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1
“Yo, Kenma,” Kuroo greets him. Kenma’s playing on his phone sitting by the entrance of their school. “Have you been waiting long?”
“Not really,” he answers without raising his eyes. “I need five minutes to finish this level.”
“Alright, I’ll wait.” Kuroo shrugs his shoulders, taking out his own phone to read through his texts. Yaku is having trouble with Lev again and he’s asking for some help so he texts back some memes that he knows will annoy the libero.
“Kuroo-senpai,” a girl calls out to him. She’s wearing their school uniform but Kuroo can’t for the life of him remember her. Her nervousness and determined gaze leave little doubt as to why she wants his attention though. Kuroo sighs. This never gets any easier. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
He nods. “Sure.”
The girl looks around, making sure they’re alone, her gaze skipping over Kenma who’s still focused on his game. It’s funny how he can make himself almost invisible to everyone, everyone who isn’t Kuroo that is, simply by ignoring his surroundings.
“Here,” she bows, handing him a letter. “Those are my feelings for you, please accept them.”
Kuroo sighs again, sneaking a side-glance to his friend whose shoulders have gotten tense. To anyone else he would appear to still be immersed in the game but Kuroo knows him too well. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
The girl looks up at his unwavering tone, surprised and with tears already forming in her eyes. “Please, I’m just asking you to consider me.”
“Sorry, I can’t,” he repeats, making his tone as inflexible as he can while still sounding caring enough not to come off as an asshole.
“Is there someone else that you like?”
And Kuroo owes her an honest answer at least. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
The girl nods again, and apologizes before leaving.
“I’m done,” Kenma closes his game. “It was easier than I thought.”
“Let’s go then.”
They make their way home side by side mostly in comfortable silence with Kuroo carrying what little conversation there is. Neither mentions the confession until they’ve reached Kenma’s house and have gone up to the boy’s room.
“Are you in love with me?” Kenma asks seemingly out of the blue. And Kuroo isn’t even surprised, he’s been expecting this for what feels like years. Kenma’s always been too perceptive for his own good.
“I am,” he answers simply because really, what’s the point in lying?
“Oh,” Kenma replies. Kuroo allows him some minutes of silence to gather his thoughts even though each second feels excruciating. “I think I’m in love with you too,” he finally says.
Kuroo lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “That’s good.”
Kenma nods, handing him a remote and programming some game or another into his console. “Does this mean we are dating?”
Kuroo makes sure not to look away from the screen when he replies, “If that’s what you want.”
They play a couple of rounds in silence, or well not in silence since it’s difficult to stay quiet when your best friend is, once again, completely destroying you at video games, but without making any conversation.
In the middle of the third round, after one pretty incredible convo attack, Kenma finally speaks. “What does dating entail?”
Kuroo shrugs his shoulders then curses when that causes him to lose control of his character and allows Kenma to defeat him once more. “Nothing has to change, really. It means that we spend time together and that we have feelings for each other. And that we don’t see anyone else romantically,” which really, they’ve never had. “We can take it at your pace, you don't need to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
He goes to restart the game and almost drops his remote when he feels something against his cheek. Not something, a kiss. Kenma has just kissed him on the cheek. Kenma. Kenma has just kissed him.
He feels himself blush scarlet, raising a hand to his face to cover the place where Kenma has just kissed him . “Ugh?” he says smoothly.
“It’s okay to push me a bit out of my comfort zone,” Kenma tells him and if it wasn’t for the faint pink in his cheeks, Kuroo would have thought he was as calm as ever. “We can do the things you want too.”
And maybe Kuroo shouldn’t have been as quick to take advantage of that offer as he is but he can’t help but blurt out. “Can I kiss you?”
Kenma nods slowly. “Alright.”
He really ought to send that girl a thank you card, Kuroo muses before cupping his best friend’s face as gently as he can. He leans in, kissing him softly on the lips and smiles when he feels Kenma sigh against him. Oh yeah, and maybe some flowers as well.
2
Why do all these girls always insist on mobbing Oikawa everywhere he goes? He isn’t even that cool. Sure, he's handsome, very good at volleyball, and can be charming when he wants to. But the guy is a total nerd! He’s got pajamas with alien print! If these girls would just listen to Iwaizumi, he’s sure they’d understand how lame his friend truly is. He’s got over a decade's worth of embarrassing stories to tell after all.
He should post them online. Let everybody know how the cocky, self-assured Oikawa really is. Maybe that way, they could actually get into the locker room on time once in a while.
Except, he doesn’t trust anyone else not to misuse that information, and he kind of likes being the only one that truly knows the idiot. Not to mention that, as much as he hates to admit it, Oikawa has as much blackmail material on him as he does on Oikawa. Uh, maybe that’s why Oikawa doesn’t mind Iwaizumi knowing all his secrets.
