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“What?”
Yachi’s eyes are pretty much bulging out of her head from how wide they are and her jaw has gone slack, making her mouth fall open. She’s staring at Tadashi and he is starting to feel worried about her not blinking.
He swallows and chuckles sheepishly, ears growing red.
“... Yeah,” he mumbles, licking his lips and gaze skidding to the side. He’s starting to squirm under the petite blonde’s heavy stare.
“You kissed,” she starts slowly, for some reason needing confirmation, “after only having met him?”
Tadashi groans and buries his face in his hands. “Yachi-san, it wasn’t after only having met him! It was at the end of the day, after… “ He trails off, at a loss of what to call it.
“After all that awkward flirting,” Yachi deadpans, her gaze seemingly able to bore through Tadashi’s hands covering his face.
He’s quiet for a moment and then gives a defeated sigh as he lowers his hands. “Yes,” he mumbles, knowing full well how awkward they both had been when they’d tried to articulate, without actually speaking, their mutual interest for one another. It makes Tadashi blush only thinking about it, but the ending result had been absolutely worth it.
“That’s so unlike you, Yamaguchi-kun,” Yachi giggles with a mischievous glint in her eye and reaches forward to ruffle Tadashi’s hair, to which the freckled boy gives a displeased whine in response.
“What with the lack of people I have actually kissed in my life, Yachi-san, it can’t really be unlike me, you know,” he mutters, not really trying too hard to defend his honor. After all, he’d gotten the number from, and kissed, the most gorgeous guy he’s ever seen—he counts that as a pretty big win. Especially since he got the kiss in less than a day.
His stomach flutters only thinking about it, and his fingers twitch on his thigh, wanting to reach up to touch his lips for the fifteenth time today. But he won’t—not in front of Yachi.
He’s lost in thoughts wondering when he’ll get to see the blond again when a bright, sharp voice shatters the silence, making Tadashi wince.
“Hey, Yachi-san, Yamaguchi-kun!” calls Hinata from yards across the beach, bringing the attention of other guests to him and them. Tadashi wants to hide but he reluctantly turns toward the orange-haired boy and is met with the sight of Kageyama pressing a hand to the top of boy’s head and hissing, not as quietly as he probably believes, “Quiet down, dumbass!” Hinata merely pokes his tongue out at him and shakes the hand off of him, steps quick as they make their way toward Yachi and Tadashi.
Kageyama reluctantly trails after the energetic, bouncy ball that is Hinata. He promptly doesn’t say anything before they are actually close, bless him, when he greets them with a simple hey, which is all that is necessary, really, since they saw each other this morning at breakfast. And their rooms are next to each other.
Yachi and Tadashi doesn’t get the chance to greet them in return before Hinata asks, “What’re you talking about? Yamaguchi’s all blushy.”
“Isn’t that just his sunburn?” Kageyama muses, eyebrow quirking down thoughtfully.
Hinata shakes his head and says, “No, I’m positive he’s blushing. Look,” he points at Tadashi’s ears and the boy in question hunches his shoulders and frowns, and Hinata continues, “So, why’s he blushing?”
Tadashi begs to the gods that Yachi won’t—
“Yamaguchi-kun kissed someone on his diving trip yesterday!” Yachi chirps, delighted about getting to share these news.
“Whoaaa!” Hinata stares at Tadashi, eyes glimmering with excitement. “Who were they? You knew someone on that boat? Are they staying at this hotel? Do we know them?” The questions are tumbling out of Hinata’s mouth with barely any pauses between them, and Tadashi wishes, not for the first time, that the boy had some sort of filter at least.
“He didn’t know him,” Yachi so helpfully offers, flashing Tadashi a smile that would indicate she’s just innocently sharing the good news, but Tadashi knows she’s doing this to mess with him, and it’s working because he is positively dying from embarrassment by now.
Now Hinata’s eyes are bulging like Yachi’s did only minutes before. “What? Yamaguchi-kun, you kissed someone you didn’t know? That… doesn’t seem like you at all.”
Tadashi groans. “He wasn’t a stranger! It was at the end of the trip, okay? I knew him somewhat by then.”
Hinata flops down on the sand next to Tadashi’s chair. “Tell me, tell me, tell me!”
Kageyama follows suit, positioning himself behind his tiny boyfriend with a leg on each side of his hips.
“You’re being too smothering, Hinata,” he reprimands with a frown and Tadashi briefly flicks his gaze to him, feeling grateful and amused at the same time.
“It’s fine, Yamayama-kun, he’s just blushy still!” Hinata grins and Kageyama shrugs, turning his eyes back to Tadashi, appearing to be expecting a story too.
Tadashi’s cheeks are, indeed, heating more than they were before from the sunburn he’d left the diving trip with, and Yachi giggles. He wants to run, to be honest, but knowing Hinata, the tiny boy would just catch up to him in no-time and tackle him to the ground to keep him from escaping, what with his unfair amount of stamina.
So he opts for just indulging his friends; it’s not like they can make a fool out of him in front of Tsukishima anyway.
“Well… his name is Tsukki—Tsukishima,” he starts, swallowing. “He’s Japanese, and is… He’s such a great diver, and, um, v-very attractive, and—”
“What does he look like?” Hinata interrupts, staring at Tadashi intently. Kageyama is calmly resting his eyes on Tadashi, for once not looking like he’s glaring, his arms having wound around his boyfriend’s waist. Tadashi’s heart swells at the sight because embarrassingly enough, it makes him think of Tsukishima. He’s not surprised to realise he definitely wants to do sappy boyfriend things like that with the blond.
Tadashi scratches his neck and thinks about his answer before opening his mouth, afraid he might just blurt out like an actual angel.
“He’s tall, and has blonde short hair, it’s kinda curly,” Tadashi starts listing off the obvious details about the blond’s appearance, trying to keep it as objective as possible, “wears black glasses, uh. He looks pretty bored, most of the time, and seems to be carrying his headphones with him all the time, either around his neck or he’s wearing them.”
