Archive of Our Own ^beta

Day --

It was Yamamoto who brought the magazine in the club room.

Tetsurou was busy hunched over at the low wooden table in front of the window, filling up the request paper for their funding and pointedly ignoring the ruckus behind him. He needed to finish this before four. The student council's office will have an early afternoon and today was the deadline for clubs to submit their papers. They needed new balls, nets, uniforms as well as budget for their annual summer training camp with Bokuto and the guys. Tetsurou didn't want them to starve or be troubled commuting to Shinzen via a cramped train ride and two roundabout long bus rides. Lugging a week's worth of baggage aside, training camp will be brutal as always and commuting back in the same manner would be downright masochistic. He penned down the necessary details, already halfway finished before a body stumbled over him and knocked his hand aside causing the pen he was holding to a streak solid line across the form, ruining it.

White tipping it with correction fluid wasn't going to fly.

Ayuzawa was very particular with her forms.

"Ehe...so-sorry, Kuroo-san."

Tetsurou rigidly turned his head to Lev, slow and calm, intending to tear off the hair from his junior's head with his bare hands.

Lev shoved the back of the glossy magazine in front of him as if using it to shield him from Tetsurou’s wrath.

Like fuck that would help him.

Tetsurou tore off the magazine with one hand and used the other to clamp onto the first year's head. He squeezed said head, fingers trembling with the force he was exerting. "Hai. Ba. Lev."

"izviniteizvinite!! yanekhotelpozhaluystaneubivaytemenya!!"

Tetsurou startled, hearing the rushed gibberish. That wasn't Japanese.

"His sister's in the middle spread," Yamamoto supplied.

Oh. That, that made sense. Lev had been highly secretive about his older sister after she delivered his bento one time. Rumors were she was a real beauty. Tetsurou considered the magazine in his hand. It wasn't the run-of-the-mill type, it was hefty with glossy cardboard paper cover. Lev tried to paw it off him but he held the first year back by pushing his head away from him.

The front only had three things going on in it: a random model in a frumpy summer dress set onto a soft buckwheat backdrop, the word 'ZIPPER' written in bold, clean font at the upper middle and the caption 'Love for Summer' scrawled in loopy cursive at the bottom right corner.

"Kuroo-san!" Lev whined and reached for the magazine, managing to make a grab but wasn't able to hold on to it. It fell on the ground, smacked open on the page with a leggy female model in fitted jeans and wow...

Lev made a dive for the magazine but Tetsurou was quicker and was able to snatch it before their team's problem child did. "Hold him," Tetsurou mumbled gaze focused on the model.

Large light brown eyes stared at him from the picture. They were sweet and warm like honey but were made mischievous by the barely there lift in the corner of her lightly colored lips and the tilt of her head that made her long, soft blonde hair tumble behind her shoulders in loose curls and waves. One hand was hooked behind her neck and the other was in akimbo, resting on the top of her hip, long fingers loosely curled on the creamy white skin at the end of the curve of her bare, thin, flat waist, the lace trimming of her loose cropped top falling above her belly button.

Pretty.

She was pretty.

So pretty.

Carelessly and so casually pretty like how she stood tall with her weight on one foot and the almost shrug of her shoulders.

"Kuro, your face is weird."

Tetsurou blinked back to the present. "It's not. It's your imagination," he said, schooling his features back to normalcy as he glanced at Kenma. He could hear the 'you are, too' in the way his best friend's bored cat-like eyes stared at him.

"Oh, her," Yaku suddenly intoned, making Tetsurou's shoulders jump as the shorter teen stick himself to his side to peak at the picture. When did he get there? "She's with Lev's sister in the spread, too. Knew she'd be your type."

"Huh, Kei-san? Kuroo-san's type is Kei-san?" Lev asked.

Tetsurou was upon the taller younger boy in half a second, Yamamoto slinked away in the background, letting go of Lev.

"You know her?" Tetsurou asked.

"E-Eh? No. I don't. Syestreechka only mentioned her over at dinner a while back," Lev said, blinking at him, spine bending backwards and hands held up in surrender. "She's just filling in for a model she said, and, and do you know Kise Ryouta, Kuroo-san?"

Tetsurou furrowed his brows. Sounds familiar but no. 

Inuoka, though, apparently did. "Wasn't he one of those hotshot basketball players a few years back? He's part of that Generation of Miracles thing, right? I heard he quit though, after high school."

Lev nodded, grinning straightening up now that Tetsurou wasn't bearing down on him. "Yeah, him. He's Kei-san's cousin. He got her for the photoshoot last minute. Syestreechka said it took Kise-san a lot of strawberry shortcakes to make Kei-san agree."

"She likes strawberry shortcake?"

Yaku snorted, "It's not like you're gonna meet her, Kuroo. Give it up. You still have that form to finish. I'll kick your ass if we commute."

Tetsurou ignored the jab. "Does she model for any other magazines?"

"Y...eah... but Syestreechka didn't say what."

Tetsurou stilled, pausing, making up his mind before he clapped his hands heavily on Lev's shoulders. The first year startled, eyes wide. "K-Kuroo-san?"

"Lev."

"...D-da?"

"Those other magazines she models for."

"...?"

Tetsurou stared straight into the younger teen’s eyes, boring into them. He was calm when he spoke.

"Tell me what they are and you won't have to ride in the luggage compartment."

Tetsurou let his words sink in for a bit before he gave the first year another clap and ambled to his desk. He grabbed a fresh copy of the form and started writing their fund request again. He didn't get disturbed again and he caught the student council president just before she locked up their room. She made a little comment on how he was cutting it close but accepted the form all the same.

When they left early for training camp, Lev chose to spend the journey snoozing at the very back of the bus. Tetsurou let him off the hook and made a mental note to save him sometimes from Yaku during camp even though he didn't get him those magazines. His sister was adamant about not giving it, saying she would be breaching confidentiality if she did so. She, however, allowed Lev to relay to Tetsurou that 'Kei' was invited again to be in their November issue. Lev also threw in that it was Tetsurou's birthday month and, in turn, Haiba Alissa was immortalized in Tetsurou's mind, heart, body and soul when she promised she'd get him a signed photo from his 'Kei' as a present for his birthday and for being a good senpai for her brother.

~*~

Day 1

Tetsurou squeezed his bottle to gulp in more water as he watched the match between Karasuno and Ubugawa, the last one today. Nekoma had just finished their match against Fukurodani and doing penalty dives for losing to it. Bokuto gravitated towards him. "You watching him again, bro?" he asked.

Tetsurou glanced at the shorter captain before turning his attention back to Karasuno's bespectacled, leggy blond middle blocker.

"It's a waste, you know?" he said lightly. "He has the height, game sense and potential but it doesn't look like he's even trying."

The first time Nekoma played with Karasuno, he didn't much pay attention to the tall freshman during the games. He'd seen potential in him and concluded that he'll get better when he gained more experience before focusing his attention to the freak duo. The blond made more impression on him after the games. He approached him and teased him on whim because everybody seemed to have paired off with their respective match among the Karasuno's players. Being both middle blockers, Tetsurou figured if he had any match in their rival team it would be with him. The blond, however, had brushed him off easily but it only sparked Tetsurou's interest and amusement. He got the cute one out of the bunch, he'd thought.

The second time they got to play with the crows was two weeks ago during the weekend training camp in Fukurodani. The blond had gotten better, but only by a small margin. Idly, Tetsurou wondered if someone was properly guiding him. He wasn't judging, but Coach Naoi said that he and Karasuno's coach played the same position. A setter could block but they wouldn't specialize in it. Coach Naoi had Coach Nekomata to fill in the gaps in his experience in coaching, but Coach Ukai didn't have any.

Now, though, Tetsurou didn't think it was just simple lack of proper mentoring. The crows had been out of whack throughout the day but it was plain to see that they were trying out new things to add to their arsenal. Tetsurou would have been vibrating in wariness and excitement over at the looming threat but he was more preoccupied being troubled by how his blond go about the practice matches with the same lackluster average motions as before.

"Whatchu gonna do about it?" Bokuto asked.

Tetsurou inclined his head. The match just concluded, favoring Ubugawa as expected. The blond had taken to bracing himself onto his knees as he panted, out of breath. He had good posture, back straight even though he was bent in half. And he really have long legs. When he wiped the sweat under his chin it felt like watching a small production for a commercial―

"Yo, bro."

Tetsurou snapped out of his crow watching just as the blond straightened up and hooked his hand on his hip as he listened to Sawamura's breaking the news they'd have to run up the hills again. He watched Karasuno's team go out to do their penalty, seeing their dark silhouettes start to run up the hill from the window the open gymnasium door allowed to see outside. He turned to Bokuto after his blond disappeared completely from view. "What do you say about adopting a baby crow?"

