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a heavy sigh resounded around the cluttered room, yamaguchi pressed himself against his closed door, pulling his knees up to his chin.
“so,” hinata started, “what the hell are you and tsuki-whatever anyways?” yamaguchi crinkled his face up as he stepped away from the cart of volleyballs, looking to the ginger with an uncomfortable look. “what do you mean?”
hinata just stared, eyebrows down and a serious expression etched into his face. yamaguchi was confused, he’d only ever seen that look come from him when they’re on the court. “you know what im talking about. you guys aren’t ‘just friends’,” hinata raised his hands to make air quotes.
yamaguchi rolled his eyes and looked away. he couldn’t help but look back on it though. he looked over to where the tall blond boy was waiting for him.
“tsukki and i… we’re just us, i guess.”
yamaguchi huffed out a quiet laugh, remembering hinata’s face scrunch up in disappointment, talking about how he knew there was more than that, and how yamaguchi shouldn’t hide things.
he did know where hinata was coming from, tsukishima and him weren’t normal. the knowing looks shared only between them, soft touches of comfort and warmth… they all were scrutinized by the people in their classes and teams they played against. but the attention never got between the two, that’s what yamaguchi loved so much about tsukki. he wasn’t embarrassed to be around him, even though yamaguchi knew he wasn’t the most attractive or charming or athletic— he could go on. tsukishima never judged yamaguchi, he only comforted him and helped him. yamaguchi really, really, really admired and loved that pa—
his soul jumped out of his body at the sudden sound of a knock rapping at his door, vibrating his back. he quickly stood up, dusting off himself before opening his poster covered door. “tsukki?? what’re you doing here? who let you in?” yamaguchi questioned, quickly tugging tsukishima inside.
“your mom. i wouldn’t be here if you had just answered your phone.” tsukishima deadpanned, and yamaguchi chose that moment to check the annoyed messages from tsukki.
“ah… sorry, tsukki. i didn’t realize how far into my thoughts i was.” he shrugged softly, falling back onto his bed and gesturing tsukishima over. the other sighed heavily, but came over with a small smile nonetheless. unlike yamaguchi, tsukishima carefully sat down perpendicular to the green haired boy, draping his long legs over yamaguchi’s.
yamaguchi subconsciously laid one hand on tsukishima’s shin, scrunching his nose as he realized how quickly he did that. tsukki was unbothered and used to this touch, crossing his legs at the ankle and staring over at tadashi with an unrecognizable glimmer in his eye. the two continued to stare at each other for a moment, the only noise being the soft clicking of the clock on the wall. impatience filtered through tsukki’s features, shadows darkening softly. “what are you waiting for?”
“..what?” yamaguchi asked dumbly. tsukishima scoffed lightheartedly.
“spill. what were you thinking so hard about?” yamaguchi’s cheeks warmed, and he looked to the side.
he stammered a little, “just.. something hinata— stop that tsukki,” yamaguchi softly scolded the annoyed look that came on tsukishima’s face at the mention of their teammate. “just something hinata asked me.” he shrugged uselessly.
tsukishima waited for a moment. then another. “go on.” he urged, squinting at the boy’s strange behavior.
yamaguchi groaned, “um… how do i..” he mumbled to himself, and tsukishima waited for him to get his thoughts in order. after a few moments, the blond perked up at the sound of his best friend speaking again. “tsukki… just, what exactly are we?”he tapped his fingers in a random beat against the skin of tsukishima’s bony leg.
tsukki hummed, leaning his head back against the wall. “i don’t know, does it matter? we’re us.” yamaguchi huffed out a laugh. “that’s what i said to him.”
tsukishima smiled softly, it might’ve been the softest yamaguchi had ever seen him. “tadashi, you’re special to me. more special than anyone else. if you or anyone else wants to call us boyfriends or just friends or something more than that… i don’t really care, i like what we have, and i… just don’t want to lose you.” tsukki’s eye twitched softly, and he shut his mouth quickly before he decided to let his entire catalogue of thoughts and feelings melt out of it.
yamaguchi’s eyes welled up with unshed tears, tilting his head back and breathing out shakily. “you’re— you’re so sweet tsukki.. i feel the same way.” he gently pushed tsukishima’s legs off of his and pulled the tall boy into a hug, almost crashing his forehead into the wall. tsukki quickly reciprocated, fingernails tugging at the fabric resting on yamaguchi’s back.
“i love you, tsukki.”
“i love you too, tadashi.”
they existed in that moment, not just friends, not exactly lovers. tadashi and kei, that’s what they were.