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I.
“Tsukki!”
Kei started a little at being addressed so suddenly. The rest of his teammates were being quiet today, focused. (Well, except Hinata, who was still “Gwah!”ing over how nice the huge gymnasium was, but Kei had gotten very good at tuning Hinata out.)
But the person calling for Kei wasn’t his teammates. On the contrary, it was the captain for the very team they were warming up to play against.
“Hello, Kuroo-san,” Kei said politely as Nekoma’s captain walked up to him, a huge smile on his face.
“I saw your game against Shiratorizawa!” he told him, his eyes wide with excitement.
Kei froze at the thought of Kuroo having been in the stands during that match.
Did he really come all the way to Miyagi just to see?
The match, of course, not me.
Right?
“Well, I mean, I saw clips of it online,” Kuroo explained, and as Kei relaxed, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. “But all those times you blocked Ushiwaka were amazing.”
Kei could feel himself getting a little flustered again, and felt annoyed how easy it was for Kuroo to do that to him. “I missed a lot before I even blocked one,” Kei pointed out, threading his fingers together.
“Sure, but most people never block any,” Kuroo pointed out with a smile and chuckle. “Couldn’t have done better myself.”
Kei smirks. “You should hope you can do better yourself, if you want to stand any chance of winning today.”
Kuroo’s face lit up in delight. “Is that smack talk, Tsukki?”
Kei tried desperately to keep the shit-eating smirk on his face and not let it shift into something genuine and happy at Kuroo’s reaction. “Well, it’s just a fact, isn’t it?”
“Don’t worry, Tsukki, I’ll make sure you don’t have it easy,” Kuroo said. “I taught you well, but I haven’t taught you everything.”
“No matter how it ends, this’ll be our last time playing a match against each other,” Kei said. “Could be your last chance to pass on your ‘wisdom’.”
“After my team wins, sure thing,” Kuroo said with a wink before going back to his team and calling out orders for warming up.
Kei turned back to his team, where no one seemed to have noticed his little conversation with Kuroo except for Yamaguchi, who has the hugest, smuggest grin on his face.
“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” Kei grumbled, ducking his head down in a vain attempt to hide his reddening face.
“You like him, don’t you-”
“I said shut up.”
~
It was either a cruel coincidence or a conscious decision from someone who just wanted to torture Kei that he found himself across the net from Kuroo at the start of the game.
“Good luck, Tsukki,” he said with a cool, confident smile.
Kei got the feeling he was supposed to say it back, but he just smiled and said, “Thanks.”
“Wow-”
Kuroo was interrupted from the ref blowing the whistle, and immediately his attention turned to the match ahead of them, Kei surprisingly successful in doing the same.
The whole first play happened in a flash. Daichi served. Yamamoto received. Kenma tossed to Kuroo. Kuroo spiked the ball with impressive strength.
Kei blocked it with relative ease.
The ball hit the ground after Yaku dove and just barely missed saving it, and while Karasuno shouted words of support and prepared themselves for the next play and Nekoma fired themselves up to make sure they didn’t lose another point so easily, Kei just stood staring at Kuroo, who was frozen and staring right back at him.
He’s angry, Kei thought to himself, swallowing. He’s angry at me for blocking the very first spike of the game like it was nothing. He hates me. He...
He started smiling.
“You really have improved, haven’t you?” Kuroo asked, a full, genuine smile on his face.
Kei gave a soft smile back. “You didn’t honestly think you’d be harder to block than Ushiwaka, did you?”
Kuroo laughed. “Don’t get complacent yet, Tsukki.”
“I’m not gonna start going easy on you, if that’s what you were afraid of.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
The whistle blew again, and Kei had a little more trouble taking his attention away from Kuroo this time.
But only a little.
~
II.
Kei was trailing behind the rest of his team beside Yamaguchi as they headed into the gymnasium for Karasuno’s second Battle of the Trash Heap in a row.
“Keep walking,” Kei snapped at the first years, who were staring around at the stadium in such wide-eyed awe, they almost start wandering away from the group.
“We don’t want anyone getting lost in a such a big stadium,” Yamaguchi offered kindly. Kei refrained from snorting at Yamaguchi’s persistent efforts throughout this whole year to be a kind, approachable senpai.
