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The warm afternoon sun filtered through the windows, highlighting dust mites in the air, before falling on the bed, encasing the two boys in the perfect picture of serenity. Kei lazily carded his fingers through Yamaguchi's hair, pushing it away from his face. Even in his sleep, Yamaguchi nuzzled closer to Kei's palm. He smiled softly to himself; violin playing gently through his earbuds. If he could, Kei would want to keep this moment forever. It's just Yamaguchi and himself, legs tangled, warmth beating in on them. It's quiet, it's calm, it's beautiful, and -
Someone pounded their fist on Kei's door.
"Goddamnit," Kei hissed under his breath. Yamaguchi frowned in his sleep, but didn't wake up. Kei untangled their legs and stood up, groaning at the way one of his arms had fallen asleep. He shuffled to the door and opened it. A head of bright orange hair and a frustrated looking face was staring up at him.
"No," Kei said, and shut the door in Hinata's face.
Hinata knocked again, louder. Kei threw open the door.
"What?" he hissed, stepping out into the hall and carefully closing the door behind him.
"Where's Kageyama? He said he'd meet me at the rink almost forty five minutes ago, but he never showed up, and he's not answering his phone!" Hinata said, crossing his arms and tapping his foot, looking startlingly like a disgruntled woman asking to speak to the manager. Kei wrinkled his nose at the mental imagery.
"He went home for the weekend," he said bluntly. Hinata frowned.
"No," he argued. "He did that last weekend."
"No," Kei said slowly, so his words could sink into Hinata's brain. "Last weekend, you two idiots went to the park and Bokuto had to come rescue you because a goose chased you up a tree and wouldn't let you come back down." Hinata squinted at him, disbelieving.
"No, there was definitely another weekend in there. Tell him Yamaguchi!"
"Tsukki's right," a voice said softly from behind Kei, who jumped. He hadn't heard the door open again. Luckily, Hinata hadn't noticed him lurch because he was too busy deflating at Yamaguchi's words.
"But...?"
"You're a weekend ahead of yourself Hinata," Yamaguchi said kindly. "Kageyama's at home right now and is probably busy with his family, which is why-"
"Why he hasn't checked his phone, yeah, okay," Hinata said, nodding. He still looked a little upset. "I guess I'll go back to my room, alone, 'cause Kenma's out with Kuroo..." he said, hinting.
Yamaguchi opened his mouth to say something, probably to offer for Hinata to hang out with the two of them.
"Hinata," Kei said hurriedly, "Bokuto's been looking for a new paintball partner. If you ask him, he'll probably hang out with you." Hinata visibly brightened at his words.
"Really? You think so?"
Kei nodded.
"Thanks Tsukishima! Bye guys!" Hinata rushed out breathlessly, and then skipped down the hall, leaving Kei and Yamaguchi blinking.
"That was uncharacteristically nice of you," Yamaguchi eventually said, lacing their hands and pulling Kei back in his room. Kei snorted.
"I really did not want him spending time with us. And before you say anything, I know you were going to offer."
"Actually," Yamaguchi smirked, curling up onto the bed. Kei laid down beside him, and allowed Yamaguchi to snuggle up to his side. "I was planning on telling him Yachi wasn't working today and probably didn't have plans, but you cut in. Didn't want him around today?"
"I just- you said you wanted to spend today with me!" Kei said defensively. Yamaguchi had the audacity to snicker at him.
"Jealous, are we?" Kei's jaw dropped.
"I AM NOT-" he started, and then took a deep breath. "I mean, I am not jealous," he said, frowning and staring at the ceiling.
"Sure you're not," Yamaguchi said, nuzzling into his neck.
"I'm not," Kei insisted, determinedly glaring at the questionable looking stain in one of the ceiling tiles, and completely ignoring the boy in his bed beside him who was now mouthing at his neck.
"Tsukki," Yamaguchi hummed against his collarbone, "Is everything okay?"
Kei froze, and then forced his muscles to relax. The action didn't go unnoticed by Yamaguchi, who propped himself up on his elbow to look carefully at him.
"Is everything okay?" he asked again, gentler this time.
Kei looked away from the ceiling and back at Yamaguchi. He searched his eyes, not quite sure what to look for, but found only concern. Kei sat up and drew his knees into his chest.
"I'm okay," he said carefully. "It's just..." Kei gestured to the empty air in front of him. "It's just a day."
Yamaguchi sat up beside him and leaned into the side wall. He hummed softly in understanding, but didn't press the issue.
"You know," Yamaguchi said quietly, after a few moments of silence. "When I was younger I always did my best to help out my mom. My dad wasn't around, and I guess I felt guilty about that? Even though I never knew him, I was scared it was my fault he left, and I think I was constantly trying to make up for that.