Bokuto perked up at that, round eyes going widening. "Think he'll call me senpai?"

Tetsurou snorted. "If he's going to be calling anyone senpai, it should be me."

"Whatever it is, don't," a monotoned voice interjected dryly.

Tetsurou glanced back to see Akaashi. The dark haired second year regarded them, lips set in an unimpressed line.

"But Akaaassshhiii!! Kuroo wants to adopt a crow!"

Akaashi's face remained cool and passive as a slab of marble.

"It'll be our good deed for today," Tetsurou cajoled, grinning.

Akaashi's gaze bounced back and forth from him and Bokuto before he sighed. "Do what you want."

Even though he sounded so put upon, Akaashi still helped them convince the blond to join in blocking practice in the third gym. Tetsurou held back from joining them until he had finished gauging the blond's actual level while he used Lev as props. Not that he wasn't really training Nekoma's current problem child. He was really giving Lev receiving practice. Only, most of Tetsurou's attention was on his crow.

Power wise, the blond's blocks were dismal against Bokuto's canon-like spikes. Skill-wise, he was average but it served as good foundation. Potential wise, it was good, but Tetsurou needed to be hands on to be able to tell exactly.

A spike blew through the blond's block, hitting the floor with a solid, loud whap! Bokuto cheered and Akaashi reminded him that he had only beaten one blocker. Tetsurou ambled over beside the freshman, already done with his observations and reducing Lev crumpled on the floor. "How about two, then?" he said.

"Bring it on!" Bokuto exclaimed gamely.

Bokuto and Akaashi got ready on the other side of the net. Tetsurou readied himself for a block, raising both his hands. Beside him, the blond got himself ready as well, form textbook perfect. Good. "Make sure to keep that straight in check, Megane-kun," he whispered.

The ball went sailing to Akaashi who received it with a perfect toss. Bokuto leapt towards the ball, one arm stretched the other poised to strike. Tetsurou and his crow replied to it by jumping and blocking the path of his spike, no quarter given for a straight. He saw Bokuto discreetly glance at the opening for a cross giving Tetsurou his cue to react when Bokuto spiked the ball with a resounding whap!

The ball hit the palm of his hand squarely with the right sting. It rocketed to the floor with a satisfying thunk! behind Bokuto and Akaashi's before bouncing away.

"Yeah!" Tetsurou half cheered half taunted.

Bokuto cursed and groaned at the result. The owl quickly recovered from it by turning his attention to the blond. Tetsurou watched closely as Bokuto gave his feedback. "You know, you're great at reading attacks..." Bokuto started, arms crossed, the blond frowning with his every word. "But your blocks are weak."

The blond's expression stiffened. Bokuto hit a nerve. Good. Tetsurou can work with that. That meant his crow wouldn't stand for it. Goading him will be easy.

"Your arms are soo thin I'm scared I'm gonna break them! You gotta stop the ball like you mean it! You know? Like you mean it!" 

As Tetsurou hoped, instead of taking the criticism the blond replied with haughty, petty childishness you'd expect from high schoolers. "I'm still young. I'll be gaining more muscles and still grow taller."

Bokuto took offense at being slapped by the fact that the taller first year will grow taller than him still.

Tetsurou snorted discreetly and schooled his features, stretching his mouth wide with a taunting smirk. "Keep talking like that and Chibi-chan will take all the glory. You guys play the same position, right?"

The mood that their playful bantering afforded fizzled out like air from a balloon whose string was pulled out of its knot. The blond lost his air of spunk.

Tetsurou felt a bubble of silence envelop them.

"I don't think that can be helped," the blond started, tuning to Tetsurou with an obvious deprecating smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "The difference between our natural talents is too great."

Tetsurou's grin dropped. It hurt looking at him.

Inuoka suddenly entered the gym asking loudly if they were doing spike training before Tetsurou could think of how to salvage the situation. His other teammates soon flooded in, exclaiming their intention of intruding and wanting to join. The blond chose that as chance to excuse himself. "H-hey!" Tetsurou tried to stop him but the blond left without a second glance.

"Looks like you stepped on a mine, Kuroo-san," Akaashi commented.

"You pissed him off, bro," Bokuto taunted with a snicker. "Finally the King of Provocation has failed," he continued, teasing in a sing-song.

Tetsurou sighed, not finding the mood to snark back. "I wouldn't have thought that, you know."

Bokuto immediately quieted down. "...Thought what?"

"Chibi-chan's got raw talent, sure, but he's much taller and smarter than him. I didn't expect him to have a complex over his teammate like that."

"What'll you do now? Give up?" Akaashi asked.

Tetsurou rubbed the back of his neck, sighing again. "Apologize and try again tomorrow."

"...You seem to be putting a lot of effort for a kid from another team."

He shrugged. "I don't know..." he trailed, thinking of what to say and came up with the same answer. He didn't know. His brows furrowed. He thought about it again. Still he came up with a blank.  He could say he found the blond wasting his gifts too much of a waste to leave it alone, but no... ―Not that he didn't. He did think it was a great waste. It was just it felt inadequate for a reason to go out of way like this. Tetsurou sighed."...I guess, I find him interesting," he settled for now.

Bokuto and Akaashi went silent for a second before Bokuto clapped him on the shoulder. "Okay, bro. I'll help you," he said, grinning. "But first, block for me again."

~*~

Day 2

The second day, the blond seemed more uninspired than yesterday, resulting to getting more heat from that intense setter of theirs and fleeting glances from the other crows.

"Kuro, pay attention," Kenma whispered.

Tetsurou winced. If Kenma was telling him to pay attention then he was more obvious in his worrying than he intended. He wiped the blond from his thoughts and focused on their match with Shinzen. He caught the ball with his face for his efforts. Though, he caught the blond glance his way when Bokuto laughed obnoxiously at his misfortune from the adjacent court. Their eyes met, Tetsurou noted the other's honeyed brown eyes. The blond snapped away from their locked gazes quickly and returned his attention to their coach, standing in a one handed akimbo again.

Someone went pass Tetsurou, shoving his shoulder in the process. Ahead of him, Yaku had his head turned to him, an irritated scowl marring his face. "Come on, we got penalties to do. Idiot Kuroo."

Tetsurou's teammates didn't stay crossed with him for too long. They got distracted by the watermelon the managers got for them. His teammates drifted to other members of other teams, Kenma and Lev joining Chibi-chan on the slope of the hill and he found himself smiling at that. It was the first time he'd seen Kenma so quickly taken by a new acquaintance. Then again, Hinata Shouyou wasn't only an acquaintance to Kenma anymore. He and Kenma had been texting each other since their practice match way back in Golden Week.

His eyes searched for his own crow but he only caught the tail end of the blond. His crow threw away his watermelon rind, not opting for seconds, before he slinked away from the hill every team was currently lounging in. Tetsurou kept himself from sighing in disappointment, he'll catch the blond later. He set his sights for other crows and found Sawamura with his team's ace and wing spiker a little ways ahead. He started approaching them, figuring he'd apologize for troubling their teammate and hoping to maybe get some info as well.

"Oh, hey, sorry," Tetsurou said by way of greeting, catching all their attention.

Sawamura looked up from his watermelon slice. "Kuroo, hey," he greeted back. "Sorry about what?"

"I think I pissed off one of your kids yesterday, the one with the glasses."

"Tsukishima...?"

Oh, so his name was Tsukishima... "Yeah," Tetsurou nodded, ambling over and sitting down on the grass with their group. "We goaded him into helping us with free practice last night. We were doing well, but then I said the wrong thing. Sorry. I think it really bothered him."

"Hmm... getting him to help you with free practice is surprising enough... But so, anyway, what did you say to him?"

"I said he was going to lose to Chibi-chan over there."

Karasuno's bearded ace startled at that. Tetsurou peeled his ears. "Now that you mentioned it, Tsukishima does seem like he feels inferior to Hinata somehow."

Yamamoto's crow twin made a noise in his throat. "I don't know if this is connected, but my sister asked if Tsukishima had a brother before. She told me there was a Tsukishima too in the team during her days. You know, during the Little Giant's time."

"Brother?" Sawamura intoned. "Tsukishima has a brother?"

The wing spiker waved his hand in a fanning motion. "I don't really know. He could be, but he could also just be someone with the same name."

Tetsurou wanted to ask more as he didn't have context on what they were saying, but then the mother crow called their attention saying that the matches will be resuming now, effectively ending everyone's break time. The next chance he'll get was free practice later.

The afternoon zipped by. Their record wasn't too shabby, winning more than doing flying dives, suicide drills or uphill sprints. Karasuno on the other hand was doing one of those after every match. He noticed his crow running out of breath much sooner than any of his teammates. He needed to build up his stamina. Tetsurou felt bad that they were always doing penalties but that will do his crow good. Those penalties will build up stamina, even if it was a brutal and frustrating way to go about it.