“If anyone’s missing during warm-ups, you know how Ennoshita-san gets,” Kei pointed out.
The first years were practically pushing each other to be the first amongst one another to get inside the gym. Yamaguchi shook his head and smiled fondly as he followed, but Kei stopped suddenly when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.
“You go ahead,” Kei said quickly when he noticed Yamaguchi hesitate. “I’ll be there in a second.”
“You’re going to give Ennoshita a stroke so you can talk to your boyfriend?” Yamaguchi teased.
“He’s not my...” Kei began out of habit, but trailed off when he realized that he couldn’t say that anymore, that that had changed in the past couple of months. He sighed. “Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
Yamaguchi just grinned and turned to head inside. “I’ll cover for you,” he called over his shoulder. “Tell Kuroo-san I said hi.”
And with everyone gone, Kei answered his phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, babe.”
Kei leaned back against the outside of the building, slouching and hoping no one was watching as his face turned pink. “Are you too busy to come?” Kei asked.
“Aw, not even a how-are-you first?”
“Kuroo.”
Kuroo sighed. “I’m really busy,” he admitted.
Kei’s stomach sank a little in disappointment. “Oh. That’s okay. I’ll text you between sets to tell you how things are going, or I heard it might even be on TV? But Hinata was the one who said that, so it’s probably not true. It’s probably be on YouTube though, so you could watch that-”
“But I came to watch you play anyway,” a voice murmured into Kei’s ear.
Kei jumped a mile and dropped his phone in surprise, clutching his chest as he turned and snapped, “Kuroo!”
“I didn’t mean to scare you so bad!” Kuroo laughed, immediately ducking down to pick up Kei’s phone for him and pushing it back into Kei’s hands with a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry!”
Kei narrowed his eyes at Kuroo for a moment, but gave up and just pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here.”
Kuroo hugged back tight enough to crack bones before kissing Kei’s cheek again. “I really missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Kei said, pressing a small kiss to Kuroo’s lips. “It’s been what, a month since you last came to Miyagi?”
“Little longer,” Kuroo sighed. “I wish I could come see you more.”
Kei just shrugged. “You’re busy with school and volleyball. I understand.”
Kuroo stood close to Kei as he gently slipped his hands onto his waist, leaning his forehead against Kei’s. “You still remember all those tricks I taught you?”
“Yup,” Kei said, tugging a little on Kuroo’s jacket to pull him just that much closer. “Might have even made them a little better.”
“My tricks were perfect,” Kuroo said with a chuckle.
“Mm, then how did I make them better?”
“Maybe you didn’t,” Kuroo teased. “I’ll just have to see you play.”
Kei’s chest filled with warmth, feeling so happy that Kuroo did come after all. “Thank you.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“You’re so cheesy.”
Kuroo just grinned with pride. “Yup. Oh, by the way, Yaku’s here, too, and if I don’t cheer for Nekoma, he’s gonna kick my ass. So even if I’m cheering for them out loud, I’m still rooting for you.”
“Shouldn’t you be rooting for your old team anyway?” Kei asked.
“I still want them to do well,” Kuroo insisted. “I want them to give you a run for your money.” Kuroo leaned in to press a few soft kisses to Kei’s lips. “But you’re the number one priority.”
Kei bit his lip, because God, he liked Kuroo so, so much... He started leaning in for another kiss when there was a sharp, “Hey, Tsukishima-kun,” from behind him.
Goddamnit.
Kei took a step back from Kuroo, turning to face Ennoshita while Kuroo just rubbed his neck awkwardly.
Ennoshita just sighed, looking so done with the situation before he’d even had a chance to scold anyone. “Please. Gym. Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Kei said, following Ennoshita into the building.
“Good luck!” Kuroo called after him. When Kei turned around for one last glance at him, Kuroo blew him a kiss. Kei didn’t completely stop blushing until the match started.
~
III.
Kei was exhausted and felt like if he lied down on this gymnasium floor right now, he'd pass out. He was sweaty and could feel his volleyball uniform sticking to his back. His hands stung and his fingers ached and one of them might possibly have been sprained.