Hinata hums thoughtfully, tapping his chin with his index finger. Then he concludes, “He sounds like a loser.”
Tadashi surprises himself by becoming defensive in less than a second and exclaiming, “Hey!” but Hinata continues as though he doesn’t notice, “But where did you say his hotel was?”
Tadashi frowns, “I didn’t?”
“So you don’t know where he’s staying?”
“... No,” Tadashi reluctantly admits, pouting slightly, deeply regretting not having asked Tsukki any of this information.
“Okay, because there’s a guy over there who looks pretty much exactly like you described,” Hinata tells him casually, the gravity of the situation that hits Tadashi straight in the face seeming to fully surpass him—and Kageyama too, for that matter.
Wide-eyed, Tadashi whirls around, eyes following the direction which Hinata’s finger is pointing, gaze flying from person to person before coming to a halt at on a tall blond striding across the pool area. Tadashi squints and he almost believes that it is Tsukishima walking toward the hotel rooms, but then the blond turns slightly and Tadashi can properly see his face. He wants to laugh, because this man actually looks too openly kind to be Tsukki.
“He isn’t wearing glasses, dumbass,” Kageyama mutters to the boy in his lap, and then, “But maybe you should.”
Tadashi gives the blond stranger one last once-over before turning back to the sputtering, offended mess that is Hinata as reaction at Kageyama’s jab. “Why don’t you get glasses, Bakageyama-kun!”
Tadashi sighs, disappointment washing over him after Hinata’s suspicion had raised his hopes so quickly. He shakes his head at the bickering duo as Yachi pats him on the shoulder comfortingly.
“Food food food, time to get some food~” Hinata sings as he walks with a slight jump in his step in front of Tadashi and Yachi. Next to him Kageyama grumbles something about why he’s so excited about more food; they eat all the time.
Hinata only innocently argues that it’s always a good time to be excited about food and Kageyama scowls while Tadashi snickers into his fist. Yachi giggles too, tightening her hold on Tadashi’s arm which is hooked with hers.
“Uuuugh.” Suddenly Hinata breaks off in a frustrated groan and clenches his fist in front of him. “It’s so hard playing volleyball on sand, I almost couldn’t get the ball over the net!”
Tadashi nods in agreement, because even though he’s not a spiker it’s increasingly more difficult not playing on solid ground.
“Maybe that’s because you’re still lousy at it,” Kageyama supplies grumpily with his eyebrows pulled down. Ah. That’s right; it had been his tosses that consistently almost wouldn’t make it over the net.
“Am not!” Hinata defends, puffing out his chest and supposedly trying to appear taller and bigger, much like a cat, as he glares at the taller boy. Sometimes Tadashi forgets that despite the fact that they’re dating the bickering never stops. Obviously Kageyama doesn’t sincerely think Hinata is bad at volleyball, otherwise he wouldn’t have been setting for Hinata throughout all of high school—but still, he can’t seem to keep himself from provoking the shorter boy time and time again. The same goes for Hinata. In fact, riling each other up seems to be a part of their daily routine. By now, Yachi and Tadashi can’t do much but to simply wait it out. “You don’t have to spike, Bakageyama! All you have to do is stand and toss me the ball! Jumping and spiking in the sand is sup— Ouff!”
Tadashi looks up just in time to see Hinata stumbling back from having walked straight into someone, and on automatics the small boy starts rambling, “Uah, sorry! So—”
“Oh, sorry, my bad,” wait, Tadashi recognises that smooth, sardonic voice, “you’re so short I couldn’t see you.”
Tsukishima. Tadashi stares at the tall boy—blond, soft curls and glasses, lean frame, headphones placed around his neck as expected—and suddenly his heart is going absolutely crazy.
But he’s not looking at Tadashi—he’s looking at Hinata with a raised brow and an amused smirk, who draws a sharp breath and demands, very loudly, “What did you just say?” Kageyama seems to have tensed up next to him as well.
But before Tsukishima can offer a snarky reply and push past him like he looks he’s about to, Tadashi’s mouth falls open and out comes, “Tsukki!”
Everyone seems to stop and stare at him. He blushes beet red, but is unable to look away from the blond whose gaze have fallen on him now, and Tadashi wonders if he’s imagining Tsukishima’s expression softening at the edges. But then his eyes flick down to Yachi’s and his interlinked arms and he looks completely stoic again. Tadashi shakes his head slightly, trying to somehow telepathically communicate that Yachi is just a friend, wanting to say something but doesn’t know what when everyone’s there.
“Wait, Yamaguchi-kun, this is the guy?” Hinata asks Tadashi and wrinkles his nose disapprovingly, turning back to look Tsukishima up and down with a judging stare. Tsukishima only stands there, looking annoyed with his lips curled in distaste as he stares back at the short boy. He’s positively towering over Hinata what with their height difference.
Tadashi feels desperation surging through him; he doesn’t want Tsukishima to go, and he’s tensing up and opening his mouth to tell Hinata no, shut up for once please but Hinata seems to be finished evaluating Tsukishima and says, “He’s not attractive at all, Yamaguchi-kun, he looks like an ass. In fact, he is an ass. I’m so disappointed.” The disappointment and irritation is clear in his voice, too, and while Kageyama gives an ugly snort Tadashi feels his own eyes widen. Tsukishima drags his eyes back to Tadashi, not even trying to give him some mercy and lets a familiar smirk take over his features.
Tadashi suppresses the urge to crouch down and hide his face in his hands, and instead he whine-hisses, “Hinata!” The orange-haired boy doesn’t quite seem to hear him, though, and keeps up his glaring at the blond who isn’t even acknowledging his existence anymore. His eyes are steadily resting on Tadashi’s face, and at least he doesn’t look like he’s about to leave anymore.
The freckled boy can feel himself build up a furious blush as he promptly doesn’t meet the blond’s gaze. He doesn’t notice Yachi stepping away from him and reaching forward to pull Hinata back, effectively taking Kageyama with her.
