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As Friday night rolls around, so does the obligatory boyfriend sleepover session, to which Yamaguchi and Hinata are excited about out of their minds. Kageyama and Yamaguchi tagged along with Hinata on the way to his house whilst Tsukishima had informed them that he’d be late due to something-something-Akiteru (to which Yamaguchi desperately asked if he could come because, well, Akiteru, and Tsukishima vehemently denied his request), so the other three find themselves sitting in the comfortable silence whilst waiting for Tsukishima to arrive.
“Hey, Tobi, I was just thinking— what do you call Kishi?” Hinata suddenly asks. “Because I was just wondering about— you know how, like, Dashi calls him ‘Tsukki’, I call him ‘Kishi’, and… what do you say?”
Kageyama looks up from his phone blankly. “Tsukishima. Or ‘Kei’, but only if I’m short on time or angry at him.”
“Right, right… but have you considered how boring that is?” Yamaguchi criticizes, crawling over from his position on the bean bag to sit by Hinata to face Kageyama. Hinata and Yamaguchi lock eyes for a moment and exchange some sort of telepathic message, which Kageyama already knows is not good news for him, but he won’t bother to try and figure out what goes on in their little heads. Yamaguchi puts his hand over his heart dramatically, closing his eyes as if delivering a motivational speech. “The plain old name isn’t sweet or affectionate! You need to give him a cute little nickname, just like how we do for you guys!”
“But why?” Kageyama puts his phone down on the floor next to him, crossing his legs and straightening his back. “Just saying ‘Tsukishima’ gets the job done. Even more so, I’d argue that ‘Kei’ is a little affectionate, is it not? It’s his first name.”
“Yes, but like…” Hinata’s fingers form the ‘L’ shape as he puts it under his chin, thinking to himself with his endearing pondering pose. He shakes his head after a moment, pouting when he opens his eyes. “No, but it’s not cute.”
“I think it’s adorable. Kei is a cute name.” Kageyama narrows his eyes at them. “Are you saying Kei is not a cute name?”
“No, that’s not—! Ugh, my other Yama, I love you so much, but this is a normal dating thing, you know?!” Yamaguchi puts his hands out, wringing them as he fails to find the words to properly communicate what he means. “Like… ugh, how do I explain this?”
“See, I’ll use Hina as an example— ‘Shoyo Hinata’ is a cute name, right?” Yamaguchi asks, receiving a nod out of Kageyama despite him trying to ignore the endearingly wide smile on Hinata’s face at the compliment from his two boyfriends. Yamaguchi continues, “But! Even though it’s already cute, I make it cuter by saying ‘Hina’ and Tsukki makes it cuter by shortening it to ‘Sho’. And for me, Hina calls me ‘Dashi’ from ‘Tadashi’.”
“Wait, doesn’t Tsukishima call you ‘Tadashi’?” Kageyama furrows his brows. “It’s your first name. What’s the difference between that and me calling him ‘Kei’?”
“No, no. Because, well—” Yamaguchi’s face turns a bit sour, as if he’s trying to cover up for the flaws in his own logic. “Okay, no, because me and Tsukki have known each other for way longer, way before we started our relationship. Just like how I’m already accustomed to calling him ‘Tsukki’, he’s used to calling me ‘Tadashi’ or ‘Yamaguchi’ and that’s okay because it’s been like that for a long time.”
“And that’s why I call him ‘Kishi’! Because I have the opportunity to get that to be the default on my tongue!” Hinata chimes in, trying to support Yamaguchi. When Yamaguchi sends him a bit of a grossed out look from the phrasing of that statement, Hinata deflates momentarily before laughing awkwardly. “No, stop looking at me like that, it was just bad wording— but what I mean is that I’m not super used to calling him at all yet, so I can make it so that I get used to calling him ‘Kishi’ above all else and have it not be awkward or sound forced!”
“Mm. I think I understand.” Kageyama tilts his head to the side, eyebrows knit together as he thinks. “And this is something I have to do? Without reusing the nicknames you’ve already thought of and currently use?”
“Well, you could, but it comes off a lot more loving when you make it yourself,” Yamaguchi explains. “If you’re really at a loss though, then you could reuse ‘Tsukki’ or ‘Kishi’, I guess.”
