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After Karasuno defeated Shiratorizawa on the Spring Tournament, Tsukishima got invited to go to a special training with talented first graders from various high-schools of Miyagi.
He was intending to decline it, since he believed Karasuno’s training was already good enough for him, however, Daichi and Sugawara motivated him to accept it, so he did.
And there he was, at the court the training would be held on. Everything should be fine, except it wasn’t. His teammate, Hinata, was able to invade the training, even without being invited.
Tsukishima wanted to pretend he didn’t even know him. But, most of the other first graders had already recognized Hinata and played against Karasuno enough times for them to notice they were on the same team.
Oh great. The blond boy thought to himself, as if his emotions were about to explode at any second, and they did.
— You idiot! Why are you even here?! You’re just causing trouble to everybody else! You weren’t even invited in the first place! — he continued scolding the ginger haired boy. After all of that embarrassment, Hinata got taken out of the court.
Honestly, he knows Hinata is a talented teammate, and that he also needs a lot of training and polish to become a better player overall, nonetheless, that still doesn’t give him the right to get into other people’s business.
Even though he was out of the training, at least for now, Tsukishima still worried about what might happen to him, and he hated that.
On Hinata’s side, it went better than he expected, honestly. He was ready to be scolded by his club adviser and the coach, and even though Takeda’s words made him rethink his own existence, the coach responsible for the training still gave him a chance to stay.
He wouldn’t play like the other players, but it was still worth giving a shot. Even if that meant he was just going to be catching balls and helping the assistants.
For some reason, when Hinata came back to the court, Tsukishima felt a little bit relieved. He looked as bright as he always was, so that means if they were to play together, he was going to keep his normal performance.
When Hinata announced that he was going to be a ball-catcher, Tsukishima couldn’t help but giggle a little. Having to deal with the ginger haired boy’s presence was already something he’s gotten used to, but not really in the way he started to act during the other days of the training.
On their third day there, Tsukishima was playing on a three versus three game. Midway through the game, he could feel someone staring at one of his teammates. It was Hinata.
That was, most definitely, different from every other intense stare Hinata has done before. Most of his stares consisted of confidence or challenge, however, this one was neither. He was thinking, he was learning, he was observing.
Tsukishima despised the fact that the stare sparked curiosity in him. Hinata using his brain was definitely new to him. The match kept going, but the stare continued as intense to when it started.
Hinata was still there, with his curious eyes, with his learning eyes, with his observant eyes.
The match finally ended, Tsukishima didn’t even notice if he won or lost, he was too concentrated on the thought that Hinata might be up to something.
— Oi. Come here, Hinata. — the blond boy ordered, the other boy followed. — Are you actually using your brain for once? Try not to burn your last brain cells, alright? — he said teasingly.
— Tsukishima! — Hinata said, looking at him in the eyes. — Can you stop being so mean?! I’m trying to learn new things! — he continued, moving his arms up and down to give more emphasis to what he’s saying.
— You are going to receive with the others later right? If so, I wanna play with you guys. — Tsukishima said, interested in what Hinata might pull off.
— Really?! Just confess your love for me next time, Tsukishima! — the ginger haired boy exclaimed, jumping in excitement. He didn’t really mean it, but it made the blond haired boy’s ears burn nonetheless.
— Shut up. — is the only comeback Tsukishima can think of, and both of them start to get ready for their extra training later.
— Are they lovers? — Koganegawa asks.
— Worse. — Kunimi responds.