“Ah, er, hehe, he’s… he’s just joking,” Tadashi lies in a pathetic attempt to save the last bit of his dignity, reaching up to scratch at his cheek with his index finger.
Tsukishima hums and cocks his head to the side. “I see. You don’t think I’m attractive then?”
Tadashi’s eyes widen and he snaps his gaze to meet Tsukishima’s. “No!” he protests, then backtracks and shakes his head rapidly. “I-I mean yes! I do, but I don’t— I never—”
Tsukishima huffs amusedly because of course he knows Tadashi finds him attractive, he’s just messing with the other because he really has no mercy, Tadashi is learning. So the freckled boy only sighs in defeat and gives up on trying clarify what he had meant. He’s not even certain himself anymore.
Tsukishima’s smirk has softened into something less complacent, almost like a proper smile, and Tadashi feels stupidly warm. It finally catches up to him that this is a boy Tadashi likes a lot and who supposedly would like him back, if yesterday’s events was anything go by, and he’s shown up at Tadashi’s hotel. Some sort of god must have heard him at least, to now grant him this.
“Yamaguchi-kun,” says Yachi softly from behind him, and he whirls around to stare wide-eyed at her, having forgotten she and the duo was even there. She smiles at him gently, continuing, “we’re going to go to the bar, meet us there when you’re ready?”
At first Tadashi stands frozen before he understands what his friend his doing, then he nods vigorously. His eyes flick to Kageyama and Hinata behind her who are still glaring at Tsukishima, albeit attempting to do it with more subtly. It’s still not very subtle, but it’s the thought that counts.
“Don’t take too long, Yamaguchi, we need to have a serious tal—” Yachi’s hand is clamped over Hinata’s big mouth and she drags the small boy away. Tadashi sighs. So much for subtlety.
He doesn’t watch them go but when he turns around he finds that Tsukishima apparently is. He’s sporting the same kind of challenging expression he had a day earlier after they’d kissed, and the butterflies flutter only at the thought. But he narrows his eyes at Tsukishima’s expression this time.
“Were you deliberately provoking him?” he questions and Tsukishima blinks leisurely at him.
“What, me? I would never,” he answers flatly, not even batting an eye, as if he’s too lazy to even try to sound sarcastic, because said sarcasm certainly doesn’t surpass the freckled boy. “I don’t even know why he got so mad.”
Tadashi knows he should defend his friend, he should be doing it right now, but after staring at the blond for about two seconds laughter bubbles up within him, unceremoniously escaping his throat. He brings up his hand to his mouth to try and hold it in but to no avail.
When he manages to glance up at Tsukishima through his small bursts of laughter he finds the blond with a lopsided smile as he watches Tadashi. He wipes it away when he notices him looking, however.
“You have,” Tsukishima drawls when Tadashi’s fits of laughter subsides, “weird friends. But I suppose I can’t put it past you; you do tend to group together, after all.”
Tadashi blinks. “You just called me weird.”
“Yes.”
“... You have dinosaurs on your swim trunks.”
That does the trick; Tsukishima’s cheeks heat up and he scowls and Tadashi grins toothily at his victory. It prompts him to keep going, “But I mean, since we do tend to group together you’re welcome to join us for dinner.”
Tsukishima scoffs and pushes at his glasses, “As if I would want to eat with that slovenly bunch. I’d probably have to do my laundry first thing after.” His cheeks are still pink.
“Aw, come on, Tsukki,” Tadashi pleads, still with the grin on his face. “It’ll be fun!”
Tsukishima looks legitimately offended by the implication that eating with Tadashi’s friends and fun could possibly go together, and opens his mouth to presumably give the other a piece of his mind when someone calls, “Kei!”
Tsukishima shuts his mouth with a loud click of his teeth and in impressive speed schools his expression into something of immense annoyance. Tadashi raises his eyebrows and looks behind Tsukishima to see who called and is met with the sight of another tall blond jogging toward them. With surprise Tadashi realises that it’s the same man he’d seen by the pool area earlier today, who Hinata had thought was Tsukki.
The other man reaches them and stops, breathing heavily and putting a hand on Tsukishima’s shoulder. Said blond only scowls harder and attempts to shrug off the hand but to no avail. “Why were you running?” he asks then, irritably, turning his head to the other man with a very displeased expression.
“Ah! Wanted to get to you as fast as possible, little brother,” the blond man says, flashing such a big, pure-hearted smile that Tadashi wishes he could be that man’s little brother too. Or he could take Tsukishima’s spot, as the boy seems more than a little displeased at possessing that role. Either is fine with him, actually.
“That’s stupid.” Tsukishima’s brother laughs and squeezes the bespectacled blond’s shoulder warmly.
“Yeah,” he agrees, unfazed, then he looks at Tadashi, who straightens immediately upon having a second pair of eyes on him. “Hey, who’s this? Kei, you’re finally out socialising?”
Both Tadashi and Tsukishima open their mouths to give their separate responses when Tsukishima’s brother steps past Tsukki and extends his hand. “Hello, I’m—”
“He speaks Japanese,” Tsukishima interrupts, his ears turning read and hands clasped in front of him as he frowns at a spot somewhere next to Tadashi’s head.
“Oh!” the slightly shorter blond exclaims, smiling. “Well, then. I’m Tsukishima Akiteru, Kei’s big brother. Don’t let his ridiculous height fool you.”
Tadashi stares, mechanically taking Akiteru’s hand and shaking it. Tsukishima pinches the bridge of his nose as he mumbles, “Please shut up.”
“I-I’m, um, Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Tadashi nearly squeaks, overwhelmed by the impossible contrast between the two blonds’ personalities. “Y-You’re brothers?”
Tsukishima sends him a glare—Akiteru merely laughs. Incredible. Now that Tadashi sees them next to each other he finds that he can’t miss the resemblance in their appearances; their blond hair, the brown of their eyes, the similar physique and the height. Hinata hadn’t been too far off the chart, after all.