“Works well to fluster him too!” Hinata grins, looking a bit mischievous as he recalls a past memory. “I remember the first time I called Tsukishima, ‘Kishi’. He was so confused and it was really cute, but I got scolded afterwards… still, he doesn’t protest when I use it, so I think that means that I won!”
“You won? Is it a competition?” Kageyama leans forward curiously, now feeling somewhat fired up.
“No!” Yamaguchi immediately spreads his arms out wide, shaking his hands as quickly as he can. “No, it’s not! You three are all just competitive idiots, but being affectionate is not a competition!”
“I don’t agree with that, but okay, whatever you say Dashi~” Hinata coos, earning a forehead flick out of Yamaguchi that sends him reeling. “Ow! That hurts!”
“Hinata,” Kageyama says after a brief moment of letting Hinata wail, “how did you think of ‘Kishi’?”
“O—? What’s this I hear?” Despite how pained Hinata had sounded only seconds ago from the mere flick Yamaguchi gave him, he’s now sat up straight with a particularly punchable expression on his face. He wiggles his eyebrows annoyingly, mustering the most frustrating tone he can. “Kageyama Tobio wants my advice? Hmm?”
Kageyama stares at him for a moment, trying to keep his violence in check as advised from Daichi, before immediately turning his attention to Yamaguchi without another word to Hinata. “Yamaguchi, how did you come up with ‘Hina’ and ‘Tsukki’?”
Yamaguchi makes a face as he drowns out Hinata’s noisy complaining about being bullied, ignored, and everything bad in the world, visually saying ‘Wow, he’s really loud, isn’t he?’ as he meets Kageyama’s gaze that screams ‘I’m used to it, go on’ more than it should. “Eh… well… It kinda came naturally, I guess?”
“What do you mean by ‘naturally’?”
“I’m not exactly sure how I started calling him ‘Tsukki’, solely because we were really young…” Yamaguchi scrunches his nose as he tries to remember. “I think that it was because I was crying or something, hence stumbling over my words and being unable to speak that much, so ‘Tsukki’ was just a byproduct of that. Then I adapted it into my normal life for convenience, and just because it’s a cute name that contrasts to his intimidating aura.”
“And for Hina… I just wanted to shorten his name, too. Even though ‘Hinata’ isn’t even that long of a name, it feels really easy to say ‘Hina’ instead, so it just rolled off my tongue one day and he really liked it.” Yamaguchi grins. “And now he’s just Hina.”
“So you take segments of their names and add your own spin on it, okay…” Kageyama hums to himself as he nods, processing the new information. He then squints as he averts his gaze from Hinata, who is staring at him with such an insistent glare that it cuts through his soul, before sighing and giving in to the incredibly persistent air surrounding the smaller boy. Reluctantly, he mumbles, “And you, Hinata?”
“I thought you’d never ask!” Hinata beams, doing his best to sound like one of those adults who possesses plenty of wisdom and knowledge that Hinata himself does not. “I really like names ending in the ‘ee’ sound because they sound extra cute, so I just did that for the three of you! Tobi, Dashi, Kishi— they all feel really, like, weee! and pyon! and all squishy in my mouth when I say them, so I really just like those names!”
“I’m not entirely sure what you’re saying, you stupid idiot with your mouth sound effects, but a common theme, huh…” Kageyama leans back again, curving his lips as he thinks. “Okay… I think I can come up with something.”
“I think ‘mouth sound effects’ are traditionally called onomatopoeia but— no, wait, what was I gonna say? Oh yeah, don’t feel pressured though!” Yamaguchi adds hurriedly, hand on the back of his neck nervously. “Hina was definitely joking when he said that you had to, you don’t have to if you’re not okay with it, obviously. We just think it’d be cute! But we like what you call us now already, it’s not like having nicknames is an indicator of how much you love us.”
“I wasn’t joking. I’m three nicknames ahead of you!” Hinata remarks in a sing-songy tone too smug for Kageyama to take without a fight.
Kageyama raises an eyebrow, feeling the anger bubble inside him. “What did you just say?”
“Stop it!” Yamaguchi chastises, hitting Hinata over his head. “Don’t taunt him like that! What will Tsukki think when he comes and you two are in a bad mood from fighting and I’m just sitting here, too scared to stop you?! Don’t ruin the sleepover one hour in!”