“You’re scaring me, Iwa~chan,” his friends sing-songs annoyingly. “Stop making that angry face.”
“Stop making me late, then,” he grunts. Practice starts in ten minutes, and they still need to change. “You can see to your adoring masses after the practice game.”
For some reason this makes Oikawa smile. “You’re so mean, Iwa~chan.”
Yet, for all his whining he does wave off his fans and starts making his way towards the locker room. “You know, if you weren’t always frowning they’d like you too, so there’s really no need to be jealous. Though I guess some girls do like the whole tough guy routine too.”
“You think I’m jealous of you?” he asks, incredulous. “Why would I want to be stopped and fawned over every two minutes?”
The mere idea is ridiculous, it’s annoying enough when it’s Oikawa’s attention they want, he wouldn’t last a day if they went after him.
Still, “Do you think they’d still think you’re so cool if they knew how loudly you shrieked every time I showed you a bug back when we were kids?”
“I don’t see why not,” he replies, unbothered. “You know it and still think I’m cool.”
Oikawa glances around, completely ignoring Iwaizumi’s protests that no, he absolutely does not think he is cool in any way, shape or form. When he sees they are alone, Oikawa smiles and places a quick kiss on his cheek.
Iwaizumi’s stunned into silence.
“You don’t have to be jealous of them, either,” Oikawa boldly declares while Iwaizumi’s brain’s in the middle of rebooting. “Iwa~chan is the only one I truly want fawning over me.”
And he has the nerve to wink at him. Wink! The moron. Then the coward disappears into the locker room before giving him a chance to recover.
“You…! Oikawa!” he yells when he gets his voice back. It catches but that’s just because he’s got a sore throat. And if his face is slightly flushed, that's completely due to anger, dammit.
Why does he put up with that idiot, again?
“Iwa~chan,” Oikawa’s voice comes from inside the locker room. “Hurry up and change or the coach will yell at us for being late again.”
Damn him, and his cockiness. And damn if he thinks Iwaizumi is going to let him win.
No, Iwaizumi is going to go in there and act like nothing’s happened while hatching his revenge. Yeah, he’ll definitely get Oikawa back for this. One of them has to act their age after all.
3
No one would ever believe that this is Tsukishima Kei, muses Yamaguchi.
This guy, ranting about dinosaurs in front of him, with shining eyes, and skipping words because his thoughts are going too fast to put into a coherent sentence is nothing like the cold, collected blocker he shows everyone else.
Don’t get him wrong, Yamaguchi loves that side of Tsukki. Of course he does! How could he not when Tsukki’s so cool, blocking all their opponents’ attacks with glacial precision, buying their team the time and opportunities they need to keep scoring. Always trying to get Yamaguchi just another serve, another opportunity to keep playing.
At this point, ‘one touch’ may actually be one of Yamaguchi’s favorite phrases.
But Yamaguchi also likes this, going to a natural history museum and listening to him go on and on about every dinosaur on the exhibit with a passion he never shows anyone else.
It makes him feel special. Makes him feel trusted. Because he’s the only one Tsukki would ever take to this place, the only one Tsukki wants to share this with. The only one he’ll allow to see this version of him, less curate, more approachable.
This Tsukki isn’t untouchable. This Tsukki is within reach of Yamaguchi, and only Yamaguchi.
And that makes Yamaguchi feel braver than he is, makes him feel like he could do anything because Tsukki is choosing him . Him, plain ordinary Yamaguchi Tadashi, out of everyone else in the whole world to open up to.
And sometimes, the line between bravery and recklessness gets blurred.
Sometimes, Yamaguchi forgets to be afraid, forgets that he has to keep a distance between them. Forgets that Tsukki is way out of his league.
And Tsukki is leaning forward, trying to point something or other on the skeleton in front of them. And his face, usually so high up, is just there. Right in front of Yamaguchi. So really, who can blame him for planting a kiss on his cheek when Tusski’s so close and open?
Tsukki stops talking and turns to look at him with a bewildered expression.
“You’re really cute,” Yamaguchi shrugs his shoulders.
There’s the faintest pink on his best friend's cheeks. “Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
Yamaguchi doesn’t even try to hold back his smile, “Sorry, Tsukki.”
They both know he’s not truly apologizing, just like they both know Tsukki didn’t mind the interruption.
Tsukki resumes his rambling but when they move towards another display, he grabs Yamaguchi’s hand.
Yeah, Yamaguchi really enjoys going to the museum with Tsukki.
4
Hinata loves his sister.
He does, really.