“Yep! Bit surprising, huh? This guy’s so grumpy!” Akiteru reaches up and ruffles Tsukishima’s hair and the bespectacled blond growls. “So how do you know him?”
“Ah, I met Tsukki on the boat yesterday. O-or well, we properly first met under the water, but…” Tadashi trails off, not knowing what else to say but Akiteru doesn’t seem to pay that any mind.
“Tsukki?” He stares at Tadashi, then looks expectantly at Tsukishima who pointedly doesn’t meet his gaze or indulge him, and then snickers.“I like it,” he declares and Tsukishima grits his teeth, then Akiteru frowns thoughtfully as an afterthought, “Wait, Yamaguchi Tadashi? You’re the one who kept Kei company yesterday then?”
Now Tsukishima doesn’t hesitate to glare at his older brother—said brother doesn’t even notice.
Tadashi’s eyes flit to Tsukishima briefly, wondering how much the blond has told his brother about him and blushes, before nodding. Akiteru lights up.
“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you! He wouldn’t let me come with him to keep him company, you see, so it’s nice he had some anyway. He’s been talking about you—ngh!” Tsukishima’s elbow is currently digging into Akiteru’s ribs after having slammed into them with full force, and Akiteru seems to think better on continuing his line of thought and backtracks, putting space between him and his brother. But Tadashi’s frustrated, because what had he been about to say?
“Alright alright!” Akiteru puts the hand currently not rubbing the sore spot on his ribs up in surrender.
Tsukishima looks positively murderous. “What did you want, Akiteru.”
Akiteru lets out a sharp exhale through his nose. “I was gonna drag you to dinner, meanie, but if you’re busy I’ll leave you.”
“I’m busy,” Tsukishima deadpans, levelling his brother with a hard stare.
“Alright, but don’t forget to eat something, okay?”
Tsukishima looks ready to give a snarky reply but seems to backtrack and ends up nodding and ground out a grouchy, “Fine.”
Akiteru looks pleased with the answer and claps a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Good! I’ll see you later then, have fun,” he smiles, then steps back and drops his hand as he turns to look at Tadashi, giving a quick bow. “It was nice meeting you, Tadashi-kun, take good care of Kei for me. See you around!”
And like that, Akiteru has turned and is walking with light steps in the direction he came from. Tadashi and Tsukishima stand frozen and stare after him for about three seconds before either of them move; Tadashi turning to look at Tsukishima and Tsukishima in turn reaching up to fiddle casually with his glasses.
Tadashi smiles.
“He seems nice. And like a good brother,” he comments, Tsukishima turning his gaze to him and narrowing his eyes as he appears to study Tadashi’s face.
“He talks too much,” he says eventually, but Tadashi is focusing so hard on the blond’s voice that the fondness doesn’t go lost on him. He doesn’t point it out though, because Tsukishima is averting his gaze as though he doesn’t want Tadashi poking the subject anymore. That’s fine. Tadashi’s smile widens.
“You’re joining us then?”
Tsukishima eyes Tadashi and then shrugs, his expression showing disinterest that isn’t present in his eyes. “I figure it will piss off the shorty so much it might just be worth sparing a few minutes.”
Tadashi snorts as they start walking toward the bar. “His name is Hinata, y’know. Try not to be too mean to him, please.”
Tsukishima gives him a sidelong glance, looking contemplative. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What’s he doing here, Yamaguchi?” Hinata asks accusingly, looking nothing short of betrayed. Then he turns to Tsukishima himself and glares, pointing him in the face. “You! What have you done to our sweet Yamaguchi! Our Yamaguchi would never be interested in someone like you, so what have you done? How many lies have you fed him?”
Tsukishima narrows his eyes and glares at the shorter boy, straightening his neck and curling his lips in disgust. He looks truly intimidating, Tadashi thinks, and Yachi seems to agree if her nervous expression is anything to go by, but Hinata seems to take no note of it, too riled up. He’s either very brave or very stupid. Probably the latter.
“Your sweet Yamaguchi is fully capable of making his own decisions regardless of what I might tell him,” Tsukishima snarls and finally Hinata seems to shrink back a little under the taller boy’s glare. “Maybe it’s your friend’s judgement you should reconsider if he brings along someone like me.” Tsukishima basically spits the last words. Tadashi is nothing short of shocked to detect a hint of hurt in the blond’s tone, which he tries to hide so hard behind his snide tone.
Hinata, stubborn as he is, doesn’t back off but opts to hold a glaring contest with the blond, which Tsukishima surprisingly indulges. Despite his stubborn behaviour, the tiny boy actually has the courtesy to look somewhat ashamed.
Tadashi clears his throat, “Tsukishima’s joining us for dinner,” he informs his friends, giving Hinata a pointed look which he hopes portrays how much he just wants Hinata to not right now.
“What? No! I won’t allow—!”
Kageyama’s hand shoots forward and grabs a handful of orange hair and tugs, breaking Hinata off. “Ow!”
“It’s not for you to decide, dumbass Hinata!”
“Shut up, stupid Kagey—”
“Oh, then who is it for to decide?” Turning to Tsukishima finds him smirking, any trace of the hurt he appeared to have felt gone. “You? What, are you some sort of leader here? … Should I call you King?”
Kageyama’s eye twitches and his fist in Hinata’s hair tightens. Tadashi inwardly panics because that’s the most sensitive button Kageyama has, how could Tsukishima possibly have known what to push?
“Haah?” Kageyama growls and straightens in his chair, unconsciously tugging harder on Hinata’s hair in the process.
“Ow, owowow, Bakageyama, let go!” Hinata tries to swat his boyfriend’s hand away but ends up missing and instead manages to slam his palm up under his chin. Everything goes quiet, like that time Hinata had hit a volleyball at the back of Kageyama’s head, and just like back then Hinata’s eyes widen with the realisation of what he’s just done.