“Ow, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hinata instinctively falls onto his back, cowering with his hands over his head. “I was joking, Tobi!”
“You say that, yeah, but I know you too well to be fooled.” Kageyama rolls his eyes and Hinata sends him a cheeky grin. “Just you wait, I’ll think of something.”
“Now that Kishi’s here, Dashi, take it away!” Hinata announces, outstretching his arms in a showing-off motion towards Yamaguchi, shifting to give him space to present in their little floor circle.
“Thank you! So, since it was my turn to organise tonight’s date…” Yamaguchi grins and pulls out two large boxes from his bag, both shining and vibrant while rattling when Yamaguchi shakes them. “Look what I found! We’re gonna make cute necklaces and bracelets for each other!”
“Wah! Oh my god!” Hinata immediately breaks the circle and leans forward, placing his face right in front of the left box as he stares at it, mouth agape. “What the hell?! This is so cute, you bought a jewellery making set just for us?!”
“Yep, I did!” Yamaguchi says smugly, clearly proud of himself. “So this is a special set— it’s astronomy themed, and that means it fits us perfectly! The box with gold chains has sun pendants for Hina and star pendants for me, whilst the box with silver chains has moon pendants for Tsukki and ringed planet pendants for Tobio! For the bracelets, they’ve also got our colours: orange, green, blue, and gray. Doesn’t that fit us so well?!”
“This is actually really cute,” Tsukishima comments, pushing Hinata’s face out of the way to get a better look at the box.
Kageyama nods and leans forward too, agreeing despite the cranky noises Hinata is making in the background. “These look really high quality.”
“Hehe, they are.” Yamaguchi opens the box and pulls out the set, picking out the beads and charms from their compartments. He lays out both sets in the middle of their floor circle as he removes all the chains and beads from the little plastic bags they’re sealed in, and he looks up with an excited smile when he’s done emptying them into their corresponding parts of the tray. “Okay, who wants to do who’s necklace and bracelets?”
“Wait, no!” Hinata whines. “There’s only two jewellery items! That means everyone will miss a boyfriend!”
“The last person can put the accessories on them,” Tsukishima reasons. “Is that fair?”
“Stop, that’s so cute, I love that!” Hinata gasps, hands over his mouth and already distracted from his argument. “Kishi, you’re a genius!”
“I know.”
“Heh, before anyone does it before me, dibs on putting Hina’s on!” Yamaguchi interjects with a cheeky smile. “Because then, there’s a good chance he falls asleep on me while I’m putting the necklace around his neck. Look at him, he’s already tired.”
“Wait, what the hell? That’s not fair!” Kageyama argues, feeling wronged by the system of order. “You can’t just say that without warning, who said you got to decide first? What if I wanted to put it on Hinata?”
“Dibs on putting them on Tadashi,” Tsukishima adds quietly. When Kageyama shoots him a glare, he only grins back smugly while his eyes plead faux innocence. “What? I thought it was up for grabs now.”
“Okay, dibs on putting them on Tobio!” Hinata cheers, sending Kageyama a triumphant smile. “Haha, you’re picking last. Loser!”
“You all—” Kageyama frowns, but the sound of their joint laughter eases a smile onto his face. He still pretends to be angry, huffing to himself. “If we’re doing that and I’m putting it on Tsukishima, then I want to do Hinata’s bracelet and Yamaguchi’s necklace.”
“Then, by default, Hina has to do my bracelet.” Yamaguchi nods. “Which then means that all that’s left for him is doing Tsukki’s necklace.”
“Wait, I don’t get to pick anything anymore?!” Hinata complains.
Kageyama snorts. “Loser.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Mm, that also means that Tadashi does my bracelet since the other two are accounted for.” Tsukishima nods whilst thinking, calculating to himself. “Which then means that I have to do Sho’s necklace and Tobio’s bracelet, which leaves… Tadashi doing Tobio’s necklace. That should be everything.”
“Huh? How’d you remember all that?” Hinata tilts his head slightly, eyes wide with awe. “Do you have psychic powers of foresight or something?”
“No, just a brain.”
“Why you—!”
“Stop fighting! Seriously, you three…” Yamaguchi sighs, pinching at his nose bridge. Kageyama blinks at him, not knowing what he could’ve done by just sitting there, but Yamaguchi continues before he can ask. “Does everyone know what they’re doing?”