Evening came and the matches for the day finally ended, though it didn't stop the sounds of running feet and balls slamming on the floor, bouncing from tosses, or getting smacked by powerful spikes. It was time for free practice. Tetsurou saw Bokuto make a beeline to Tsukishima and invited him to block for them again. The blond easily snubbed him causing Chibi-chan to rebuke him for declining Bokuto. Tetsurou wasn't able to catch most of Tsukishima's and Chibi-chan's exchange as Akaashi signaled for him and Bokuto to come outside. Tsukishima had already left and Tetsurou hesitated for a moment before going to Akaashi.

"―Tsukki... doesn't hate volleyball. I think. If he did, he wouldn't be in Karasuno."

"What about you, Yamaguchi? What would you say to Tsukishima?"

Tetsurou paused by the door. He glanced to the direction of the freckled kid that always hanged with Tsukishima and the shorter half of Karasuno's freak duo, waiting for the former to answer.

He didn't and Tetsurou noticed Chibi-chan's gaze slipping to his direction.

Tetsurou gave the first year a grin before he continued to Akaashi, Bokuto was already beside the setter. Akaashi led them languidly through the darkened covered pathways that will lead them to the third gym, the cool night breeze felt nice as it blew softy through them.

"You should give him space, Kuroo-san," Akaashi-said as they neared the gym's door. "Apologize if you must but give him space."

"You heard anything, Akaashi?"

Akaashi nodded once. "I heard him and someone―their ace, I mean, talking, I don't think it's more than simple inferiority complex." The setter turned his head back to him, pausing by the door of the gym. "You two aren't close for you to pry, Kuroo-san. Let him sort himself out first."

"But Akaaaaashi!"

"Leave it alone, Bokuto-san. He seems like the type to close himself off the more you use force."

"What do we do then? It's not like Tsukki lives here in Tokyo... and they're leaving Friday, too!"

"...Aren't you too attached already?"

"I'm not! Kuroo is!"

"You're the one calling him Tsukki!" Tetsurou replied in a snap. Since when did Bokuto called his crow Tsukki?

"You're the one watching him all day! You even talked to his dad!"

"Of course I am! I haven't apologized to him yet! And Sawamura's not his dad!"

"Close enough!"

"Enough."

Both he and Bokuto clamped their mouth shut. Akaashi's stared them down silently for a few more seconds before he broke his silence. "We leave him alone for―"

"TSSSUUUUUKKKKKKIIIIIIII!!!!!!"

Tetsurou's shoulders jumped, head whipping to direction of the scream. The three of them exchanged rapid looks before running towards the source. Akaashi was the one to stop them from fully rounding the building, the setter hiding behind the corner of the gym, peaking at something on the path ahead.

Tetsurou heard two people talking prompting him to follow Akaashi's example. He saw his crow and the freckled kid. Fighting? Seemed like it. Tsukishima was more subdued than Freckles but they both seemed high strung. They were too far to be able to hear what they were saying clearly. Freckles suddenly grabbed Tsukishima's shirt―

"WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED THAN PRIDE?!"

Tetsurou almost jumped out from their hiding place. Akaashi held him back just in time for Tsukishima to say something that seemed to stupefy Freckles. The two freshmen exchanged a few more words before Akaashi started pushing him and Bokuto back to the gym. "He's coming this way," Akaashi hissed when he and Bokuto didn't pick their up their pace faster.

The three of them got themselves to safety from being caught eavesdropping in record time.

They were only just catching their breath when Tetsurou heard the faint sound of a deep exhale outside. There was no one at the door, the small window it gave to outside not enough to give a view of the newcomer. Tetsurou didn't need to see to know who it was, however. He quickly schooled his features before Tsukishima stepped out into view.

"Oh?" Akaashi intoned, the epitome of composure.

Bokuto followed it, grinning. "Oya?"

Tetsurou joined in. "Oya, oya, oya?"

Tsukishima approached, the corners of his thin lips downturned but not frowning. His tone was very polite and his words formal when he spoke, "There's something I'd like to ask. May I?"

Tetsurou and Bokuto replied in unison:

"Sure."

"Of course!"

The blond's expression softly morphed into surprise, mouth parting slightly, eyes widening and thin, short eyebrows rising as he was rendered momentarily speechless. The blond blinked and then bowed haltingly, apologizing for the interruption and thanking them for the chance.

Adorable.

Tetsurou kept the smile off his face and waited for his blond's question, feeling like everything was already okay with them and Tsukishima.

The blond's voice was calm when he spoke but then Tetsurou found himself getting carried away with Tsukishima's rhetorical pre-questions. Saying that their schools were only sometimes considered as powerhouses and that winning Nationals would be difficult but sounding like he was saying they can't win it. Really, he was cute but this kid―

"I seriously can't figure out how everyone can be so determined. Volleyball is just a club."

Tetsurou's thoughts stilled. It wasn’t so much as the words but the tone that had struck a chord in him, prompting him to consider blond anew. Beside him, it seemed that it had the same effect on Bokuto. After everything he heard today, that sealed the deal on the assumption that what Tsukishima had wasn't just simple inferiority complex.

Though, of course, that didn't stop him and Bokuto from making light of the situation. It became serious all of a sudden. It shouldn't be. Akaashi helped too, sharing wry resignation with Tsukishima over his and Bokuto's antics. Though they do know when it was time to stop playing. Tetsurou allowed Bokuto to takeover wordlessly, the latter stepping forward. Bokuto was better at him with motivational speeches, rare was a person who appreciated his science oriented words of wisdom.

"Say, Megane-kun!" Bokuto started, cheery thanks to the atmosphere their little skit created.

"Tsukishima," the blond corrected without missing a beat.

"Say Tsukishima-kun..." Bokuto amended. "Is volleyball fun?"

The blond paused, quirking his brows. "No, not really..."

"Maybe that's because you suck."

Tetsurou mouth twitched. He pressed them tightly together to keep himself from laughing at the frozen, offended lemony expression that overtook Tsukishima's pretty face. If he ever doubted, which he didn't, that they and his blond weren't all right before now he was 100% sure that they'll be just fine.

"I'm a third year and I've been to nationals, and I'm better than you. Way better," Bokuto continued, doing a peace sign.

"You don't have to tell me that," Tsukishima muttered sourly.

"But you know... I've only recently thought volleyball was fun," Bokuto replied, unfazed, crossing his arms, exuding confidence and surety. "That was ever since my straight became usable in matches. My crosses kept on getting blocked and it frustrated me sooo much that I practiced the hell out of straights. And then at the next tournament, the same blockers couldn't touch it. I got right passed them." Bokuto grinned widely to himself. "Just that one shot made me feel like my time had finally come."

Bokuto laughed to himself, a self-satisfying one that could only mean he was relieving said moment. Tetsurou wondered how Bokuto could sound so much like an immature baby one moment then all wise like the owl he very much embodied the next. Bokuto stopped laughing, the air about him changing from conversational to confrontational.  He addressed Tsukihima again, the latter stepped back.

"It all depends on you if you have that moment or not.

"It doesn't really matter what happens in the future or if you can win your next match. The joy you feel crushing the guy in front of you and when you're able to pull out one-hundred-twenty percent of your potential―that's everything.

"I don't really understand why you say it's just a club but I don't think you're wrong. But once that moment arrives for you..."

Bokuto lifted his finger, pointing it at Tsukishima,

"That's the moment you'll be hook on volleyball."

...

.......Damn.

The fine hairs on Tetsurou's arm rose even though the words weren't directed to him. Damn... Like goddamn. Bokuto was really goddamn cool. No wonder Akaashi agreed to date him.

Tetsurou shook his head and allowed a moment to pass for his crow to digest what Bokuto said before his eyes shifted to Akaashi, asking for silent permission. The setter nodded discreetly, a tiny smile stretching his lips. Tetsurou and Bokuto moved in unison to the still frozen blond and without further ado boxed him between them.

Bokuto clapped his hands once, snapping Tsukishima out of the spell of awed reverie that had obviously overtaken him. "All right. I answered your question, now help with blocking," Bokuto said, laying a hand behind the blond's shoulder.

"Eh-W-Wai―"

"All right, now. Come on, hurry up," Tetsurou interjected, pressing his hand on the small of Tsukishima's back. 

Tsukishima protested more but didn't really put up a fight.

Later at dinner, after thanking them for letting him join them in practice, Tsukishima had left their group to return to his freckled friend's side. Head turned towards the blond's direction, Akaashi absently made comment that Tsukishima didn't get enough food while the three of them were on line for their own dinner. The setter then asked for another plate of serving and unceremoniously walked over to Tsukishima and gave it to him, telling him not to eat like a bird.

