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As you grow up, your birthday becomes more and more like a normal day. As soon as elementary school ends and you stop bringing in cupcakes for the class, it stops being all that special.
And it seems to be going the same way on Tadashi’s sixteenth birthday. After getting texts from Tsukki and the rest of the volleyball first-years - even Kageyama, even though Hinata and Yachi probably put him up to that - and having a special birthday breakfast before he left for school, November 10 is just another day. He goes to class just like usual, he stares out the window during his math teacher’s lecture on trig identities just like usual, he and Tsukki eat lunch together and keep conversation to a minimum just like usual, everything is normal.
It’s not like he cares much - he doesn’t like a lot of attention anyway - but he wishes he could have at least something today.
That’s what’s going through his mind as he walks to practice - late, of course, since he had to ask his science teacher to clarify a point he missed during the lecture because of his staring out the aforementioned window - and opens the door to the club room. As expected, no one is inside.
Tadashi changes in silence, a shiver going down his spine once he takes his jacket off. It’s just starting to get cold, and while he loves everything about winter, he’s still freezing. He puts the hoodie in his bag on over his t-shirt for the walk over to the gym, glad he packed it before he left for school this morning in a sleep-deprived daze.
There’s condensation on the gym windows when he gets there, and he can hear the shuffling of feet inside. Practice is already in full swing, making it both less awkward and more awkward to show up late.
He tries to open the door. It’s locked. Of course it is.
“Sorry, Yamaguchi!” Suga’s voice is muffled by the door, but it’s clear that he’s trying to hold back a laugh. Maybe Tanaka just pulled something. He would. “Just a sec!”
“Okay!” Tadashi stands there for a few seconds, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself. He hopes it doesn’t rain tonight, the walk home would be abysmal.
Everything after that is a blur.
The door opens a crack and Hinata and Tanaka run outside so fast that Tadashi only knows it’s them by their hair. Giggling up a storm, they get behind him and tie a blindfold around his eyes before he can see who’s holding the door open for them, and they start pushing him forward, and he has no idea what’s going on, and -
“Watch the lip!” Hinata shouts, just as Tadashi almost trips over the lip in the doorframe. “Sorry!”
They’re pushing him faster than he can keep up with, and after a while he resigns to just letting them do it so he can slide across the floor, even if his shoes get ruined because of it. It’s easier than trying to run and getting extremely close to falling on his face.
“Okay.” That sounds like Nishinoya. After he says that one word, everything is silent, and the silence itself seems like it’s in anticipation of something. Tanaka and Hinata stop pushing. “One, two, three!”
Someone - Tadashi can’t tell if it’s Hinata or Tanaka or someone else entirely - rips Tadashi’s blindfold off, and it still takes him a second or two to adjust to the light and actually see again.
“Happy birthday, Yamaguchi!”
Everyone’s standing together, next to a small pile of neatly-wrapped presents. Ennoshita and Kageyama are holding a banner over the top, one of the strings of letters that spell out “Happy Birthday”. Everyone’s smiling, and Tadashi doesn’t know whether to be surprised or delighted, so he chooses both. Along with a little embarrassment that people care about him this much , but that doesn’t matter, right?
“Yamaguchi, you have to open my present first!” Hinata shouts, running over to the stack and grabbing one of the gifts off the top. He holds it out in front of him like a little kid.
“... Thanks, Hinata.” Tadashi smiles, taking the present out of Hinata’s hands. It’s not wrapped perfectly, but Tadashi doesn’t care. It’s nice of him to give him something at all.
It’s a book. Not exactly a present he’d expect from Hinata, but he’s not complaining. It looks like a fantasy book, with colorful swirls on the cover and the word “magic” in the title. Tadashi’s probably going to like it, as soon as he has time to read it. “Thanks a lot!”
“You’re welcome!” Hinata grins. “Tsukishima told me you liked fantasy books, so I went and found one last weekend!”
After smiling at him and thanking him once again, Tadashi turns to Tsukki and mouths the words “you did?”. Tsukki just shrugs in response. Typical. And slightly frustrating.