Natsu is adorable and pretty cool for a baby. She’s started to learn volleyball too and she’s getting better by the day.
Usually Hinata doesn’t mind spending time with her or humoring her endless requests to play this and that.
Usually Kageyama isn’t at their house though.
It’s just not fair!
Kageyama had come to hang up with him . But his bratty little sister had taken one look at the setter and decided that he was the coolest thing ever.
Okay, that was not true.
Natsu had actually been pretty shy at first and Kageyama had been too focused playing volleyball with Hinata to actually notice her. But then night had fallen and Mom had decided it was too dark to play outside and had forced them to put the volleyballs away for the day.
And now here they are, coloring with Natsu when Hinata could be showing Kageyama just how good he is at videogames.
He had been looking forward to it! Playing something where he had the advantage for once. But no, all Natsu had to do was pout at Kageyama and he had folded like… like… like something that folded way too easily!
Kageyama’s Hinata’s.
He’s Hinata’s best friend.
So why is he braiding his little sister’s hair while ignoring Hinata?
It’s just not fair!
“Natsu, are you still awake?” Mom says because she’s the best person ever. “Your bedtime was half an hour ago, stop bothering your brother and Tobio and go to your room.”
Hinata feels like cheering.
“I really don’t mind,” Kageyama says because he’s a moron.
“Can I stay a while longer with Tobio?” Natsu asks. And that’s unacceptable, first his mom and now his sister? Why is he the only Hinata not allowed to call Kageyama by his given name?
“No,” Mom says bluntly. “Tomorrow’s a school day. And anyway, Shouyo and Tobio are also going to go to bed soon, aren’t you boys?”
Kageyama and Hinata share a look. That had not been the plan.
“Sure,” Hinata lies. Kageyama frowns, looking confused, but nods anyway.
“See?” Mom tells Natsu. “Now be a good girl and tell them goodnight, you’ll see them tomorrow, I promise.”
Natsu nods, looking adorably sleepy and kisses Hinata on the cheek. “Night night, Shou-nii.” And, much to everyone's surprise, she turns to Kageyama and kisses him on the cheek too, “Night night, Tobio.”
Hinata gapes at his shameless little sister but she just turns to go hug her mother, making her carry her to her room. Mom looks amused but what’s worse is that Kageyama looks kind of pleased!
His face is doing that thing it does when he doesn’t know what expression to make and his cheeks are dusted pink and that’s just not right! Hinata’s only managed to make Kageyama blush a couple of times and those were all volleyball related so they don’t count.
“Guess we’ll have to go to bed too,” Kageyama says awkwardly, obviously trying to prevent Hinata from teasing him about the goodnight kiss.
And Hinata is about to tell him no, that he lied so Natsu would leave them alone but an idea occurs to him.
Kageyama was fine with Natsu giving him a goodnight kiss, and Hinata’s a lot closer to him than Natsu, right? So, if they retire for the night, Hinata can…
He doesn’t finish the thought, just leans forward to press his lips to Kageyama’s cheek. “Good night!”
Kageyama jerks back so quickly he almost falls down. “What was that?”
He sounds pretty mad but his face has gone from slightly embarrassed to boiled octopus red so Hinata’s going to count as a win.
“A goodnight kiss,” he replies, trying to sound nonchalant. “That’s what we do here, didn’t you see Natsu?”
And yeah, he knows it’s probably weird he’s pretending he kisses all his friends goodnight when they sleep over. He’ll have to make sure he never invites anyone else from the team alongside Kageyama. But right now that’s not important.
“Fine,” Kageyama grunts and to Hinata’s amazement he leans down and returns the kiss.
Hinata wants to squeal, he wants to demand to know what Kageyama is doing, but he can't. He has to pretend that this is normal.
The two of them stare at each other for a long while, not knowing what to say.
“Dumbass,” Kageyama says, breaking the silence.
“Bakayama,” Hinata returns.
“Idiot.”
“Moron.”
“Go to sleep!” Hinata’s mom screams from outside the room. “I want the lights out in five minutes.”
5
Bokuto-san is being quite.
That’s disturbing.
Bokuto-san is never quite.
Not even when he got his wisdom teeth removed and speaking was agonizing for him.
Not even when Kuroo bet him his favorite ice-cream he couldn’t go without speaking for a whole hour.
Bokuto-san always talks.
That’s actually Akaashi’s seventh favorite thing about him.
With Bokuto-san he never has to wonder. He always knows what the other boy is thinking or feeling, making it really easy to fix any problem that may arise. It’s nice. And practical.
But after the last tournament (Bokuto-san last tournament in Fukurodani) things have been weird.
It’s not a bad weird, not really.