Tsukishima's cheeks became dusted with pink.

Tetsurou chuckled. Cute.

"And he said we're attached," Bokuto mumbled, chuckling along with him.

~*~

Day 3

Fukurodani versus Karasuno.

The rotation had Bokuto in front. Tsukishima moved to step directly opposite him.

Tetsurou found his attention flying away from his own match, anticipation bubbling in his stomach for the owls' and crows' next rally. Something good was about to happen. He could feel it.

Yamamoto spiked the ball across Shinzen's side, piercing through their blockers, putting an end to their current rally and completely freeing Tetsurou to watch the proceedings on the other court. It will only take seconds. Karasuno's No.5 spiked the ball to Fukurodani's side. The owls' libero received it nicely, the sound of the ball bouncing off him was a solid and satisfying thump! The ball arched perfectly to Akaashi's direction.

Bokuto called out for a toss.

Akaashi tossed the ball to him with sharp precision.

Sawamura called out to get ready.

Tsukishima slotted himself to Sawamura's side, hands poised to block.

Bokuto leapt, Sawamura and Tsukishima jumped.

Bokuto's form perfect: one hand reaching forward the other drawn back to blast down the ball.

Tsukishima directly confronted Bokuto, Hands high above his head, arching forward, intention palpable―

―Kill.

The ball suddenly bounced high from Bokuto's hand.

It landed behind his crow weakly.

A smirk curled Tetsurou's lips.

A feint.

Bokuto had ran away.

"I did not!! I just got around it!" Bokuto screeched at Akaashi, the latter no doubt voicing Tetsurou's own thoughts.

The other Fukurodani members joined in and called Bokuto out for his carelessness, ganging up on him, making him admit loudly that, yes, he did ran away. Tetsurou snickered, smug and proud:

Yeah, that's right. You ran away.

The jeering didn't continue for long and both teams set to get ready again for the next rally. Bokuto got back into position, turning his head to Tetsurou's side of the gym. Their eyes met. They shared a quick smirk before they both turned their attentions back to their respective matches.

Nekoma won. Fukurodani won. Karasuno ended up doing laps on the hill and when they finished it just happened that Nekoma was still in their break. Tetsurou grabbed a water bottle from their rack and ambled towards the crows. He reached Tsukishima before his crow could even step back inside the gym. He thrust the red squeeze bottle to the blond. Tsukishima startled minutely but accepted the water from Tetsurou.

"T-thank you," Tsukishima said, sounding uncertain, bowing his head a little.

Tetsurou grinned and ruffled his hair, making Tsukishima squawk indignantly and slap his hand away. Tsukishima's hair was soft. Not surprising. The blond narrowed a glare at him, the warmness in those pretty honey hued eyes of his cooling over but not entirely turning cold.

"Oi, Kuroo! Stop harassing my kids!"

Tetsurou paused, thoughts halting as he turned to Sawamura. Kids...?

...

......

.........

―"Pffft! Sorry, Dadchi!" he roared laughing, throwing his head back.

Sawamura flushed red, most likely realizing what he just said. Karasuno's Vice Captain elbowed him playfully.

"I'll be borrowing your youngest again later," Tetsurou teased, chuckling, adding to the other's shame and roping said youngest into his teasing as well by patting him on the head. He turned back to Tsukishima, the blond's face was streaked with red with obvious embarrassment.

 Tetsurou had the mercy not to call his crow on it.

"Good job earlier, by the way. Bokuto totally ran away from you. Just wanted to say that," he said, grinning, before slinking back to his team. They have a match against Ubugawa.

He felt eyes on him and as expected it was Kenma who was looking at him. A small frown pulled down his best friend's mouth. Kenma didn't say anything neither did Tetsurou. He was only having a bit of fun, and he did teach Tsukishima how to do that kind of block last night. It was only right that he gave him the proverbial pat on the back―rather, hair ruffle―for a job well done.

He and his team moved into their positions in the court. Ubugawa was the first to serve. Tetsurou snuck a glance at Karasuno, his eyes zeroing immediately to his favorite crow. Tsukishima had his hand on akimbo again while Chibi-chan pestered him about something. Now that he and Tsukishima was all right he had space in his mind to really consider how the blond carried himself.

Tsukishima looked fine like that. Like there was just this thing about him that―

The whistle blew and Tetsurou was forced to wrench his eyes off the blond and turn off his musings. Yaku'll kick his ass for real if he made them lose again because he was being careless.

The ball sailed towards his area, Tetsurou called out his receive and braced himself for the ball, clamping his hands together, stretching his arms forward. The ball smacked onto his arm, the impact stung but it was a just the right kind of sting and gave off the perfect thunk! The ball went up and Tetsurou turned off all thoughts except the ones on how to beat the guys in front of him.

The day progressed on without Tetsuro's mood going down even when they lost a couple of matches. The more they win the better but he didn't mind the penalties. Training was training regardless whether it involved hitting the ball or not.

By midafternoon, Nekoma faced Karasuno.

Like the past two days, they were still out of whack though they were a bit less about it. On the other hand, unlike the first two days Tetsurou wasn't worried about Tsukishima so he was able to focus on making mental notes on what corrections the blond needed and what else he should teach him.

Tetsurou stepped in front of the net on Nekoma's next rotation. Tsukishima was on the other side.

He greeted the blond with a grin.

"I'm not the youngest," Tsukishima deadpanned softly.

"...?"

"Among us first years, I'm not the youngest. King is."

Tetsurou snorted a laugh. What the hell? What. The. Hell? Was this kid serious? Shit. He'd been absolutely right. He got the cutest one out of the bunch.

"Who's the oldest?" he asked shaking his head.

"The shr―"

"Tsukishima! Focus! Save the chat for later!" Sawamura called out from Karasuno's back line.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Yes, dad," he mumbled softly but loud enough for Tetsurou to hear.

Tetsurou laughed out loud and got reprimanded for it, still it wasn't so bad. It kept him grinning through most of the match. He only worried for a moment when it seemed like Chibi-chan and their setter had a falling out. Though they righted themselves after their sensei called out for time out. He had found himself locking gazes with Tsukishima during that time-out, tilting his head in question. The blond shrugged and that had been that.

--

"...Isn't this a bit unbalanced?" Akaashi asked, monotoned, with an unimpressed tilt of his head.

"It's fine! It's fine!" Tetsurou replied, grinning. "Let's do things we can't do in the morning."

That got Bokuto and Chibi-chan running to one side of the court excitedly. Akaashi didn't budge. Still obviously unimpressed. Tetsurou gave him an apologetic look. He was the one who divided the members for their impromptu 3-on-3 match.

Earlier, when they were just setting up for free practice, Lev and Chibi-chan had come barging in asking if they could join. Tetsurou didn't see the harm in it and was already decided even though he knew Lev had ran away from Yaku. A 3-on-3 match would be more balanced than a 2-on-2 that will force its players to cover their weaknesses up themselves. The latter would be more intense but Tetsuoru wasn't looking for intense right now. First years like Tsukishima who lacked experience would benefit more on a well-rounded 3-on-3 as it will help them build up foundation they lacked. Plus, Chibi-chan was there. This was a good chance for Tsukishima to butt heads with him so he could get over that difference in talent he was talking about the first day. It was only a bit worrying but it was enough to weigh on his mind. He could admit that Chibi-chan had tremendous raw talent but Tsukishima was just as able to flourish in the sport.

And that had been the main deciding factor for the distribution of members.

Though, just as important, Tsukishima and Lev were middle blockers, naturally they will have to be in Tetsurou's team so he could guide them as their senior in both year and position.

It just so happened that their team's, aptly named Cats, average combined heights were 190cm in comparison to Akaashi's team, the Owls, of 176cm.

Akaashi relented, sighing, as he followed his boyfriend and Chibi-chan to their side of the court. Tetsurou knew he would. He didn't doubt Akaashi saw the logic in their member distribution as well.

The match went underway, both teams' point neck to neck, and just as Tetsurou expected they were making good use of the experience. It provided opportunity for Tsukishima and Lev to block spikes from more complex rallies while Tetsurou covered their rear that should, in theory, make for a solid defense―

"Lev!" Tetsurou barked. "I told you to jump after looking at the toss! Read blocking! Come on!"

"...Oh right. Sorry!"

Akaashi tossed the ball to Bokuto. Tsukishima jumped sideways to block the spike and missed. Tetsurou dived and saved the ball. "Don't try jumping too far to the sides when blocking!" he lectured still on the floor eyes focused on the ball arching back to the other side. "When you have time, fully stop and then jump up!"

"Got it!"