Tsukishima looks beyond amused and satisfied at the scene he’s successfully caused, pleased with having found out the dramatic duo’s respective sore spot in such a short amount of time.
Upon seeing Kageyama’s wide eyes and flat expression however, which makes the setter look absolutely murderous—a look only Hinata has ever managed to elicit—Tadashi feels that Tsukishima’s done here.
“Alright, we’re going to go on ahead!” he calls with feigned unconcern, wasting no time with grabbing Tsukishima’s hand and dragging him away from the stressful scene. Tadashi never handles them well, but Yachi does after having had plenty of experience from dealing with them, so he figures the best he can do is remove the source of everything from the area and in the process spare himself a heart attack.
Tsukishima hums thoughtfully behind him after they’ve rounded a corner and Tadashi figures it should be safe to slow down so he can match the blond’s pace. He lets out a breath and looks back at Tsukishima.
“What?” he questions, and follows the blond’s gaze downward to where their extended hands meet and fingers curl around each other. Tsukishima’s thumb is brushing across Tadashi’s knuckles experimentally, as though he’s considering the feeling of someone’s hand in his.
Tadashi’s eyes widen fractionally when he realises he’d grabbed the blond’s hand without even thinking and he withdraws it as though he’s been burnt. “Ah! S-sorry, Tsukki.“
Tsukishima looks up with a crease between his eyebrows and an unimpressed stare as they come to a stop. “Stop apologising. What is it now?”
Nonplussed, Tadashi blinks; wouldn’t Tsukishima be annoyed at Tadashi holding his hand just like that? “You don’t… mind that I held your hand?”
The blond fixes him with a glare. “Are you an idiot?” As soon as the words leave his mouth however, he seems to almost regret them because he sighs and lets his expression smooth out. Then he says in a slightly lower tone, with a frown Tadashi can’t quite decipher, “No, I don’t mind.”
Tadashi swallows at the change of tone, and what it does to his butterflies, and finds his eyes flitting down to Tsukishima’s lips briefly, realising he really wants to kiss him again. Considering Tsukishima’s own drifting eyes, he hopes the blond might just want the same. He considers doing it, right here, just lean in again and capture that sweet, sweet feel of the blond’s lips against his, and he thinks maybe Tsukishima will beat him to it when a group of loud middle-aged men walk by and break the spell.
Tadashi sucks in a deep breath and frowns slightly while the blond looks unconcerned. His eyes skid away to the side before they come back and settle on Tadashi’s face again. Then his lips twitches up.
“Nice sunburn, by the way,” he offers, and just like that they’re back to how they were before.
Tadashi groans and glares up at him. “Yeah, thanks a lot, Tsukki.”
Said blond is full-on smirking now. “A pleasure.”
“You’re terrible,” Tadashi says without much conviction as they resume their walk toward the hotel restaurant.
Tsukishima snorts, seemingly unaffected by the way they’re drifting so close to each other their shoulders brush with each step. “You don’t sound much like you believe that, Yamaguchi.”
Tadashi shakes his head and smiles at the ground when Tsukishima’s hand brushes his.
He shrugs, then Tsukishima’s pinky hooks itself in his own, and even though Tsukishima’s whole posture still speaks of confidence that little gesture seemed nothing but tentative to Tadashi. It makes the butterflies in his belly come to life once again.
Tadashi waits it out, happily indulging Tsukishima’s pinky-holding until the blond readjusts their hands like he had yesterday, lacing their fingers together. Tadashi sighs softly; yeah, he could get used to this.
As it turns out, Tsukishima ends up sparing more than just a few minutes that evening.
Dinner had gone well—well, as well as it could have with Kageyama and Hinata sharing a table with Tsukishima. Hinata had glared openly at Tsukishima’s hand in Tadashi’s when they had arrived, and Kageyama had openly glared at Tsukishima himself. The blond had stared back, smirking openly, and asked if it’s very difficult for a king to have dinner with peasants such as himself. Kageyama’s eyebrow had twitched and he’d looked close to breaking his fork in half.
During the actual dinner Hinata had expressed his displeasure at having Tsukishima present through muttered grumbles across the table which Tsukishima had parried smoothly with some sardonic comments of his own. It hadn’t been as bad as it could have been, their bickering had subsided after a little while when Tsukishima got tired of it presumably, and started seeing himself as above all that (read: when Tadashi pointedly had nudged his knee under the table and the glare had been directed at him instead, but the point seemed to have gotten across). Like he said, it had gone as well as it could have with those three at the same table. On another note, Tsukishima seemed to have gotten along very well with Yachi in his own, seemingly disinterested way.
Afterwards, when Tadashi and Tsukishima had detached themselves from the other three, Tadashi had asked whether Tsukishima needed to get back to his brother, trying to keep the solemnity out of his voice as he did. Tsukishima had given him a weird look and said that he’s not operating on a time schedule.
And so that’s how they end up on the beach, talking about their vacation, diving and where they live—Tadashi is pleased to find out that Tsukki apparently also lives in Miyagi. Not that he words it aloud. They learn quite a bit about each other, and it’s nice. Apparently Tsukki’s favourite food is strawberry shortcake, and Tadashi files away that information along with the blond’s fascination with dinosaurs and fish. It had been obvious Tsukishima had tried to tone his enthusiasm down, but it had radiated off him in waves that hadn’t escaped Tadashi’s notice when he’d talked about his very specific kinds of fish whose names Tadashi hadn’t even heard before. It had made the freckled boy feel warmth well up inside him upon seeing the blond like that as it probably was something few people got to see.
They talk for what must be hours, and eventually they end up on the sand, seated next to each other. It had taken quite a bit of coaxing on Tadashi’s part to get Tsukki to actually sit with him, and when he finally succeeded he’d beamed at the blond who looked decidedly less bitter about sitting on sand after that.