"Anyway, this one summer when I was about eight years old, my mom came back from grocery shopping and there was a lot to carry, so I insisted on helping even though Mom tried to tell me it was okay. I saw the way she was carrying a bunch of bags in one hand and a sack of potatoes in the other and decided to mimic it. But the only other 'big' thing I could carry was this watermelon. So I loaded myself up with as many bags as I could, and carefully rolled the watermelon under my arm. I was halfway to the house when I tripped and dropped everything, but the worst was that stupid watermelon. I can still picture it in my head. The thing practically exploded.
"My mom came back out from the house to see me sobbing over this shattered watermelon on the ground. She wasn't mad, but I felt so bad about it that I decided to eat all the salvageable watermelon I could, so that way it wouldn't go to waste. There was so much," Yamaguchi groaned. "To this day, I still can't eat the stupid fruit without feeling sick."
Kei smiled to himself. He could picture it, a young Yamaguchi, face speckled and red from crying, his big eyes still brimming with tears munching away at the watermelon.
"Anyway," Yamaguchi said, trailing his fingertips down Kei's arm to lace their fingers together. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though at the time, the watermelon was the absolute worst thing happen to me, in retrospect, it's just another funny story to tell."
He squeezed Kei's hand reassuringly, and slowly felt himself relax. He felt the weight on his chest, one that he hadn't consciously realized was there, lift. He uncurled his limbs and leaned forward to rest his forehead on Yamaguchi's shoulder.
"What would I do without you," he murmured. Yamaguchi laughed, the sound tinkling through the space.
"I imagine you'd do just fine," he said.
---
The door clicked, and he could hear footsteps and some rustling.
Kei rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, blearlily looking around. His hand searched for his glasses on his nightstand. The world came into focus as pushed them on his face, sitting up. Yamaguchi was shrugging off a jacket, and smiled when he saw Kei looking at him.
"Mornin' sleepyhead," he said. Kei frowned at the window, and then back at Yamaguchi.
"It's dark out."
"It is my firm belief that any time after you wake up is morning."
"You're ridiculous."
"Yes," Yamaguchi said, grinning. Kei smirked back, but it slowly turned into a frown when he took in the bags on his desk.
"What's this?"
"Food!" Yamaguchi beamed. "I figured you'd be hungry when you woke up, so I got us some takeout." Kei's frown deepened.
"Yamaguchi, we had a reservation," he said. Yamaguchi's smile turned a little more gentle.
"You were tired," he said, bringing the food over to the bed.
"You should have woken me up," Kei said stubbornly. Yamaguchi looked at him exasperatedly.
"I told you before Tsukki," he said, busying himself with opening containers. "I just wanted to spend today with you, that's all." He looked up to meet Kei's eyes, blush pooling across his cheeks.
Kei's chest felt tight. He opened his mouth to respond but the only sound that came out was the gurgling of his stomach.
They both jerked in shock, and then Yamaguchi was giggling again, and handing him a pair of chopsticks. Kei watched him break his own chopsticks, and tuck his hair behind his ear as he dug into his food.
Kei stood up abruptly. Yamaguchi looked up in concern.
"I have something for you," he said, rustling around in his desk drawers before pulling out the small package. He handed it to Yamaguchi, who stared up at him with wide eyes.
"Tsukki!" he yelped. "I said I didn't-"
"I know," Kei took a deep breath. "And I promise it's not much." At his encouragement, Yamaguchi unwrapped the small package. A familiar silver disc popped out when he opened the case. He looked back up at Kei, eyes crinkling.
"A mixtape?" he asked. Kei took a deep breath.
"I'm not good with expressing myself," he said. "So I made a CD of some music that reminds me of you, and how I feel about you." Kei looked down uncomfortably as Yamaguchi stared at him. A hand under his jaw forced his head back up. Yamaguchi was smiling so wide he seemed to twinkle.
"Thank you Tsukki," he gasped. "Can I listen to it now?"
Kei nodded and moved his untouched food back onto his desk. He grabbed his laptop and his headphones and stretched out on his bed, leaning back against the wall.
"C'mere," he said, and Yamaguchi scooched forward. Kei rolled his eyes and grabbed Yamaguchi, pulling him back against his chest so Yamaguchi was comfortably leaning on him. He placed the headphones over Yamaguchi's ears and hit play on his laptop. Yamaguchi snickered as the familiar tune filled his head, blocking out everything else.
"You're so corny," he said, his voice raised just a little too loudly for the two of them. Kei just smiled, and pressed his face the back of Yamaguchi's head.
"I love you," Kei murmured into his hair. Yamaguchi lifted the headphones from his ears.
"Pardon?"
"I said happy birthday, Tadashi."