"Chance ball!" Chibi-chan called out loudly, receiving the ball and making it sail towards Akaashi before quickly moving to the front to spike the toss that the setter will make. Tsukishima run sideways and stopped in front of Chibi-chan before jumping to block the latter's spike. The ball hit Tsukishima's hand squarely and bounced back over at the Owl's court straight to the floor.

The rally ended.

Chibi-chan cursed, gnashing his teeth at Tsukishima. Tsukishima smirked at his teammate, smug.

Tetsurou grinned at their antics but mostly because Tsukishima was such an easy student. He took to instructions well and was absorbing everything that Tetsurou told him like a sponge.

"Bring it again!" Chibi-chan yelled in challenge.

"Uhm..." someone interjected instead.

The new voice called Tetsurou's attention towards the door and he saw both of Fukurodani's manager. The red haired girl stepped forward:

"If you don't wrap up soon the cafeteria will close up and you won't get any dinner."

There was a chorus of sounds of panic in their group.

Tetsurou wanted to continue more but situation had become dire. "We can't go into battle with empty stomachs," he said sagely and thus ending their free practice for tonight.

Everybody took that as signal to mill out of the gym, they can clean afterwards after they had their meal. Chibi-chan stayed put on his spot, disappointment clearly etched on his face. Tetsurou shook his head. "Chibi-chan," he called, tone light.

The first year turned to him, large brown eyes wide and dark like a disappointed puppy's.

"We'll continue tomorrow, all right?"

The effect was instantaneous, the younger's face blooming into a full blown smile. Tetsurou nodded his head towards the door and the first year gave a sharp bob of his head before he ran after the others. Tetsurou followed them languidly. They can take in a new cat and another crow tonight.

When they arrived at the cafeteria there was no one else having dinner anymore. Tetsurou was unbothered. It was actually pretty nice to have all the space for themselves. Everyone else seemed to think the same also as they waited their turn to receive their dinner.

"Oi, Tsukki! That's not enough! You should eat more!" Bokuto yelled, looking pointed at Tsukishima's rather modestly filled tray: a cup of miso soup, a half-full cup of rice, half a slice of grilled salmon, a small portion of greens and two wedges that made up only one-fourth of an apple.

"It's fine since I'm going to bed soon, Bokuto-san," the blond said, walking straight to a table and promptly sitting down on the end most seat.

"Eh? Syestreechka says the same thing," Lev commented as he followed. He sat directly opposite of the blond. "Well... when she has an FS coming at least."

Tetsurou phased out the rest of the conversation as he came back to the food window and asked for more servings. No way was that going to fly. Tsukishima was already skinny enough. He need to put more meat on those slim limbs of his.

Akaashi passed by him on his way, the setter's tray full almost to the brim. It was larger than what Akaashi normally ate. Tetsurou shrugged it off. It wasn't obvious looking on how fit he was, but Akaashi had an appetite that could rival his and Bokuto's combined.

The food was given to Tetsurou quickly and when he turned around Akaashi was already sitting beside Tsukishima. The setter then began loading Tsukishima's tray with the extra servings littering his own tray which had the blond protesting.

"I'll finish what you can't eat," Akaashi placated with a tone that said he expected everything to be gone or else.

Ah.

Tetsurou took the empty sit beside Bokuto. It was disappointing not to be sitting beside Tsukishima but at least the blond will surely be getting enough food. The mama owl in Akaashi had reared its head and locked its eyes on Tetsurou's baby crow. Tsukishima didn't stand a chance―

"Akaashi-senpai..."

"...Give it here."

~*~

Day 4

"Will that be okay?"

"Should be, I'll get a cab."

"Eh? But Tsukki how are you gonna―ah, good morning!"

Tetsurou climbed down the rest of the steps of stairs, hands holding onto the ends of the towel looped behind his neck.

"Good morning," Tetsurou said, returning the greeting with a cheery one of his own.

"Good morning," Tsukishima replied, bowing his head.  

Tetsurou retained his smile, careful not to let deathly curiosity leak in his voice, "What's the cab for, Tsukki?"

"Tsukishima. And I'm going to―not tell you, Kuroo-san," the blond smiled back, sugary but not sweet. "We're going to get breakfast now, see you later. Come on, Yamaguchi."

"O-oi!"

Tsukishima walked away without a second glance. Freckles lingered for a bit before he gave a hesitant bow at Tetsurou and jogged after Tsukishima. Tetsurou's shoulders slumped as he watched them go. Someone stepped beside him. He already knew it was Kenma before the younger spoke. "Kuro?"

"My crow's hiding something from me," he answered, not taking his eyes off the two first years and kept his gaze forward even when they rounded the corridor and walked out of view.

"...So?"

"So?" Tetsurou parroted, a grin slowly stretching his mouth wide. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to make him tell me what it is."

"..."

Easier said than done, though.

Like the previous three days, the day ahead was jammed pack with matches with no breaks except for lunch. Not that Tetsurou would allow that to stop him from seeking out Tsukishima.

The first chance he got was after Karasuno had done their penalties again. Flying dives. He made a beeline to Tsukishima, water bottle in one hand and extended the other to the blond to help him get up from the floor. Tsukishima's narrowed eyes bounced from Tetsurou's hand then to his face and then back at his hand again. Tetsurou only grinned. Tsukishima took the bait. Tetsurou gripped the slim hand and helped the blond up. He didn't let go.

"Um... Kuroo-san. My hand, please."

Tetsurou blinked and continued to grin at him innocently. "I don't know, Tsukki. I like holding your hand."

"...Ha?"

"Maybe if you tell me something I'll like it less."

"Wh―"

"Oi! Kuroo!"

Sawamura was suddenly between them and had pried their hands apart. The other captain scowled at him. "I told you to stop harassing my k...!"

Tetsurou held his hands up in mock surrender. "I wasn't. I just wanted to give this to Tsukki," he said, indicating the water bottle clutched in one of his hands with his head. "Right, Tsukki?"

The blond pursed his lips at him, pushing the bridge of his glasses with his long, slim fingers. He bowed his head slightly before walking away, going straight to Karasuno's blond manager to get his own water bottle. Sawamura shot Tetsurou a dark look. Tetsurou offered the bottle to Sawamura. The other captain didn't take it but Tetsurou was saved of any explanations when Kai called out for him to comeback. They have a match with Fukurodani. He pushed the water bottle to Sawamura and took off.

Tetsurou flexed his hand as he ran back to his team. Well. That was a bust.

Then again, holding Tsukki's hand was nice. It fitted nicely with his.

He got a bit of heat from Yaku for making a nuisance of himself but Tetsurou easily brushed it off in lieu of focusing on the match at hand. Just because he was curious doesn't mean he'll let it ruin his game.

The match went underway, Nekoma was lagging behind Fukorodani by two points. The ball slammed on the edge of Tetsurou's arm with the wrong stinging whap! before ricocheting off bounds. Two became three. Set point, in favor of the owls.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Tetsurou clicked his tongue. A chorus of 'Don't minds' sounded in their side of the court. Tetsurou shook the blunder off. Bokuto smirked at him from behind the net, smug. Damn owl. "All right we'll get that back!" Tetsurou called out.

Though, of course, the owls had a different say in the matter and in a few short moments Tetsurou found himself at the base of Shinzen's penalty hill. He was a bit frustrated that they lost again to Fukurodani but at the same time maybe it was a blessing in disguise?

Because beside them cats were the crows.

Karasuno also lost their match against Shinzen.

Tetsurou clapped his hands loudly together, signaling his team to begin the drill. On a short distance, Sawamura had done the same. He and the other captain locked gazes. Sawamura's had a suspicious, menacing sheen on his. Tetsurou threw Sawamura a grin before he turned his attention forward and began to run up the hill as well. He knew better than to interrupt drills.

After the drill was fair game. He grabbed two bottles from their team's rack and made his way to Tsukishima again. The blond was relatively alone at his spot near the gym door and had his back turned to Tetsurou, one hand on his hip again―really, was that a habitual quirk? Tetsurou tapped him on his shoulder, making him turn around. Tsukishima's adorable light expression of surprise turned quickly into a wary frown that wasn't any less cute when his eyes fell on Tetsuoru.  "Kuroo-san," he said.

"Tsukki, here," he replied giving his one of the bottles.

Tsukishima accepted, fully turning. "Thank you. ...Is there anything I can do for you, Kuroo-san? "

"Eh? Can't I give you water?"

The blond didn't buy his act. Tetsurou rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes. "I'm just trying to be a good senpai."

"I'm not telling you anything, Kuroo-san."

"Why not?"

"Why should I?"

Tetsurou gave the blond a sideway glance, intending to watch for every minute reaction he will be getting from the cold guessing he was about to do. He started. "Maybe I should just ask Freckles."