“Are you going on any more diving trips while you’re here, Tsukki?” Tadashi asks, placing his hands on the sand behind him to lean back easier and look at the stars.
“Yeah, one,” Tsukishima answers, already in the position Tadashi’s in and eyes flickering over the dark sky. “Are you?”
Tadashi makes a humming sound in affirmation. “Tomorrow, actually.”
In the corner of his eye he can see Tsukishima glancing at him. Eventually he turns his gaze away and says, “Yeah, me too.”
Quiet delight bubbles up within Tadashi, making him smile, albeit quite an odd one seeing as he’s trying to stifle it. The thought of getting to dive with Tsukishima again has his stomach fluttering in anticipation.
They’re quiet for a while after that, simply enjoying the silence in each other’s presence.
Then Tadashi has to break the silence. “Tsukki?”
“Hm?”
“How did you know how to provoke Kageyama with all that king stuff?”
Tsukishima snickers then, apparently still quite satisfied with himself at what he’d managed to accomplish. He glances at Tadashi with a smirk. “Everyone had heard the rumors of the ruthless dictator in Kitagawa Daiichi’s volleyball club. I saw his last match when he got benched. It only clicked that it was him when he started ordering Shrimpy around, and I figured it was a sensitive topic for him,” Tsukishima shrugs and sniggers again, “I didn’t think it would work so well, though.”
Tadashi chuckles softly, albeit a little guiltily. Kageyama and Hinata are his friends after all, but Tsukishima isn’t wrong, per se. They aren’t the brightest people Tadashi knows, and haven’t matured much since high school and still make it very easy to provoke them. But then again, Tsukishima actually means to provoke them, and it’s quite unnecessary but Tadashi can’t help but find amusement in the blond’s smooth sentences and sarcastic replies made up with so much imagination and complicated words that make the duo terribly confused, on top of it all. It’s much better than Tadashi’s own occasionally judgmental thought.
“Speaking of…” Tsukishima mutters, breaking Tadashi out of his thoughts. His eyes are following two silhouettes sprinting across the beach, screaming as they do, one significantly shorter than the other.
Tadashi stares at them, hoping Yachi is doing okay but then realising that if she’s not around the duo she probably has a better chance at doing okay than otherwise, and Tsukishima’s face twists into an annoyed frown. “Can’t they at least be quiet when it’s dark out? They’re giving me a headache.”
Tadashi watches as Hinata stumbles and falls slightly behind Kageyama in their race, and lungs at him. He latches onto Kageyama’s back like a monkey, arms and legs wrapping around the taller form, making Kageyama curse up a storm before he tumbles to the ground. Tsukishima snorts next to Tadashi, and cups his hands around his mouth as he cheerily calls, “I hope the sand tastes good!”
Kageyama doesn’t seem to be in a state where he can form a reply, but Hinata who’s kneeling next to him raises his fist in the air in response, yelling, “Hah? You wanna fight, Tsukishima?”
Tsukishima doesn’t even seem to deem the empty challenge worthy of a reply; he only settles back again.
Despite the long distance between them Tadashi can make out when Hinata starts to pluck sand out of Kageyama’s hair, and the ordeal is so familiar Tadashi almost expects the shorter boy to bring the grains of sand to his mouth. Fortunately he doesn’t, but Tadashi still bursts out laughing at the similarity.
“What?” Tsukishima asks him.
“They kinda remind me of monkeys,” Tadashi wheezes between fits of laughter. Tsukishima looks back at the duo and seems to understand what the freckled boy is seeing, and he also bursts into laughter.
It’s unexpected, and it makes Tadashi’s laughter subside quicker when he gets to hear that beautiful, rare sound coming from the blond. It’s short-lasting, but when it ebbs out Tadashi can’t help but blurt out, “I like your laugh.”
It makes Tsukishima’s eyebrows furrow as he looks at the other boy, and Tadashi has to look hard to detect that along with being taken aback the blond is also flustered.
He wrinkles his nose. “Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
“Make me.” Tadashi had not meant to say that, not at all, and he’s shocked to realise it’s just tumbled out without the approval of himself.
It’s not really a thing that Tadashi does, challenging random people out of the blue like this. He’s not even sure what he’d meant by those words to Tsukki, but when the blond’s narrowed eyes glint in interest he can’t really say he wants to take it back, no matter how embarrassing it had been. His heart is racing when Tsukishima leans closer to him, and his fingers are twitching to touch, to feel.
“As you wish,” he complies after a moment’s tension, a sly smirk forming on his lips. He reaches forward suddenly, taking Tadashi’s chin between his index finger and thumb, guiding him forward. Tadashi’s a little bit too dumbstruck to react in any other way but to stare and blush, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knows this is exactly the outcome he’d wanted.
Fortunately, he doesn’t really have to react either because before he knows it, plush, soft lips meet his own and it’s like he instantly melts into it, the gentle contact relaxing him.
Tsukishima’s lips are sliding softly against his, and Tadashi is pressing into it experimentally, getting acquainted with the feeling of the blond’s lips against his again. It feels less rushed, this time, with the knowledge that they have time and privacy—to some extent. It’s nice, spending the night just getting to know Tsukki properly, no knowledge of a time schedule pressing in the back of their minds so they can fully focus on each other.
Tadashi’s fingers overlap Tsukishima’s on the sand between them, and the other hand he raises tentatively to rest on the blond’s shoulder, the movement causing Tadashi to turn to him properly. In turn Tsukishima appears to scoot closer, lips a more insistent press against Tadashi’s own. His tongue darts out and slides hesitantly over Tadashi’s lower lip, and Tadashi can’t do anything but grant access to the prodding muscle. The wet warmth entering his mouth is making him positively dizzy, butterflies going crazy, and his hand unconsciously slides further up to the side of Tsukishima’s neck. He thinks he’s shaking a little.
Being the inexperienced boy that he is at these things, Tadashi meets Tsukishima’s tongue with his own hesitantly, and the blond seems to get it—or maybe he’s just as inexperienced as he is—because he’s being just as slow and tentative in return.
