Chapter Text
==Kei Tsukishima==
For the second year in a row Hinata and Kageyama were risking their trip to the Fukurodani Academy training camp because they couldn’t study. That resulted in Tsukishima being more annoyed than usual at the pair of them because he had to help the team’s resident dumbass duo study. Tanaka was hosting the study session again and Saeko was providing snacks while Kageyama and Hinata were actively engaging in a chugging competition to see who could finish their water bottle fastest since Coach Ukai said that the team needed to focus more on hydration.
Hinata finished his water and slammed his water bottle on the table, “I win!” In his efforts to try to show up Hinata, Kageyama wound up with water coming out of his nose. Tanaka and Nishinoya dissolved into a bout of laughter.
Tsukishima sighed, regardless of how much he wanted to, he couldn't just let them fail. After losing at nationals last year to Kamomedai the whole team was forced to acknowledge just how important the freak twins were. The Fukurodani training camp was going to be the best opportunity to see what the Tokyo teams are like this year now that the third years are gone, and without Sugawara the team didn’t have another setter which, regrettably, made Kageyama invaluable.
“Focus,” Tsukishima snapped. Hinata and Kageyama were doing no better at focusing on their studying for exams than they had before they knew they might not be able to go to the Tokyo training camp. “This is the second year that you’re risking failing your tests before the training camp. It’s not that hard to just study a little so you can go.”Kageyama and Hinata returned to their worksheets. Hinata, jittery and nervous at the reminder that the training camp was the cost of failing his exams.
Everyone focused for a couple minutes and Ennoshita, Karasuno’s captain for the year, finished going over Nishinoya and Tanaka’s English practice tests. Tsukishima glanced over at the worksheets and unsuccessfully tried to contain his laughter, resulting in a sort of muffled snort, “Noya-San, Tanaka-San, I thought our third years could do better than this.”
“Come on! I have other qualities you know!” Nishinoya yelled, “Just because you’re smarter than us at a language we don’t need to know doesn’t make you so much better!”
“Yeah! That’s no way to talk to your upperclassmen! And I’m doing better than you anyway because Kiyoko gave me her number before she graduated!” Due to his success last year with getting Kiyoko’s phone number, Tanaka had started using it as a way to make himself seem more successful than the rest of the team.
Ennoshita smiled a little, “Well it was a passing grade, so they're doing better than Hinata and Kageyama over there.”
Tsukishima returned his attention to Hinata and Kageyama. Kageyama was on the fourth question on the english worksheet with his pencil frozen over the page. Hinata was doing a little better, he was about halfway done with the worksheet and it was apparent that he was doing okay with his translations. Kageyama, realizing that he wasn’t making any progress on his own, turned and asked Hinata for help.
“Dude,” Hinata looked over at Kageyama’s paper, “You think I know the right answer? If I knew then why do we have Tsukishima here?”
“I’m here to help the almighty King and his court jester figure out their English homework, but His Majesty can’t seem to wrap his head around the difference of an adverb and an adjective,” Tsukishima glared at Kageyama and stood up, “I’m going to get some water. Let me know when you’re both done with these and then you two can do a practice test.”
Once out of the room, Tsukishima took a deep breath. He had been more annoyed with Kageyama recently. Yamaguchi had started dating Yachi toward the end of last year, meaning that he had to spend more time with the third years and the other two second years. With how much time he had been spending with Kageyama, every word he said made Tsukishima want to rip his hair out. Kageyama didn’t say much, but when he did it was so matter of fact that there was nothing else to be said. At practice, Tsukishima would annoy Kageyama and try to make him angry, but every time it just ended up with Kageyama trying to make Tsukishima jump higher off his sets. But what was worse was how Kageyama couldn’t admit he was wrong and ask for help, even for something as important as midterm exams, and that stubborn attitude made Tsukishima’s blood boil.