"Yamaguchi won't tell you anything, either," the reply was monotoned, as expected.

Tetsurou tried for a left field attack. "Hmm... I could ask Dadchi, maybe he knows."

The blond's brow twitch and his deadpanned expression stiffened. ...Oh?

"Or maybe Sugawara. He's the 'team mom' with you crows, right? He should know."

Tsukishima's mouth thinned. Oho.

"There's Chibi-chan, too... I'm pretty sure he doesn't know anything but he'll pester you for it." Tetsurou turned his head to Tsukishima, smirking at the other’s lemony expression. "What do you say?"

"Tsk."

Tetsurou waited for his crow's next move, the irritated glare focused on him made soft by the cute pout that was pulling the blond's lips.

Tsukishima broke eye contact as he turned his head to the left where his other teammates were. "Daichi-san!" he called out.

That caught Sawamura's attention quickly and he was on to Tetsurou again in a matter of seconds. Tetsurou placated the other captain, saying that he wasn't harassing one of kids. Sawamura, of course, reacted to the jab but Tetsurou only laughed it off. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Tsukishima slink away to make his way to Freckles. He smirked. He didn't have his answers yet but what he did know now was that none of Tsukishima's teammates knew either. It didn't actually matter whether they knew or not, Tsukishima after all didn't have to tell them any of his personal business.  However, from his reactions to Tetsurou's cold guessing, Tsukishima didn't want them to know.

Interesting.

Tsukishima glanced at his way and immediately fled before they could lock gazes. Tetsurou smirked. His crow can run now but the next match would be between the recent losers: Karasuno and Nekoma.

And break time was over.

Sawamura left him alone after another reminder not to harass any of his first years again before going inside and making sure to usher Tsukishima and Freckles along with him. Tetsurou chuckled to himself as he entered the gym, eyes immediately finding his crow. "Oi, Tsukki!" he called out.

Tetsurou ignored all other attention he had caught and focused on Tsukishima's wary glare.

"Let's have a wager. If you guys win, I'll leave it alone, but if we do..." he trailed, letting his smirk take care of all the implications.

Tsukishima pursed his lips sourly and gave Tetsurou another cute pout, indicating that he had clearly gotten the rest of the message. Tetsurou inclined his head in mock innocence before he ambled over to his team, behind him he could hear Tsukishima's teammates asking what he meant.

"Kuro..."

"Let's make sure to win this one, Kenma."

"..."

Kenma sighed heavily and Tetsurou replied to it by clapping him on his back on his way to their side of the court, claiming his position in the rear. Everyone got ready. They were the first to serve. Kenma's. The sound the ball bouncing on the floor resounded behind him. The whistle blew and then soft but sure whap of the ball as it was smacked to sail with a clean arc over the other side of the net. Sawamura received it cleanly, the ball flying up to their setter. A perfect toss and then the remaining four players started to run in first tempo. Tetsurou braced himself, feeling his teammates doing the same. Now where will the spike come from? Who will do it?

Left. No.5...

―No.

"From the back!" Tetsurou called out.

The ball arched to meet Karasuno's ace. Tetsurou's feet moved to the path its trajectory, hands clasping and arms automatically arranging themselves for a receive should Lev's block fail. Bring it!

The ace leapt, poised to blast the ball into their court. His hand whipped forward.

The ball dropped on the crow's side of the court, bouncing twice before it slowly rolled over the floor.

"...Ah," Tetsurou intoned, adrenalin flushing out from his system at such anti-climactic conclusion. He straightened up and watched the five out of six crows on the court gritted their teeth and apologized to each for another failed attempt. Tsukishima, being the exception, only sighed. Tetsurou almost felt bad for him. Almost. "Hey, Tsukki! First point's to us," he said.

The blond shot him a glare. In the background, the rest of his teammates did as well while muttering amongst themselves.

Yaku gave him a light reprimand but that was about it.

The match progressed on. Karasuno toning down a bit on their imperfect plays but Nekoma still racked up points and pulled away to the lead, the current point six to thirteen, in favor of Nekoma, Tetsurou didn't forget to always point that out to Tsukishima much to the blond's obvious growing cute annoyance.

Tetsurou stepped in the front line on their next rotation, it was their serve. "Yamamoto, nice serve!" he called out with the others. The whistle was blown and the ball was smacked with a loud whap! blasting the ball straight to the net. Well. "Don't mind, don't mind," he said in unison with the others.

Karasuno rotated and Tsukishima stepped right in front of Tetsurou.

Tetsurou grinned at the blond. "Hey, Tsukki," he said. "Looks like you'll be telling me about your little se―"

"Ku-roo-sen-pai."

Tetsurou's mouth parted.

Se-sen...Did Tsukishima just?

The blond locked gazes with him, pretty honey eyes sharp, bright and earnest, lips edging into a sweet, sweet smile that made Tetsurou want to do anything, anything Tsukishima wanted―

"Go die."

The world cracked and broke.

Karasuno won their first match in the training camp.

--

"―it's only in Nerima, Ryouta-nii. ... ...No. I'll take a cab. ... ... ...No. You're too flashy. ...It's not your bike, Daiki-nii. It's you. ... ...fine. ...Time? I'm not sure, but we'll only be training until lunch. I'll text you when we leave. ... ... ...okay... ...mmm. ...all right... ...okay. ...I'll see you Friday, too. ...goodnight."

Tetsurou was entirely unprepared when Tsukishima's familiar figure suddenly emerged from behind Shinzen's outdoor sports equipment shed. He couldn't see Tsukishima's expression very well due to the dimness the early evening afforded but from the waves of displeasure radiating from him Tetsurou didn't need to.

"How much did you hear?" Tsukishima asked, tone leveled.

Tetsurou rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his head. "Starting from Nerima?" he admitted. "Sorry, I didn't mean to listen in, Tsukki...shima."

"Liar."

He winced. Tsukishima's reply had taken on a curt tone. Still angry at him. After their match against Karasuno, Tsukishima had resolutely ignored and avoided him for the rest of the day. Tetsurou had decided to leave him alone after the first two failed attempts to apologize, opting to wait for Tsukishima's disfavor to cool down until free practice.

Tsukishima though had quickly fled the main gym before Tetsurou could get a hold of him. Bokuto and Akaashi, too, for that matter wasn't able to catch him. Tetsurou had approached Freckles when he didn't see Tsukishima and, while the first year was hesitant with him, he said that the blond was talking with their sensei. Sawamura had taken that as opportunity to interject that he had only reaped what he sowed and warned him again not to harass his first years.

A warning Tetsuoru had ignored and now needed to rectify.

"Sorry," Tetsurou started.

Tsukishima didn't reply but he didn't walked away, either. Tetsurou took that as permission to continue.

"I'm really sorry. I know it's none of my business and you don't have to tell me squat if you don't want to, but I was curious and I can be a real ass when I'm curious. I'm sorry." He thinned his lips. "I won't do it again," he promised.

The breeze picked up and for a moment there was only the gentle sound of rustling leaves from the small trees and bushes and the rattling of the wire fence of Shinzen's oval field. Tsukishima still stayed silent. Tetsurou opened his mouth to say another slew of apologies but Tsukishima huffed a breath before he could do so.

"I'll be staying with my cousin here in Tokyo for a few more days after training camp," Tsukishima said. "He can't pick me up here but he lives nearest to Nerima. Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai wanted me to hitch a ride with your team. They already told Coach Nekomata and he agreed."

Tetsurou blinked. Staying here in Tokyo? How many days? Where? Why? He had a lot of questions but the most important of all was this, "...You're sitting with me, right?"

"...I could sit with Haiba."

Tetsuoru snorted and ambled over where Tsukishima was standing, feeling the tense air between them dissipating as he digested the information the blond just gave him. He slung an arm around Tsukishima's thin shoulders. "No, you won't," Tetsurou said, this near now he could now see Tsukishima's expression. There was another pout sitting on his lips and Tetsurou knew he was already forgiven. Thank god for that. "You said you hate them gung ho sort when we first met, remember? Lev's like Chibi-chan, only XL."

"I could easily hate pushy senpais, too," he replied, shrugging Tetsurou's arm off with a huff of annoyance.

"You're going to break Bokuto's heart."

"He has Akaashi-san to fix it."

"Yeah you're... wait, you know? How?"

Tsukishima shrugged and started walking towards the direction of the gyms, Tetsurou followed him and matched his pace. "My cousin's fiancé is a man. I only noticed a few things too similar with them and Akaashi-san and Bokuto-san. Was I wrong?" Tsukishima asked.

Tetsurou buried his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "As long as you don't say anything to anyone..."

Tsukishima nodded.

