely inside.
But barely was enough.
And then Karasuno, the coach and the benched players included, burst into roaring cheers, joined by the audience a few seconds later after they has registered what just happened.
They had won, they had won—
There was something stuck in Kei’s throat as his fingers curled into a fist before he held it up, a silent celebration that was ruined by Hinata hopping onto his back, screaming something incoherent.
Yamaguchi was yelling too, tears streaming down his face and for a good reason – his serves had been killers, and Kei could allow himself to be proud of his friend as well.
They had all come a long way since the beginning of high school.
Some more than others, Kei thought as he looked at Kageyama and his nervous, bubbling happiness that was endearingly irritating.
But, most importantly…
Kei’s gaze swept over the audience, trying to locate the person he had been avoiding searching for. That bed hair should not be difficult to find—
Kei’s gaze moved past Akiteru, who was doing something embarrassing with a banner Kei pretended did not exist. Niichan, why do you have to be like this.
Ah, a few rows higher from Akiteru – there he was, waving enthusiastically, and Kei felt his throat constrict when he saw a blurry glimpse of Kuroo’s smile.
Had he been closer, Kei would have pulled him closer out of sheer emotionality; god, we did it, our last match, and we did it…
“Whatcha looking at?” Oh, god, he almost forgot he had his team to look after still.
“Nothing.”
Yamaguchi, unfortunately, heard the exchanged. “Kuroo-san, right?” he laughed, is voice shaking with happiness and adrenaline high, but also from sheer amusement towards Kei and his lovesick ways.
Urgh, I regret telling him anything.
“Yamaguchi,” Kei said warningly, side-eyeing him in the most intimidating manner he could muster.
Too bad it had stopped working on Yamaguchi some time ago.
“Kiss kiss, fall in love,” Yamaguchi sing-songed.
“Yamaguchi.” The worst part of having as pale skin as he did was that he could not hide the rising blush from his face at all.
“Sorry, Tsukki!” he practically yelled as he skipped aside as if expecting Kei to pinch him.
Yamaguchi did not sound sorry at all, and even the blockhead Hinata seemed to find it fitting to start laughing at Kei’s expense.
He hated this team.
“I told you,” a second-year spiker whispered to the first-year libero. “Tsukishima-senpai is not cool at all.”
Kei absolutely hated this team.
“You don’t hate them,” Kuroo laughed when Kei expressed that feeling to him later, after Kuroo had managed to pull him away from the team for a moment, away from the crying messes that were Hinata and Yachi and away from the rest of the jerks.
(Yamaguchi had winked at him when Kuroo had tugged him away, murmuring don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Tsukki!)
“You’re right. I absolutely loathe them.”
“Nawww, babe,” Kuroo snickered as his fingers trailed down the side of Kei’s clammy face. “I say this with all the seriousness of a former captain – you could never really hate them.”
“Ugh.” Kei suppressed a smile when Kuroo’s thumb touched at the corner of his mouth, all gentle and loving after all this time of not seeing each other. “I can’t believe Yamaguchi got you a ticket.”
“Freckles-kun is really nice, eh?”
“Don’t be fooled,” Kei muttered darkly, “Yamaguchi is much less charming than you give him credit for.”
Kuroo snorted, pressing a kiss against the corner of Kei’s mouth. “You’re so grumpy for someone that just won the most important match of his high school career.”
“I’d be happier if I could just spend five minutes with my boyfriend without my team spying on us,” Kei said, raising his voice towards the end as he cast an unimpressed stare towards the corner where he could see Hinata’s orange bangs disappear.
Kuroo didn’t bother suppressing his mirth at that, and laughed so hard he nearly cried. To be fair, he had been crying, for Kei and his team presumably.
“They love you,” he said.
“Hardly.”
“Not as much as me, of course, but you know they do,” Kuroo hummed, hand finding the back of Kei’s head easily before tugging Kei into a kiss.
“Gross,” Hinata yelled.
Grinning, Kei pressed into the kiss despite knowing his teammates were near.
“TSUKISHIMA, STOP—“
“Kiss kiss fall in love~!”
“Yamaguchi, you’re not helping!”
“Stop this public display of--- something!”
“I’m calling the police!”
Kuroo laughed against Kei’s mouth, and it was nice; god, Kei might just be able stand all the teasing from Yamaguchi later for just this kiss.
It was all worth it, in the end.