“Yeah, Sho, do you know what you’re doing?” Tsukishima drawls tauntingly.
Hinata’s frustration is almost palpable, but it’s also clear that he has no idea what he’s doing.
“Sho, you’re doing Tsukki’s necklace, my bracelet, and putting Tobio’s on him, okay?” Yamaguchi supplies helpfully before sending a glare in Tsukishima’s direction. “Tsukki, if you keep picking fights with him, I’m gonna deduct the necklace from you.”
Tsukishima clicks his tongue before leaning back, arms crossed and disappointed. “Fine, fine. Only because I want the necklace.”
“Hehe, he wants my necklace,” Hinata says with a grin.
Kageyama comments, “Yamaguchi, it’s like you’re their mother.”
“Tobio, I can’t tell if you’re complimenting me or not… and I feel like I should be flattered, but I almost don’t appreciate that.” Yamaguchi shivers, fully against the thought of having to care for those two and keep them in check all day like an actual parent. “So I digress. Okay, let’s start now before Hina falls asleep.”
“You just want him to fall asleep on you, boo.” Kageyama rolls his eyes and Yamaguchi winks at him, knowing exactly what he’s doing.
“Okay, let’s get started!”
The routine of orange bead, thread, orange bead, thread, orange bead, thread, becomes almost automatic in Kageyama’s fingers, like muscle memory had already been adapted in the span of two minutes. Thankfully, it leaves him some time to think to himself, especially regarding what Yamaguchi and Hinata had been lecturing him on earlier. The background noise of Tsukishima and Hinata bickering— specifically, Hinata trying to race against Tsukishima, who is using very obviously smarter methods, with the brute-force style of his own threading that Yamaguchi almost feels sorry for him— becomes white noise, almost comforting in the back of his head.
Now, about the nicknames.
So, according to his two more affectionate boyfriends, nicknames are a ‘normal dating thing’ that boyfriends have for each other to, what, signify how cute they think the other is? Yamaguchi had said that they aren’t necessarily ‘quantifiers’ for how much one boyfriend loves another, so it must be more about making them feel special or cute in the other’s eyes.
…Which also doesn’t really make sense, mainly because Tsukishima is not really ‘cute’ in the ‘aww’ kind of way but more in the ‘I want to make him bite the curb’ kind of way, but that doesn’t seem to translate well to loving nicknames.
Well, that’s also a lie and Kageyama is mostly aware of that.
There are a lot of mannerisms Tsukishima has that are especially adorable, and knowing him, he might think they go unnoticed when they are actually very much noticed when Kageyama is around. One of which is his tiny smiles that only really occur when he’s got the urge to smile widely but doesn’t want to let anyone see it, so he’s forced to allow a hefty amount of his happiness to show whilst he uses his remaining energy to hide the rest. Kageyama has had the privilege of seeing it maybe four times total, mainly from either blocking spikes or off-handed comments from Hinata and Yamaguchi.
That’s not the only cute part of it— it’s the fact that Kageyama has not failed to notice the fact that he, Tsukishima Kei, has dimples. When he loses his smugness and just smiles because he’s really just happy, there are two beautiful little dimples that appear on either of his cheeks, and Kageyama frequently has to hold back the urge to kiss them. Just the thought of it makes Kageyama grin (and not with any malicious intention).
“Tobio, what are you doing smiling to yourself like that?” Yamaguchi asks, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Are you planning to kill someone with the necklace or what? What did it do to you?”
“Sorry. Just got caught up in my thoughts,” Kageyama admits. “…And that was a really happy smile, by the way.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ve never seen you smile so widely; what could you have been thinking of that made you smile like that?” Yamaguchi asks inquisitively, genuinely curious.
“You.” is all that Kageyama has to answer to get Yamaguchi beet-red and suddenly very focused on the floor in front of him, mumbling some kind of denial under his breath shyly.
So, he’s found enough reason for Tsukishima to be given a cute nickname, but what does he have to do to his name to make it more ‘cute-sounding’? The first thing that comes to mind is the suffix of ‘-chan’, which is the staple for making a name sound more adorable. Although people tell him that Oikawa calls him ‘Tobio-chan’ with something of a belittling intent, Iwaizumi did once comment on the ‘Tobio-chan’ making him sound cuter, and Kageyama can’t help but trust Iwaizumi more than Oikawa when it comes to anything but setting.