"So what are you going to do here in Tokyo? Sightseeing?"

"More or less."

Their light conversation carried through on their way to the third gym. Tetsurou managing to find out that Tsukishima will only be at Omotesando. Tetsurou got to tease him for being a rich kid all along but was easily brushed off by his crow saying that it was his cousin's apartment not his. Tsukishima didn't tell exactly what his cousin does to be able to afford such an upscale neighborhood but Tetsurou didn't put much stock in it. What was more important was that, for five more days, Tsukishima will only be less than an hour away from him. He managed to offer the blond to join them during practice if he wasn't busy to which the latter mutely nodded to.

They arrived at the 3rd gym just in time before Akaashi was about ready to call it quits for having to deal with Bokuto, Lev and Hinata all alone. The setter immediately claimed Tsukishima to be in his team, darting to the blond's side and pulling him by the hand into one side of the court and just dared anyone to say anything otherwise. No one did. The Owls won all their matches that night.

"That's because you were giving more pointers to Tsukishima, Kuroo-san!" Lev accused.

Tetsurou shrugged and didn't bother denying the truth.

~*~

Day 5

He was in akimbo again. A hand on top of his hip, weight on one foot but didn't seem lazy or slouched, his posture appearing tall and poised but also of easy casualness. Tetsurou shook his head. On their next away games he'll be sure to bring a camera. Tsukishima always seemed to be ready for it.

"Oh, hey, Kuroo-san!" Hinata shouted in greeting, making Tsukishima turn around and take notice of him, too.

Tetsurou held up his hand as he approached the crows at the bottom of the penalty hill again and made a beeline to Tsukishima, giving him a water bottle. "Thank you," the blond replied. "Is there anything you want, Kuroo-san?"

"Your number," Tetsuoru replied seriously. He grinned at the adorable frown-pout that pulled Tsukishima's face before he amended it, "Is what I'd say if you were a cute girl instead of a cute boy, but I'm actually here for your dad."

"Daichi-senpai?" Freckles interjected, stepping beside Tsukishima.

"Yep...and speak of the devil."

Tetsurou turned to the approaching captain, the beginnings of a scowl already darkening his face. "Hey, Dadchi, need to borrow you for a sec," he said before the other could say anything.

"Will you stop calling me that?" Sawamura replied, brows furrowed. "What do you want?"

"Pre-Captains' meeting. Come on, everybody's already waiting," Tetsurou replied, inclining his head to the gym door.

Sawamura's dark look cleared as he blinked. "What's it for?" he asked as we walked towards him.

"Match rotations, new penalties... stuff," Tetsurou replied, snickering, not missing the flinch everyone in the vicinity shared when he said penalties. Tetsurou began walking and lead the other captain, he turned his head back to Tsukishima before they could get out of earshot, "Hey, Tsukki! I still want your number! Give it to me later, yeah? Eat up at lunch!"

--

The ball slammed onto the floor with a resounding whap! getting the Owls another point, marking the half point of their first and last 3-on-3 match for tonight and prompting Tetsurou to call for a short water break. He grabbed his water bottle and took grateful gulps of water as he mentally rewind their last play in his head. He turned around to face the first years and had a passing thought that Tsukishima would look super cute in a muffler seeing the blond holding up his white towel with both hands to pat the bottom of his face. He brushed the thought aside before he addressed the three first years. "By the way," he started, grabbing their attention. "When you're going one-on-one with a spiker, don't try to block by centering yourself to their body. Center yourself with their dominant arm instead."

Lev's and Hinata's eyes widened and they made sounds of amazement. Tsukishima on the other hand regarded him silently. Tetsurou inclined his head in question.

Tsukishima thinned his lips before he spoke, "We're technically opponents as soon as we're in a match... Why are you giving us so much advice?"

"Because I've always been this kind," Tetsurou answered light and airy without missing a beat.

The look he got from Tsukishima and Hinata told him what they exactly thought of him.

"That's uncalled for," he said. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck as he averted his gaze from their judging eyes, feeling a bit embarrassed now that he was about to explain. "I want to make the Battle at the Garbage Dump a reality."

Hinata made a noise of awed understanding but Tetsurou ignored it to continue.

"It's what our coach wants more than anything, but who knows how much longer Coach Nekomata is going to coach us. So we need you guys to continue winning, too," he finished.

The look Lev and Hinata beamed at him was nothing but reverent, Tsukishima's reaction on the other hand was subdued, barely there, but almost flushed Tetsurou red because how his expression had softened... Tetsurou cleared his throat. "It's practice for me too, so don't sweat the small stuff."

He ushered the first years back to their match. There was another reason but he'll be called for favoritism again and he didn't want to bother with the trouble, not when he and Bokuto needed to leave in about half an hour.

The rest of their practice match went smoothly. Hinata making a clean block out and Bokuto teaching the crow something new that Tetsurou just knew would bite him in the ass before summer camp was over. From Akaashi's reaction, the setter thought so as well.

Tetsurou picked up his towel and water bottle after the final rally, the Cats winning against the Owls. "Well, we'll be heading out ahead," he said.

"Don't stay up too late!" Bokuto said, grinning. "Sunako-chan's gonna make her rounds tonight, you don't wanna be out when she does."

Tetsurou kept his snickering tightly clamped shut as he and Bokuto exited the gym to head for their 'meeting', hearing Hinata and Lev asking who 'Sunako-chan' was and Akaashi telling the story of Shinzen's resident 'ghost'.

There was a reason why Shinzen was always picked as the venue for the one week training camp. Aside from being the largest school among their group, it was also a perfect venue for first years to run around screaming on top of their lungs without waking up a whole neighborhood.

It was long standing tradition shared by their group, a rite of passage one could say. The seniors scaring the shit out of their first years while the second years help out. It was to promote camaraderie, or so said Tetsurou's upperclassmen after they had their laughs chasing them around the corridors and grounds in a sick reenactment of a western slasher film. He, Bokuto and the others all agreed it was just for the sole purpose of wanting them to pee their pants.

And someone did.

They were all bound by an oath amongst brothers not to speak of it.

So maybe it was for camaraderie. They had all gotten close because of it.

Now it was their turn to pass down the wisdom. It was just their cute, cute kouhais' luck that Tetsurou and Bokuto happened to be part of their senior group this year. They plan on topping all scares of all scares ever done since their group was formed. The others had readily agreed when he and Bokuto laid out their plan.

"Isn't that a little too much?" Sawamura asked, tone worried.

Well. But one. Karasuno. Which was understandable. They were fresh meat and didn't understand the burning desire to get even from past shame.

Still, there had been no question whether to include their new member or not. Even though they were still finding their footing against them during matches, everyone agreed that the crows were cool. And it will be a nice way to bond with third years from Karasuno, too, make them feel welcomed and permanently accept them into their group.

The Coaches agreed too, though Takeda-sensei was a bit worried and asked not to go over the top. Coach Ukai gave them permission to go all out which practically made everything fair game.

"Nah, it's fine, it's fine," Tetsurou grinned.

"Don't blame me if you end up being hated again."

There was a chorus of snickers at that, Bokuto's the loudest.

"Yeah, bro! Tsukki destroyed you. You should have seen your face!" the owl guffawed. "―But it's unfair! How come he only called you and Akaashi senpai and not me?!"

"Tsukishima doesn't call any of us senpai."

"That didn't count," Tetsurou gritted out. No way did that count. "But, we're set for this. We start after everyone's in their rooms, all right?"

Tetsurou quickly rehashed their plan again. All the captains shared nods and wicked grins, even Sawamura who was reluctant at first.

They have enough fake blood for a massacre, costumes, creepy sound effects recordings, dry ice, tampered flashlights and locked classrooms ready. Now all they need to do was for Sawamura to tell his fellow third years and then wait.

This will be fun.

--

Shinzen was plunged into pitch black darkness. Tetsurou grinned. Phase one of the plan starting with Ogano and his fellow Shinzen third years tripping out the breakers. There was a collective gasps of surprises in Nekoma's room, most loud from Lev and Inuoka. Their neighbors, Fukurodani and Karasuno, were no better. Tetsuou heard Hinata scream among others.

They were only in the beginning of a long night and they were already getting promising reactions.

Nice.

"I'll see what's up," Tetsurou said, opening his cellphone to put up some light. "Kai, come on. Yaku, Kenma, there should be an emergency light at the end of the hall. Everyone else stay here."

Tetsurou congratulated himself from not bursting out laughing and keeping his voice leveled before he and Kai made it out of the room. Kai elbowed him but he knew his Vice Captain was just as hard pressed from not laughing. They heard Yaku telling Lev not to be ridiculous as ghosts weren't real, before the classroom door slid open and Yaku came out with Kenma. Tetsurou didn't need light to see the smirk on Yaku's face. He could feel it. Along the corridor, in front of the other classrooms were Bokuto and Akaashi and Sawamura and Karasuno's bearded ace, Azumane.