==Tobio Kageyama==
Kageyama stared at the paper, the words stared back and taunted him. English was one of three classes where his grades loomed over his head and threatened to prevent him from going to the Tokyo training camp. Some of the third years, as well asYachi and Yamaguchi had been helping him study, however, Tsukishima had been more helpful than anyone else. Even though he was extremely helpful, Kageyama thought there was nothing worse than having to ask the smug asshole Tsukishima for help with anything, especially outside of volleyball.
He sighed, Kageyama knew he should have skipped asking Hinata and just asked Tsukishima for help, but his pride wouldn’t let him. After Tsukishima left the room, Ennoshita had helped him on problem three and Kageyama had moved forward a couple problems, but the foreign words asking him questions about grammar that he couldn’t answer in his first language felt like a cliff and he was stuck at the bottom.
Kageyama raised his head from his paper and looked over at Hinata, who was now engaged in a conversation with Tanaka and Nishinoya. “Wait- Hinata, did you finish it? Hand it over you scrub, I need to see your answers!”
Hinata pushes his sheet over to Kageyama, “Ha! I finished the assignment first! That’s a win for me!”
Tanaka groaned, “Dude, you’re still keeping track of every win?”
Hinata and Kageyama both nodded.
“How many is that now?” Nishinoya asked.
“I have 316 wins and 318 losses,” Hinata has to grit the second part of his statement between his teeth. Kageyama feels his perpetual frown relax into a smug smile.
“I’m going to get better scores on all of our tests and then I’m going to have even more wins than that,” Kageyama says and turns back to his worksheet.
He immediately regretted his statement as he realized that he was doing worse than Hinata in English. English was both of their worst subjects, and knowing that he was doing worse than Hinata at anything made Kageyama unreasonably angry. The realization was almost enough to get him to go get Tsukishima from the kitchen, but not quite. “Ennoshita, can you help me with these last couple problems?” Kageyama asked instead.
Ennoshita nodded and moved away from the three other boys who were engaged in a conversation filled with animated hand gestures and comical sound effects, “Yeah, what do you need, Kageyama?”
Five minutes later Kageyama was done with his English practice sheet, but even with Ennoshita’s help it had been a struggle and there were several errors. Kageyama leaned back in his chair and sighed, “Hinata, go get Tsukishima. I’m done.”
Hinata, who had been becoming stir crazy, jumped up from his seat and ran to the kitchen to go get Tsukishima. Kageyama was dreading Tsukishima coming back into the room. He wouldn’t ask for help and if he did too poorly on his practice it was going to be humiliating. Tsukishima would relentlessly mock him for any mistake, it made Kageyama want to throttle him. Even when Tsukishima would try to help him with his work, Kageyama always felt like he was going to give up and walk away. Tsukishima was the best at teaching Kageyama, he usually would understand it faster than if Ennoshita were trying to help him or in class when his teacher was giving the lesson, but he always wound up wishing that anyone else was there helping him. Being in the same room with Tsukishima made him see red.
Tsukishima walked back into the room, “You’re both done?”
Hinata and Kageyama both nodded. Kageyama shoved his paper at Tsukishima as he sat down, “Here.”
Tsukishima took the paper from Kageyama and reached across the table for Hinata’s. Kageyama kept his eyes fixed on the red pen Tsukishima was using to grade them, watching every time he marked a mistake. The fewer mistakes, the more time he could spend playing volleyball tomorrow and the closer he was to the Tokyo training camp.
His focus on the pen was broken by Tsukishima sighing. “Well,” Tsukishima’s face broke into a smirk, “You both did worse than I thought was even possible. The King was brought down by the lowly peasant.”
Tsukishima’s smirk returned to his usual frown as he handed the papers back to Hinata and Kageyama. On the top of the page was a big 32 circled in red. The entire page was dotted and marked with a red pen. Kageyama groaned and set his forehead down on the table, “English is so stupid. There’s no reason for me to need to know English to be able to play volleyball.”
Hinata had a similar reaction to a slightly better score, “We can’t pass these tests. Goodbye Tokyo, hello test retakes.”