‘Tsukishima-chan’, ‘Hinata-chan’, and ‘Yamaguchi-chan’ don’t really sound as appealing to Kageyama as they should. ‘Kei-chan’, ‘Shoyo-chan’, and ‘Tadashi-chan’ don’t feel so great either, and Kageyama thinks them to be even worse than the former. Kageyama has always been one to call the people around him using their family names by habit, so he quickly limits his options to family-name-related nicknames when it comes to adding suffixes.
‘Kei’, ‘Shoyo’, and ‘Tadashi’ are perfectly pretty on their own, and he plans to reserve those for when he feels especially like projecting his love— which isn’t too often, so at least it will still retain its sentiment.
Kageyama notices that he’s used half of the orange beads on the bracelet string already, so he quickly grabs a sun pendant from the box and slips it onto the thread. He catches sight of Tsukishima’s and Hinata’s bracelets as he leans to take more beads from the compartment and notices that neither of them have gotten to the pendant part yet, and he grins to himself in silent triumph, having beat both of them to the halfway mark.
Back to the nickname making; Kageyama starts to think about Hinata’s nickname for Tsukishima. ‘Kishi’ is such a creative name taken from the middle of Tsukishima’s family name, and it almost works with the ‘-chan’ suffix— ‘Kishi-chan’ isn’t too bad. Now with the used logic of making a unique name sound cuter (using the ‘-chan’), all that’s left is Yamaguchi’s tip, which is to add his own special spin onto it.
While brainstorming, a lightbulb suddenly goes off in his head, and he nearly drops his unfinished bracelet when he thinks of it.
A nickname combining all the tips he was given— bless his genius brain, because ‘Kicchan’ is so adorable that he thinks he might die.
A smile curls onto his lips as he starts to understand the potential of nickname-making, particularly how cute people might find the result of all their thinking. Even if Kageyama might not find Hinata’s nickname for him, ‘Tobi’, to be all that special, it must have given Hinata this kind of feeling when he thought of it. It makes him appreciate how much effort Yamaguchi and Hinata have been putting in to make unique nicknames for all of them.
Kageyama finds that the ‘-chan’ suffix seems to be doing him good, so next up is Hinata. Using the same logic and trying to slot in a proper place in Hinata’s name to add it, he finally decides on ‘Hinachan’ for Hinata— it feels very fitting, for some reason. It makes him sound really small and compact, just like the real boy, which is why Kageyama likes it so much.
The nickname for Yamaguchi is tougher to think of. ‘Yamachan’ doesn’t strike him the same way that the others do, so Kageyama makes use of the ‘chi’ in ‘Yamaguchi’, leading him to ‘Gucchan’. It’s memorable and arguably just as cute, even if not necessarily on paper, but the feeling of mouthing it already brings him so much simple joy.
Kicchan, Hinachan, and Gucchan tick all the right boxes — they give a unique spin onto their family names, make it sound cute, and aren’t currently in use by anyone else. The smile on Kageyama’s face is so wide and bright that Tsukishima and Hinata actually stop fighting for a moment, and Kageyama looks up to see all three of his boyfriends staring at him.
“What’s gotten into you?” Tsukishima asks, less with genuine worry and more with disgust. “That expression is scary.”
“Y—Yeah, did we do something wrong?” Hinata’s voice is trembling in a way that Kageyama only ever hears when Kageyama has already blown up on him, which is definitely a sign for him to start seriously practicing his smile soon.
“No, I’m sorry. I was just thinking,” Kageyama reiterates. “I got lost in my thoughts for a second.”
“What were you thinking of this time?” Yamaguchi asks again, a little bit more carefully now. He smiles sheepishly, eyes creased. “Don’t say ‘You’ this time, my heart might flutter again and I don’t know how well I’ll be able to handle it.”
“Maybe it was us this time, Sho.” Tsukishima teases, glancing to see how Kageyama reacts.
“Ew, no, it was not you two that got me smiling. Never.”
Kageyama’s gaze immediately tracks the ceiling and Tsukishima snorts. “You’re such a bad liar, Tobio.”