Everyone else hands him their presents one by one, and they’re all surprisingly sweet. He gets everything from a pack of mechanical pencils - from Kageyama and his all-about-that-practicality view on life - to a homemade batch of cupcakes - from Suga, of course - and he’s surprised that he never heard about the... well, surprise , considering the amount of time the team spends together.
But he’s still happy. Incredibly happy.
Except for one thing.
When all the presents are handed over and the pile’s gone, Tsukki’s still standing awkwardly off to the side, and Tadashi doubts he’s moved the entire time.
Weird.
Practice goes on just like usual, like the surprise party never happened at all, which Tadashi supposes makes sense. The season hasn’t ended yet, so they still have something to work for. And he tries as hard as he can, just like usual.
Maybe Tsukki’s just saving his part of it for later. He would.
Practice ends soon enough, and after everyone heads down to Sakanoshita and gets sweets for everyone for the occasion - Daichi’s treat, as always - Tadashi starts walking home with Tsukki just like usual. Tadashi hasn’t confronted him about it yet. He isn’t the type.
“Can you come over?” Tsukki asks after a few minutes of prolonged silence.
“I don’t know, my mom wants me to be home soon -”
“It’ll only be for a few minutes, I have to give you something.”
“Oh.” Tadashi blinks. “Okay.”
At the place where the two usually split off from each other, they both go the same way, heading off to the left. It’s a few blocks down the same street to get to Tsukki’s house, and it’s still freezing. Even more so that it’s dark outside now.
Tadashi’s pleasantly surprised to walk into Tsukki’s house and to find it warm . It’s weird, sure, considering the weather, but it doesn’t bother him in the slightest.
“So what did you bring me over here for?” Tadashi asks with a smile.
“You didn’t actually think I wouldn’t get you a birthday present, would you?” Tsukki smirks. “It’s in my room, come on.”
After saying a brief hello to Tsukki’s mom, who’s making something in the kitchen, Tadashi follows him into the hallway before turning into his bedroom. It’s neater than usual. Not like it isn’t usually neat, but it’s a noticeable difference.
“Okay.” Tsukki reaches into a drawer in his nightstand and pulls something out. It’s small, and it isn’t wrapped in brightly-colored wrapping paper or anything like everyone else’s presents were, but Tadashi doesn’t expect it to be. “Happy birthday.”
The package drops into Tadashi’s hands. It’s not as heavy as he's expecting it to be, and he's tempted to shake it to see what's inside. But he doesn't, instead just deciding to open it and see what it is.
Whatever's waiting for him inside the box is navy blue, and it feels like fabric. When he pulls it out in its entirety, he's met with a dark blue sweater with a pattern of what looks like the moon and too many stars to count across the chest.
And it's huge .
He quickly slips it on, loving how warm and cozy it is. The sleeves hang down past his hands, and it's something he can easily hide in if need be.
"Did you make this?" He asks.
Tsukki chuckles. "No, there's no way I could do that." He pauses with a tiny frown. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I love it!" Tadashi grins. The sweater even smells nice. "It's really soft."
"Good." Tsukki's cheeks go bright red, but he manages to smirk anyway. Tadashi doesn't know what's going on. "It's boyfriend material."
For a split second, everything is completely silent before Tadashi starts laughing. He can't help it, something about all this is just hilarious.
"Are you asking me out?" He asks.
"What do you think?"
Tadashi just laughs more. This is a pretty great birthday present in itself.
"Why did I believe Yachi-san anyway?" Tsukki mutters to himself with a scowl. "She said it would be cute. I'm not cute. Why did I -"
Tadashi interrupts him with a quick kiss on the cheek without really thinking about it. "I don't know. You're pretty cute, Tsukki."
Tsukki's face somehow manages to turn even more red than it was before, and now it looks like he's completely short-circuited. He's completely frozen, which only makes Tadashi want to kiss him again.
And maybe get Tsukki to kiss him back.