It doesn’t take long before Tadashi’s finished with just exploring the blond’s mouth; soon enough he deepens the kiss and increases the insistent press of his tongue and lips. Tsukishima seems to be on board with the picked up pace after a surprised hitch in his breath, and then he licks into Tadashi’s mouth with more vigor. His arm not holding himself up wraps around Tadashi’s lower back and pulls him closer, but in their current position Tadashi can’t really get any closer without it ending up very uncomfortable for them both.
Tsukki seems to notice this as well and makes a low, displeased noise in his throat that Tadashi feels against his hand rather than hears. It makes him giggle against the blond’s lips, having to pull away slightly to catch his breath, and when he opens his eyes he sees Tsukishima glaring at him, eyes half-lidded and lips swollen and red. It’s adorable and Tadashi giggles again, marvelling the red dusting the blond’s cheeks.
This whole ordeal has granted the freckled boy some amazing courage, or maybe he’s just too giddy to think, because when it’s been made clear that both of them are reluctant to stop kissing, faces still close enough for their breaths to mingle and hungry eyes never leaving each other, Tadashi pushes up to his knees and moves closer. What he hadn’t counted on though—but what he definitely should have counted on—was how shaky his legs would be after having kissed Tsukki for a while, and so when he raises himself to his knees to move to the blond’s lap his balance falters.
For one utterly frightening second Tadashi thinks he’s ruined everything completely with his unforgiving clumsiness, and can only think about how embarrassing he really is and who would ever want to be with someone like him—
He doesn’t fall, like he’d been convinced he would. Tsukki’s hands are suddenly on his hips, steadying him, and when Tadashi looks up with flaming cheeks and a churning stomach the blond is sporting his usual smirk. “Smooth,” he snickers, tone teasing but with a soft edge to it, and he’s guiding Tadashi forward with his hands.
Tadashi does something between stammering and laughing weakly, and eventually shuts up when he realises he can’t form anything but indecipherable sounds and swallows. Unable to resist the blond’s hands even if he’d wanted to—which he really doesn’t—he lets himself be guided into Tsukishima’s lap, relieved to find himself where he’d originally intended to go. At some point his hands had creeped up to the blond’s shoulders and settled there, and now they’re tightening as he swallows again. His resolve has mostly evaporated after his embarrassing almost-trip, but he finds that maybe he doesn’t need all of it right now. He still feels embarrassed, though, and the furious blush is still present, but the fact that Tsukki hadn’t seemed to care at all about his slip makes him relax.
Sinking into Tsukishima’s lap with the blond’s hands still on his hips, he finds that he’s just the slightest bit taller than him now. He decides that he likes this position, and bites his lip around a smile.
His eyes are resting on Tsukishima’s, whose smirk has subsided and left his expression unreadable and his gaze intense. More importantly, his intense gaze is resting on Tadashi’s teeth digging into his own lip, and when Tsukishima’s tongue darts out to wet his still slightly swollen lips Tadashi’s eyes widen.
“U-um,” he says, very eloquently, and Tsukishima flits his eyes to Tadashi’s own, raising an eyebrow. In turn Tadashi’s eyes drop to the blond’s red-kissed lips, finding himself enraptured by them again. He doesn’t even register himself lifting his hand and brushing the pad of his thumb over the lower lip. What he does register however, is the way Tsukishima’s breath catches in his throat and suddenly Tadashi becomes very aware of what he’s doing. He withdraws his hand in a flash, stuttering out, “S-sorry, Tsukki, I—”
“Yamaguchi.” The low tone catches the freckled boy’s attention immediately, and his gaze falls upon eyes that almost seem to be glowing behind glass frames, full with intent. The blond stretches up and catches Tadashi’s lips in his, and Tadashi exhales into the kiss, kind of sagging into the blond’s lap further. He cups Tsukki’s face in his hands and readily grants entrance to his prodding tongue.
Both of them are already breathing heavily again by the time Tadashi pulls at Tsukishima’s lower lip to give it an experimental nip, hoping to elicit a reaction like the one he’d drawn out of him yesterday. Sure enough, when his teeth dig into the blond’s lower lip, albeit quite gently, it seems to wring an involuntary hiss out of the taller one. It’s not a hiss of pain, though, and pride surges through Tadashi like tidal waves. He lets go of the lip and lets a small, breathless laugh escape him before running his tongue over the lip in a soothing motion.
Tsukishima exhales sharply at this, breathlessly growling out, “Yamaguchi,” against Tadashi’s mouth which sends a shiver down the smaller boy’s spine, and circles one of his arms around Tadashi’s waist. The arm around him is tight and presses him flush against Tsukishima, and this is when Tadashi first becomes very aware of his own aroused state, but has no time to think on it when the blond’s other hand drifts up to his so very sensitive neck—
Tadashi bites back a whimper when Tsukki’s fingers barely brush the skin of his neck, and lets his head fall forward onto the blond’s shoulder, hiding his embarrassing face. His hands fall from the blond’s face and holds onto his shoulders.
“Oh?” Tsukishima says through a smirk, keeping his fingers barely brushing his neck even as Tadashi is reduced to a shivering mess, eyes crossing underneath his eyelids at some point and struggling not to make any embarrassing noises. He says the word as though this is a new revelation but Tadashi knows Tsukishima knew exactly where to touch him to get this kind of reaction, he’d just been waiting for when to use one of his greatest weaknesses against him. It’s obvious he’s revelling in Tadashi’s current state, just like it’s obvious that he’s keeping his touch too light on purpose. That boy has no mercy.
“T-Tsukki,” Tadashi whines, feeling his face heat up and his nether regions reacting too much to the sensual touch in this situation. He wriggles slightly in the blond’s lap, hoping it isn’t obvious how he’s trying to put some space between them. If Tsukki felt him like this, right now, he thinks he’d die. “Tsukki, c’mon, n-no fair.”