Bokuto-san’s been making good on his promise to become a regular Ace and that’s good, if he goes pro (and of course he’s going to go pro) he’ll need to be more reliable, more constant. So the fact that he took Akaashi’s feedback seriously and is attempting to establish a pre-game ritual is great.
Akaashi doesn’t miss the mood swings.
But.
But he had liked that he was the one person that could help Bokuto-san get back into the game.
It’s not even that he knows the only reason he was made vice-captain as a second year was due to his ability to deal with their Ace. It’s more than that. He knows he’s not special but someone like Bokuto-san had needed him and that had made him feel like he was.
How foolish he had been.
And now Bokuto-san’s silent and Akaashi doesn’t know what to do.
“I’ve received an offer for next year,” he tells him. They’ve been walking home together for fifteen minutes and these are the first words he’s spoken. “To play volleyball professionally.”
Akaashi had known he would. He was Bokuto-san after all. But why the silence? This is a good thing, right?
“Congratulations,” he tells him, and he hopes he at least sounds normal. The last thing he wants is to upset Bokuto-san. “Which team?”
“The Black Jackals, they are based in Osaka.”
It’s a good team. Solid. Maybe not the champions but definitely in the top five. Is the team the problem? Is it the location?
“I hear Osaka’s pretty nice,” he ventures.
“It’s far, though.”
“Not really?”
Osaka is 395 kilometers away, two hours and a half by train. Relatively speaking, it’s pretty close to Tokyo.
“Yeah, it is,” Bokuto-san pouts. “I won’t be able to see you every day anymore.”
The commute would probably be too long, still “You wouldn’t be able to see me daily even if you stayed in Tokyo. You’ll be too busy training and I’ve got to start studying for my university exams.”
Plus he’ll also be very busy as the next captain.
“I could see you once a week though.”
That could be doable with the new distance too. There’s no practice on Sundays, and he could study on the train. It’d be pricey, though. Maybe he could get a part time job? Something on weekdays, after practice? He does end up pretty tired so it couldn’t be anything too physically taxing. Maybe as a cashier? Standing around for hours didn’t exactly sound appealing after volleyball practice. Maybe he could work during holidays? Save enough to not have to work during the school year. But that would mean spending less time with Bokuto-san while they were still living in the same city…
“Oh, man, I’m going to miss you,” Bokuto-san declares. “So I’ll have to come back once a month to see you.”
Akaashi snorts. Bokuto-san always makes everything so easy. “I’ll miss you too, so make sure you do.”
“This year has been really fun,” he declares. “I’m really happy you decided to come to Fukurodani.”
“I did it for you.” The words are out before Akaashi can even think of holding them back and they cause Bokuto-san to stop walking. “I mean it was because of the recommendation. Also it’s close enough to my house. But… I saw you, when I was deciding between Fukurodani and Suzumeoka. I thought I wanted to set for you.” He doesn't dare to look at his friend when admitting this. “So thank you, for letting me be your setter, I had a lot of fun too.”
And suddenly Bokuto-san is hugging him, squashing him with all his might. (He really does have strong arms).
“Aw,” he says, looking put out. “I really don’t want to leave this team.”
“You have to,” Akaashi reminds him. “Somehow you’ve managed to pass all your classes.”
“You’re no fun,” Bokuto-san complains, finally letting him go. “But fine. You’ll have to keep watching me, though. Go to some of my games.”
And of course, of course Akaashi will. Bokuto-san’s incandescent , he couldn’t stop watching him if he tried. Still, the demand is childish enough that Akaashi feels the need to tease Bokuto-san a bit.
“I have to?” he repeats. “What would I get if I do?”
“Anything!”
It’s such a Bokuto answer. So free and trusting and exuberant. And usually Akaashi wouldn’t take him at his word but the year is ending and he will really miss Bokuto-san next year.
“Okay,” he says. “I will, if you close your eyes.”
And he does.
He stays put, with his eyes closed because Akaashi had asked him.
It’s too much.
So Akaashi can’t stop himself, he leans forward and presses his lips to Bokuto-san’s cheek.
Bokuto-san opens his eyes instantly and lets out a loud laugh. “Akaashi!” he says, sounding thrilled.
“Bokuto-san,” he answers, and he can feel his cheeks warming up.
“Akaashi,” his friend repeats. “I’ll get you tickets to the first game of the season.”
“I’ll only be able to attend if it’s on a weekend,” Akaashi reminds him.
“Then for the first game that falls on a Sunday,” he corrects himself.
The silence is quickly forgotten, Bokuto-san apparently has a lot to say, a lot of plans to make and Akaashi is, like always, more than happy to be dragged along to his pace.