Tsukishima looked at his watch and stood up, “I’m getting going. Hinata, you’ll probably be fine, the actual test is easier than this. The King might not fare so well.” He turned around and walked out.
Tanaka’s older sister Saeko popped her head into the room as Tsukishima was leaving, “Ryu! You better get started on the dishes. It’s your turn!”
Ryu stood up and started picking up, “Alright that’s it then! I’ll see you guys later. She probably just wants you guys out of here so she can start drinking though.”
Kageyama, Hinata and the other second years all got up and filed out of Tanaka’s dining room. They all thanked Saeko as they left. Once they were out of Tanaka’s house, they started heading their separate ways. Kageyama and Ennoshita both headed in the same direction. As the two walked, Ennoshita tried to make small talk with Kageyama, who mostly responded in one word answers. Finally, he asked the question that got him an actual response, “Kageyama, why don’t you ask Tsukishima to help you more than once a week when Coach makes him? He’s genuinely a decent teacher once he gets tired of being an asshole. He’s the reason why Hinata might actually pass his exams this year.”
Kageyama made eye contact with Ennoshita, “I can’t do that. I don’t want his help.”
Ennoshita shook his head, “Do you not want his help, or do you not want to need his help?”
Kageyama looked at Ennoshita blankly before he turned his eyes back to the sidewalk. What was it that made him so opposed to getting help from Tsukishima? As he and Ennoshita parted ways, his mind was filled with worry and resentment about Tsukishima and English tests and how to ask for help, rather than his usual replays of volleyball practice and planning his next meal.
==Kei Tsukishima==
The walk to morning practice felt like it took longer than usual. Waking up at 5:45 to go to practice at 7:00 was just a part of his daily routine. Tsukishima had hit the snooze button an extra time and had his headphones turned up a notch louder than usual. After the previous night’s study session, Tsukishima was left stressing about Kageyama’s English score. The part of him that was fueled by pettiness and spite reveled in being better than Kageyama at something, even if that was just academics. Another part of him was filled with a sense of inadequacy, that he hadn’t successfully gotten the King to be able to pass an English test. The final part of him was stressed about volleyball, something that until the previous year, Tsukishima hadn’t particularly cared about. Now, volleyball had become one of the things that got him through his day, and a huge part of that was his teammates.
The new first years were good, several of them chose Karasuno due to the team’s success the previous year at nationals. They had gotten two new hitters and a new potential libero, as well as a couple others who were decent all-arounders, but no new setters. Regardless of his tense relationship with the setter, going to the Tokyo training camp would be a disaster without Kageyama. He was possibly the most important member of the team, as he was their only viable setter.
Tsukishima sighed as he saw the door to the gym, already open, which meant that Hinata and Kageyama were already there. Even though he had been hooked on volleyball the previous year and volleyball had become instrumental to his life, there were parts that he dreaded. One of those was Kageyama, another was his best friend Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi had begun dating the team’s manager, Yachi, since the end of their first year of high school. Because of this, Tsukishima had begun to only see Yamaguchi during volleyball practice and in class, which had put a strain on his relationship both with his friend, and with the sport.
Tsukishima put his headphones down around his neck and walked into the gym. Kageyama and Hinata were both there, as well as two of the first years and Ennoshita. Nishinoya and Tanaka were likely going to be late. Tsukishima greeted the captain with a nod and set his bag in the corner. As the rest of the team filed in, Tsukishima pulled his mind from his worries about Kageyama’s grades as he changed his shirt and shoes.
There was a soft thud next to him as Yamagughi set his bag next to Tsukishima’s, “Morning Tsuki. How was the study session last night?”
“It was fine,” Tsukishima glanced over at his friend, who was mid-yawn, “How was your date with Yachi?”
Yamaguchi seemed to wake up at the mention of his girlfriend, “It was great! We got dinner at that sushi restaurant your brother recommended.”