Tsukishima snorts, but does pause his actions to nudge Tadashi’s face with his shoulder, indicating that he should lift his head. At first Tadashi is reluctant to the point where he’s shaking his head and burying his face in Tsukishima’s hot neck like a petulant child, but after a little while he finally lifts his head and blinks into golden, open eyes.
The touch returns to his neck, but this time with pressure, and it leads him right to pressing his lips to Tsukishima’s once again. He sighs as if relieved, but then feels ridiculous upon having missed kissing the blond after just a few minutes’ abstinence.
Tsukishima himself only hums contently, removing the space Tadashi had put between their waists by tightening his arm around him again. Tadashi opens his mouth around a silent gasp when he falls right back into Tsukishima’s lap, pressed right up against him, and Tsukishima smirks. He uses the opportunity to thrust his tongue into Tadashi’s open mouth, making him unable to stifle a groan.
It’s sloppy and almost desperate, the way their mouths move together and their tongues slide against each other, but Tadashi honestly cannot recall anything ever being even remotely as hot as this is to him. He’s still embarrassed about his growing arousal that cannot have escaped Tsukishima’s notice, but it does help to feel the blond’s own arousal pressed against him. Even so, neither of them move at all from their waists down, and Tadashi thinks that that’s probably for the best, because he believes he might just explode if they start doing anything now. He’s already overwhelmed from all the new sensations and emotions that surge through him—and the emotions that Tsukki are emitting himself. It’s a little bit too much, especially with the wild fluttering in his belly, too.
Tadashi buries his hands in soft, silky curls and sighs again, and this time they both start to slow down after that. Tsukishima cups Tadashi’s face in his hands gently—so gently that Tadashi feels like his heart will swell and break his ribcage.
When he thinks about it, it feels a little weird that he’s already so taken with Tsukki after only having met him yesterday, and yet it doesn’t feel weird at all. It feels just right, actually. It’s an embarrassing thought, but it’s not a lie. He desperately hopes Tsukki might just feel the same because he really, really likes this tall, dorky, asshole of a blond.
By now they’re just kissing leisurely and with nothing but soft touches, and Tadashi sighs Tsukki against the blond’s bruised lips. Tsukishima leans his forehead against Tadashi’s and exhales, effectively breaking them apart. They stay like that, breathing slowly against each other’s lips and listening to the crickets and the small waves crashing against the beach again and again. They’re soothing sounds.
They don’t really take note of the faraway sounds of the hotel guests’ loud laughing nor the guests strolling down the beach, some of them seeing them and some of them not.
“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima mutters after a little while, breaking the silence. Tadashi hums, but doesn’t open his eyes. There’s a more silence after that, and Tadashi cracks an eye open too look questioningly at the blond. Said blond is furrowing his eyebrows and looking away. He’s glaring, but not at anything in particular. He seems to be struggling with something, but before Tadashi gets to ask he’s talking again, this time staring straight into Tadashi’s eyes.
“Yamagu— Tadashi,” Tadashi’s stomach lurches upon hearing his name roll off the blond’s tongue like that (he quickly decides that Tsukki’s way of saying it is his favourite), “go out with me. ”
Tadashi stares, then he snorts, and it’s followed by several peals of laughter he can’t bite back. He’s just so relieved, mostly, but also happy and nervous and smitten, and it’s rolling off of him along with his laughter, which is making him breathless. Tsukishima, however, is not so very amused. He looks severely unimpressed, eyebrows slightly furrowed and annoyance radiating off of him. He’s probably thinking Tadashi is laughing at him, and he honest to god looks seconds away from just pushing Tadashi off of him and walking away, if his twitching eye is anything to go by.
Fortunately, Tadashi manages to get himself together before something like that happens.
“Wait wait, Tsukki—” He puts his hand over Tsukki’s when it’s starting to push at Tadashi’s chest in an attempt to disentangle himself from this whole situation, colour rising in his cheeks and muttering something incoherent along with a tch.
Thankfully, he stills and Tadashi wipes at his eyes, feeling very guilty all of a sudden. It’s obvious now that this whole thing is harder for the blond than he’s willing to let on. He’s still only glaring at Tadashi.
“I’m sorry, Tsukki, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh,” Tadashi rambles, tightening his hand on Tsukishima’s. “Of course I’ll go out with you. D-didn’t think you’d even have to ask, I mean…” He blushes, reaching up to rub at his neck abashedly. “I was kinda obvious, wasn’t I?”
Tsukishima’s exterior softens, and there’s a hopeful kind of brightness in his eyes now. His face is back to its expressionless self, and to anyone else he might appear as aloof and completely unperturbed but Tadashi can see something warmer shining through.
“No, I thought you only wanted to be friends after you kissed me yesterday,” Tsukishima says sarcastically, then adds bluntly, “Yes, you were extremely obvious,” and once again Tadashi thinks about the lack of mercy his love interest has and how much he should feel indignant but can’t, “but I’d say it’s just common courtesy to ask anyway, idiot.” He punctuates the insult, which had lacked any bite at all, with poke to Tadashi’s waist, making the other boy yelp and jump.
“Tsukki!”
Tsukishima shrugs, obviously not remorseful at all. Tadashi huffs, and Tsukishima’s features twist into a knowing smirk which then evolves into a soft smile, and Tadashi immediately leans down to kiss it, just to feel that rare smile against his lips—and because he can. He can’t help but smile himself as he does.
“You’re ridiculous,” mumbles Tsukishima against him, tone speaking of indifference but the press of his lips speaking of contentment and adoration, something that is quite foreign to Tadashi but without fail makes his heart swell.
He hums in some sort of agreement, because from the looks of it Tsukishima doesn’t really seem to mind his ridiculousness and right now, neither does Tadashi. Not when Tsukishima wraps his arms around him and the comforting feeling of belonging fills him to the brink with the motion.
Right now, he’s convinced they’re both right where they should be.