“Yeah, just say you’re in love with us and leave!” Hinata goads.
“N—No. That’s not it,” Kageyama lies again, now feeling heat rush to his face.
“Wait, he’s blushing, aww!” Yamaguchi leans to the side to get a better view, his eyes sparkling as he looks at Kageyama. “I thought he was joking, but it might’ve actually been you two! Look at him!”
“Stop,” Kageyama murmurs in an uncharacteristically puny tone of voice.
As he finds himself unable to deny them, he immediately drops his line of sight back to his bracelet, begrudgingly continuing to add bead after bead to the thread. He’s fully aware of how bad of a liar he is, which is why he can’t even attempt to outright say that he doesn’t love them, simply because that might be the most untrue thing that would ever leave his mouth.
The way his response makes them giggle, all three of them leaning in to examine (and mock) him in his speechless, flushed state, makes his heart swell with so much embarrassment that he can’t believe he hasn’t exploded yet. He can’t help but wish that Hinata’s house had some kind of trapdoor under him that would open right now and swallow him into the Earth, because that might be a better outcome than having to face the cocky and amused faces on his boyfriends’ faces.
Still, despite how relentless their teasing might be, he can’t help but feel happy with the moment and how his three cute boyfriends are all giving him their attention simultaneously.
He likes it a lot more than he cares to admit.
“Is everyone done?” Yamaguchi asks, placing his finished necklace gently down on the floor by the bracelet.
“Wait! I’m just trying to attach the last piece, hold on!” Hinata yelps, placing the chains even closer to his face as he panics. “Wait, don’t start yet!”
“Who’s the last one now?” Kageyama chuckles to himself, outstretching his arm. “Hand it here, I’ll do it for you.”
Hinata shakes his head aggressively. “No!”
“Why?” Kageyama questions, disbelief over Hinata’s stubbornness getting the better of him. “Just get it over and done with!”
“I’m not gonna lose to you!” Hinata groans, trying for a few more seconds before he finally gets the moon pendant on exactly. “Yes, I did it! All by myself!”
“Good job, Hina!” Yamaguchi congratulates him as he gestures for Hinata to put it on the floor in front of him. “Okay, time to exchange them! So who’s putting what on who again? I’m doing Hinata…”
“I’ll be putting on your necklace, Tadashi, Sho will put the necklace on Tobio, Tobio will put it on me.” Tsukishima picks up his crafts and gives Hinata’s necklace to Yamaguchi and Kageyama’s bracelet to Hinata, leading the exchange until everyone has a set for the person they’ll be putting it onto.
Hinata stands up first with Kageyama’s accessories in his hands, running towards him excitedly. “I’ll put it on Tobio first!”
“Mm, then I’ll put Tadashi’s on him at the same time.” Tsukishima scoots over behind Yamaguchi, undoing the clasp on the necklace as Yamaguchi pulls his hair away from the back of his head.
Kneeling behind Kageyama, Hinata yawns as he starts to undo the clasp of the silver necklace as he lowers it around Kageyama’s neck. “Is it okay?”
“Mhm.”
Kageyama looks straight ahead as to give Hinata more room to work with while he tries to reattach the clasp, and Kageyama attempts to not wince at how cold the silver feels against his skin. It’s now that he notices how Yamaguchi added so many cute details to his necklace, with small, circular gems attached with smaller chains around the main chain as if symbolising the small meteors around planets, which is Kageyama’s given pendant. He reaches his hand to his chest to flip one of the gems over, as it had been upside down when Hinata put it on him.
“This is so hard…” Hinata grumbles, and Kageyama can feel the struggle as it starts to choke him with how forcefully Hinata is pulling at it.
As Kageyama bears through the frustration of literally being suffocated, he mentally prepares himself— he decides that he’s going to try the nickname out and see if it works in two ways. One, to see whether Hinata likes it or not, which will then determine whether he needs to go back to the drawing board or not, and two, to see if Hinata was serious earlier and if he’ll get flustered at all. Kageyama considers it payback for the teasing after he was caught smiling because of them.
“Ow, it hurts!” Kageyama complains quietly. He then takes a deep breath and lifts his hand to his neck, touching it out of anxiety. “You sound really tired, Hinachan. Give it to me, I’ll do it instead. Don’t worry, you can still put the bracelet on me.”