But they'd won. As doubtful as Kei had been over how successful the team could be with him as captain, they’d won Kei's last Battle of the Trash Heap.
“Captain-san!” cried the first years as they all ran to huddle around him, closely followed by the second years. Kei’s fellow third years were forced into the center of the huddle shortly after, and Kei was standing with the best setter, the best server, and the best ace from their prefecture. Kageyama, Yamaguchi, Hinata. Kei’s friends.
“We did it!”
“We won!”
We won.
Kei felt close to tears as it sunk in that his team had done it, that Kei had somehow done it, but crying right now, in front of his friends and his team and an entire stadium of people, was unacceptable, it was absolutely, one-hundred-percent unacceptable, not going to happen.
“Tsukki!”
Kei looked up from his team to see Tetsurou in the stands, leaning over the railing and frantically waving and smiling as big as Kei had ever seen him. He also had tears running down his face.
You asshole, you cannot cry, you’re going to make me cry, Kei thought to himself miserably as it became more and more difficult to suppress his emotions.
He sniffled.
Hinata gasped. “Tsukishima, are you crying?”
“No!”
~
Kei managed to keep the waterworks under control long enough to get his team off the court, packed, and out of the gym, waiting for the buses. He was standing with Yamaguchi, Kageyama, and Hinata, going over the game again and laughing and making fun of each other for a few careless mistakes they’d made here and there.
“Is now a better time?”
Kei turned around, and couldn’t stop grinning as he quickly hurried to where Tetsurou stood and threw his arms around Tetsurou’s shoulders.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Tetsurou wheezed as they squeezed the life out of each other. Tetsurou lifted Kei off his feet and twirled him around, and after playing such an exhausting match, Tetsurou’s arms were heaven.
“What’d you think of the match?” Kei thought, pulling away enough to look Tetsurou in the eye.
Tetsurou gave a softer smile, and Kei had seen this look enough times to know it meant Tetsurou was getting emotional. “You were absolutely amazing,” Tetsurou said softly. “And your team is amazing, and you did an outstanding job of captaining them, and I am so, so proud of you, Tsukishima Kei.”
And so many things hit Kei at once, the months of stress since he’d started as captain, the pride he felt for the first years that had come so far, how much he’d grown to care about his teammates, how close he’d gotten with his fellow third-years, how being so busy had made the long-distance relationship with Tetsurou even harder, how he’d still managed to fall more and more in love with Tetsurou, how happy he was to see Tetsurou today, how happy he was to win the match... And now Tetsurou was proud of him.
Kei couldn’t hold back his tears this time, slipping off his glasses before burying his face in Tetsurou’s shoulder so no one else could see his ugly sobbing.
“I love you so much,” Tetsurou said with a laugh before sniffling himself.
“I l-love you, too, you b-big j-j-jerk,” Kei mumbled, clinging to the back of Tetsurou’s jacket. “I c-can’t -hic- b-believe you m-made me cry in f-front of m-my whole t-team!”
“You’re a third year, you have the right to be emotional,” Tetsurou pointed out.
And then, on top of all things, Kei was also once again hit with the fact that this was his last year with his team.
He started crying even harder.
“Y-you s-suck!”
Kei was just barely recovering when the buses pulled up, and after taking a few deep breaths with Tetsurou, they parted with the promise that they would call or text each other later, and that they’d see each other tomorrow.
“I love you!” Kei called over his shoulder as he followed behind Yachi onto the bus.
“I love you, too!” Tetsurou called back, and Kei was so tired and was such a mess, he could do nothing to hide his watery smile.
“I had no idea our captain was such a sap,” one first year whispered to another. Yamaguchi burst out laughing.
“Shut up!”
“If he’s this bad after the Battle, how bad is he gonna be if we win the whole tournament?” Kageyama asked, and it almost sounded more like a genuine question than a joke at Kei’s expense.
“Stupid!” Hinata snapped. “He wasn’t crying because of the game, he was crying because of his boyfriend!”
“Shut up!”
“Hey, Captain-san, why is your boyfriend’s hair so weird?” asked one unfortunately brave first year.
It took the entire bus begging and pleading for Tsukishima to not to run back inside and withdraw Karasuno from the tournament as punishment.