Tsukishima nodded and only half listened as Yamaguchi told him about the rest of his date. The pair stood up and walked over to the group of guys who had slowly begun assembling into a stretch circle. Yachi sat in the corner working on the team statistics for each player. Ennoshita was leading the team through stretches as Coach Ukai walked in, followed by his signature scent of cigarette smoke and convenience store air freshener.
“Alright!” Ukai clapped his hands, “Lets get started with a short jog for warm up followed by some serving drills,” The boys let out a collective groan, “Tokyo is going to be great, but not if we get stuck behind like last year! We didn’t win a single set against Fukurodani or Nekoma and we do not need a repeat of that. Now get going!”
The boys took off, Kageyama and Hinata engaged in a race in the front, Tsukishima fell into the middle of the pack, lagging behind the rest of the second years, but ahead of most of the team. On the run his mind returned to his dilemma with Kageyama. He felt himself heating up, not just from the running but from the frustration of dealing with a bone-headed idiot like Kageyama.
The rest of practice went mostly like usual, Nishinoya and Tanaka wasted plenty of time yelling and one of the first years got yelled at by Coach Ukai because he was getting in the way. Most of the team was normal, but Kageyama wasn’t setting as well as he usually did. Nobody seemed to notice but Tsukishima and Hinata, because even when he was off his form was near-perfect. He wasn’t trying to force Hinata and Tsukishima to jump higher, and he wasn’t even yelling at Tanaka for flubbing a line-shot. And during serving drills, Kageyama had more serves than usual go into the net or out of bounds.
After one particularly low set, Tsukishima turned to him, “Wow, I mean I knew everyone had shitty sets but this one takes the cake! I think Hinata could have set that better than you.”
==Tobio Kageyama==
“He could have what?” Kageyam spat out the last word. He had been stressing all morning about not going to Tokyo if he failed his test and his sets had been off. The last thing he had needed was Tsukishima quipping about his playing. “That scrub could have set that better than me?”
Tsukishima met Kageyama’s glare with his own, “I said. That was low. You’re off today. Care to share why?”
“It’s none of your business. And I’m not off,” Kageyama retorted.
“I think you are off,” Tsukishima replied, “And if you’re off, we’re all off. So figure it out.”
Tsukishima turned and walked away. Kageyama remained frozen where he stood. He was off, and Tsukishima had said what he was afraid of. That the team depended on him, which meant that he had to pass his English exam and go to Tokyo.
A volleyball flew directly into his vision and hit Kageyama in the face, knocking him out of his stupor. Kageyama turned the direction the ball had come from and was faced with a sheepish Hinata. Kageyama took a step toward Hinata, but before he could get there, Coach Ukai stepped in, “Okay, we’ll call that a wrap for this morning. I’ll see you all here after school and maybe everyone will be in a better mood.”
Kageyama nodded, grabbed his bag and headed for the club room to change. If he was so stressed out that Tsukishima was noticing he was off then he needed to deal with it. He didn’t care about his grades, but he did care about volleyball, so if he had to do well in school to keep playing then he would crack down and pass his classes. The only issue with that is that the only person who was available to ask was Tsukishima. Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata were all in the same boat as him. The other second years had all already turned other people down on study sessions, so they wouldn’t help him, and Yamaguchi and Yachi were insufferable.
Kageyama slammed his bag on the bench and stared at it. He heard the door open as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walked in. Yamaguchi changed and took off to get to class so that he could go talk to Yachi, leaving Tsukishima and Kageyama alone. Kageyama was half changed, he had his uniform pants on and one sock, but no shirt or shoes. He was trying to convince himself to ask Tsukishima to help him with English but every muscle in his body was pushing against that decision. Tsukishima finished changing and walked out of the club room, the door shutting behind him with a soft click.
Before he knew what he was doing, Kageyama rushed out the door after Tsukishima, “Tsukishima!”
Tsukishima turned around, “What? Where are the rest of your clothes?”
Kageyama felt his face heat up, “Please,” he bowed so deep he thought his head was going to touch his knees, “Please help me pass my English exam.”