Although Kageyama immediately feels his face surge with warmth again with how softly his words had come out— curse the part of his brain that gets embarrassed at the notion of being sweet— Hinata freezes behind him.
Hinata stutters, “H-Hinach—Hi—”
The fact that Kageyama can’t see his face is criminal, considering how much he wants to tease him, so he turns around to check on him while feigning innocence as best he can. “Are you okay, Hinachan?”
“You—” Hinata immediately ducks out of sight, refusing to show his face to Kageyama. “Mmh— yes.”
“Eh? Why are you turning away from me, Hinachan?” Kageyama pouts, intentionally trying to sound cuter.
“Oh my— j–just take it,” Hinata murmurs.
Kageyama takes in the sight of what reddened skin that Hinata can’t completely cover, and he smiles to himself a bit more sweetly than he’d like to acknowledge. He takes the chain from Hinata’s hand and turns the necklace around, connecting it at his front before turning it back the way it’s meant to be worn. He taps Hinata on the back, stifling a laugh at the way how both of Hinata’s hands are covering his entire face, to signify that he finished. “Are you gonna put the bracelet on me or what?”
“Yeah, I–I’ll do it,” Hinata stutters, finally allowing Kageyama to see his expression.
Kageyama inhales sharply at the sight of his crimson flush, his dilated pupils refusing to meet Kageyama’s, and the way in which he meekly crawls closer after having fallen backwards from the surprise, and realizes just how fun this whole nickname thing might be for him. He takes Hinata’s physical response as an affirmation for both questions— as Hinata had said with Tsukishima, the fact that he hasn’t protested most likely means that he likes it, and Kageyama managed to get him flustered, which feels like an ultimate win above all else.
He takes Kageyama’s hand in his and slides the bracelet around his wrist, immediately running back across the room when he finishes. Kageyama manages to suppress yet another laugh, loving how Hinata is avoiding his eye contact so insistently, while Yamaguchi and Tsukishima finish with theirs. Yamaguchi turns around and sees the necklace he made around Kageyama’s neck, and he gasps with delight when he sees it. “Stop, it looks so cute on you, Tobio!”
“Does it?” Kageyama asks, running his fingertips over the gems. “I really like it, Yamaguchi, thank you.”
His gaze falls to the necklace around Yamaguchi’s neck, the starry pendant in the center complemented by charms of small swirls and spirals all around the rest of the chain, most likely depicting a galaxy. “Says you— wow, that looks perfect on you, Yamaguchi.”
“I know right! Tsukki is such a designer,” he teases, to which Tsukishima instantly looks away. “Hehe, okay, let’s finish this up. Hinata, come here, let me put these on you.”
Kageyama takes this as his cue to walk over to Tsukishima, his next target. Out of all the nicknames, he’s most nervous about using ‘Kicchan’ on Tsukishima, despite how much Kageyama loves the nickname, but the ego surge he’s just gained from Hinata’s reaction gives him enough courage to spit it out more casually. “While Hinata was putting the necklace on me, I noticed that the loops don’t always match up by the end, ‘cause it kinda makes it loose and more uncomfortable. Kicchan, tell me if I clasp it too tight, okay?”
No response follows.
“Kicchan?” Kageyama asks again. “Hello?”
No verbal response follows, but Kageyama can see the visible change of colour at the tips of Tsukishima’s ears. Kageyama leans down curiously, wondering if Tsukishima had heard him at all, but the moment he finds himself at eye level with him, Tsukishima immediately flicks his head to the opposite side. The fact that he won’t even let Kageyama catch a single glance is telling enough, and Tsukishima only offers a quiet “Yeah” in an unusually weak tone.
Taking it as an automatic win, Kageyama places the necklace around his neck and leans closer to attach the ends of the chain. Hinata made it just as ‘themed’ as the one around Kageyama’s neck, with little star charms hanging around the sides of the moon pendant on Tsukishima’s. When Kageyama lets go, he makes sure to ask again, just for good measure. “Kicchan, is it alright?”
“You… W—What’s with the ‘Kicchan’?” Tsukishima stutters for the first time Kageyama’s ever heard him do so, and Tsukishima seems just as aware of this fact, proven by the way his hand comes up to cover his mouth subtly.
“Do you not like it?” Kageyama feels his heart drop for a moment— perhaps he’d read the signals wrong? He’s still learning how to differentiate these things, and the thought of having misinterpreted the clues hits him hard. “I’m sorry—”
“Why are you apologizing?” Tsukishima grumbles, “'I never said I didn’t like it.”
“...Oh.”
Kageyama blinks, letting the implication of that sink in.
So Tsukishima is confused, but he also doesn’t not like it, but his ears are red and he’s refusing to make eye contact…
“Oh, you like it,” Kageyama realizes.
“Shut up and put the bracelet on me already,” Tsukishima mutters, eyes darting every which way. The fact that he doesn’t instantly deny it tells his boyfriend all that he needs to know.
Kageyama grins as he adjusts to sit in front of Tsukishima, holding the gray-beaded bracelet in his hands as he takes Tsukishima’s in his. It slides on easily and Kageyama leans down to press a kiss to the back of his knuckles, which Tsukishima can’t help but stare at him wide-eyed for as the blush from his ears finally spreads to his face. Tsukishima pulls his hand back, rubbing over the spot he was kissed with his hand. “You’re so corny, you know that?”
“You love it though, don’t you, Kicchan?”
Tsukishima shifts uncomfortably. “I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands.”
“Not a no,” Kageyama taunts, “you love me sooo much.”
Out of nowhere, Tsukishima’s eyes light up, and he taps Kageyama as if signalling him to turn around. Kageyama whips his head around to see Hinata slumped against Yamaguchi’s chest, positioned on his lap, with his eyes half-closed and the necklace not even fully clasped yet. The coy expression on Yamaguchi’s face reads ‘All according to plan!’ as he sends a smug smirk towards Tsukishima and Kageyama’s direction, as if boasting Hinata’s loveliness.
“Quick, Kicchan, we can’t let them beat us. Lie down on my chest,” Kageyama teases, earning a slap at the back of the head from Tsukishima.
“Don’t be stupider than you already are, Tobio, I’m scared for your health,” Tsukishima retorts. His fingers trail up his own collarbone, glancing down as he looks at the necklace against his pale skin, and Kageyama takes this as an opportunity to sneak towards Yamaguchi.
“You little swindler,” Kageyama greets.
Yamaguchi giggles quietly. “Look at me, absolutely winning.”
“Yeah, because you cheated.”
“Sore loser says what…?”
Kageyama rolls his eyes, tapping the side of Yamaguchi’s head. “Gucchan, you need to play fair next time.”
“Gu—Gucchan?” Yamaguchi immediately questions, rose hues blooming beneath the constellation of freckles on his face. “Is this your attempt at nicknaming me?”
“You’re a lot less flustered than the other two, I’m almost disappointed.” Kageyama nods and laughs. “Well, I tried using everything you guys advised me with, and I think it might’ve worked— at least on the other two?”
It’s then that Yamaguchi looks up and sees how worked up Tsukishima is, toying with the pendant of the necklace as his teeth dig into his bottom lip in an effort to suppress a smile, and Yamaguchi stifles a laugh. “Oh, please, it definitely worked— look at him, goodness.”
“Would you say it worked on you?” Kageyama asks slyly, gauging how well he’s done. “You’re a bit redder than earlier, I think, but I’ve been told that it isn’t always a good thing. Some people get really red when they’re angry, and some people turn red when they’re just feeling a bit hot from the environment, just like how Hinata gets super red after playing volleyball for too long—”
Kageyama’s words are stolen from his lips by Yamaguchi’s own, softly pressing him into a chaste kiss. His hands hold Hinata’s head gently, making sure not to disturb his near-sleep state, as he leans and presses his forehead to Kageyama’s, looking proud. “Yes, Tobio, it worked. You’re so smart. All three of us love it— no matter what they might say, I’m sure the other two appreciate it just as much as I do.”
“Hinachan…” Hinata murmurs in his half-asleep daze, as if on cue, just before breaking out into a wide, giddy grin. “Hehehe…”
“…Does it show how cute I find you three? Like what you guys intended?” Kageyama’s eyes crease with his smile (or, rather, his attempt at a smile).
Yamaguchi laughs before nodding. “Yes, yes it does, Tobio.”