All right, time to start.

Yaku and Kenma went to the hallway with a few other second years from other teams, while Tetsurou and the third years quickly came down the stairs and went to the their  main base, the cafeteria. Yaku will be leaving a bloody handprint on that emergency light and lead everyone to the base two where Akaashi, Shirofuku, Otaki and, in addition Karasuno's hot manager, Shimizu will dress up as 'Sunako-chan.'

They have thirty minutes to set-up and start phase two.

Tetsurou poured fake blood on top of his head and soaked spots of his shirt as well.

"I'm going ahead," he called out when he was satisfied with his bloodiness, carrying the bag of dry ice, Kai following him.

They only have a small battery powered lamp to light the cafeteria but the soft fluorescent light was enough to see Bokuto's convincingly bloodied face grin widely up him. Tetsurou gave him a thumbs up, knowing his own face was at the same state, and followed Gora and Ashiya who will set up the recorders.

Tetsurou and Kai split up to cover more ground and placed the dry ice where the 'Sunako-chans' were set to appear. They were merely there to herd the first years to where they want them to go. However, even knowing and planning this shit itself, walking around in the school's deserted corridors in the middle of the night was a goddamn creepy experience. He could hear every minute creak of the empty rooms, every gentle rattle of the windows when the breeze blew. The shadows were darker, a deep pit to the unknown. Up ahead abyss only stared at him, their bowels blackest of black, wanting to devou―

"Kuroo-san."

His flashlight clattered on the floor.

"Jesus. Fuck. Akaa―"

A girl in school uniform stood behind him. The light on the floor only afforded Tetsurou to see the bottom of her face but he could clearly see the streaks of blood coagulating from the corners of her bloodless cracked mouth down to her chin. Blood from her bloody stomach dripped to the floor.

"G―!!"

A hand clamped down on his mouth before he could even scream. Glowing pupilless eyes stared up to him. The hand was warm, despite the frigid look of her appearance. "I'll let go."

He recognized Akaashi's voice. He nodded and the hand was taken off his mouth.

Tetsurou knocked his fist to his chest, his heart racing a thousand miles a minute. "Scare me why don't you?" he hissed.

The 'girl' inclined her head, the stringy long wig following the movement, before picking up the fallen flashlight and the spookiness of the night fizzled out. Shadows became just shadows and the sounds became nondescript and mundane.

"I wouldn't have to if you brought your walkie-talkie," Akaashi replied handing him the rectangular device.

Tetsurou received it, frowning. He did forget that but... "I have my phone."

"I don't," Akaashi replied. "Bokuto-san said we'll be starting early. The first years are more impatient than anticipated. They're going to start phase two in a moment."

"Any changes aside from that?"

"Yes, you're assigned to Shinzen's now. Ubugawa and Fukurodani will take care of Karasuno. Don't look so disappointed."

"How would you even know?"

Akaashi didn't answer but Tetsurou could literally feel the 'Really?' radiating from him. Well, he was really looking forward to having front row seats on seeing Tsukishima's scared face. It was going to be precious for sure. The subject was discarded easily though as Akaashi put him up to speed.

"Lev's taken to sticking to Tsukishima-kun, Hinata, too, and by extension the rest of Nekoma and Karasuno's first years. They're out in the corridor at the moment. Konoha should be able to split them up. Karasuno's second years are on the move, Fukunaga's with them. Should be okay."

The crows' second years were not part of the scaring team. They need to experience this, too. Sawamura and their other third years were exceptions for obvious reasons. That was why they needed two teams on Karasuno. Tetsurou shook his head, digesting the information, though he did have one question. "Why's Lev with Tsukki?"

"Who knows," Akaashi said.

There was an obvious lilt of amusement in his voice that told him that Akaashi knew exactly why. A scream tore into the silence of the night before Tetsurou could ask what. Shirofuku. That was the signal for phase two.

"Time to work," Akaashi said, taking Tetsurou's pack of dry ice. The setter strapped it behind his waist and opened it. Smoke slowly started to wisp behind his back and Akaashi started to glide down the stairs. Fucking hell. Tetsurou felt bad for the Ubugawa first years.

Not really.

If they wet themselves, that was only part of their rite of passage and would only make their bonds stronger.

Tetsurou followed him down and started hunting for Shinzen's first years. The others should be able to break any big groups.

Soon the school was punctured by screams of terror and wildly running feet.

The scenario Tetsurou and the others was that Sunako-chan, their ghost, was killed by an unnamed murderer a few decades ago. She haunts the school's hallways, ground and classrooms during this time of the year as a vengeful ghost. She kills the third years and some of the second years and it was up to Tetsurou and the others to show up as dead bodies. The twist in the story was that there was another ghost. Sunako-chan's killer played by Goro and two other Ubugawa third years, Ashiya and Nanawasa, and, additionally, Azumane. Those four hulking giants would be the one doing the hands on chasing, complete with a pretty life-like pig's head mask stained with fake blood and shabby, tattered suits plus fake knives from Shinzen's drama club.

It was a simple setup and surely someone would figure out what them seniors were up to if they go about it calmly, but rationality was hard to come by when you were scared, plus there was also the props. There will be pools of fake blood and bodies where the Sunako-chan's and-or killers herd in the first years, dry ice for smoke effects, flashlights with defective batteries, recorders for any outliers―Ashiya put up a real creepy track to be played on loop for that―to stay out of areas they don't want their underclassmen to go and a few second year plants to ensure that everything goes smoothly. There wasn't any real goal to the plan only to have fun for two hours or until they caught all their victims, whichever comes first.

Tomorrow will be a free for all practice day so they could have fun tonight. The coaches had left them to their devices and will stay at downtown until ass-‘o-clock in the morning.

Though of course the plan didn't go as smoothly. Their first year assignments got all jumbled up and there was more than one time when he and Sawamura had convened on the same stairwell.

It was fucking hilarious though when Nishinoya and Tanaka practically yelled their heads off when they beamed their flashlight at him and Sawamura's 'crumpled' bodies and the light promptly died down as Shimizu started walking down the stairs with deliberate light steps, the light of the moonlight shining down on all her bloody glory.

"I've never seen them run so fast," Daichi said, standing up.

"They do when you're mad," Shimizu commented.

"I think one of your kids are dead though," Tetsurou said, nudging said second year. Ennoshita, if he remembered correctly. "We'll take him to the cafeteria."

"This is fun," Karasuno's manager said.

Tetsurou grinned as he slung the second year's arm over his neck. "Glad we have you on board for it."

"Me too. Thank you for the chance, Kuroo."

"Don't mention it, and it's just not me. All the guys are also glad to have you crows on board. Now, go have some more fun."

The smile that graced the manager's face was positively devious. "I'm going to find Hitoka-chan."

The girl then promptly skipped down and communicated with the others in her walkie-talkie. Shortly after they heard Karasuno's second years started yelling again, Nanawase must have intercepted them. Sawamura took the second year's other arm and slung it over his neck to help Tetsurou with the weight as they make their way to the cafeteria.

"I can believe you just talked to Shimizu like that," Sawamura said.

Tetsurou shrugged as he walked. Shimizu was hot but that was about it. "You talk to her like that, too.

Sawamura inclined his head and agreed wordlessly.

They used the long roundabout way to get there to avoid anyone. Tetsurou thought he heard someone sniffing as they passed by the science room but then saw the culprit as the recorder in one of the corridors.

Kenma greeted them when they came knocking. Already, there were Shinzen, Ubugawa, and Fukurodani first years getting over the prank with a mug of hot chocolate. Tetsurou didn't know whether he should feel happy or feel sorry for most of Karasuno's underclassmen and Nekoma's first years.

Happy, he decided after a second. Tsukishima was still fair game.

Sawamura chuckled. "Well. This means we can have some fun with them more."

"...That's pretty mean, Daichi-san."

Tetsurou looked down at the second year. Ennoshita untangled himself from them. Tetsurou patted him on the shoulder. "You can plan as early as now how to outdo us next year."

Tetsurou felt both crows' stares at him before the second year laughed. "Yeah, I'll make sure to get my own set of freshmen good."

After that he and Sawamura set out again. They couldn't mess with Karasuno's second years anymore but they had Nanawase chasing them out to the gyms. When Tetsurou did finally manage to cross paths with his litter and Karasuno's chicks, he was disappointed not to find Tsukishishima among them. Lev and Freckles seemed to be missing, too. Probably with the blond. It was odd that Lev would go with them but then Sugawara said Goro had managed to split the group.

The last deed Tetsurou managed to do was grabbing onto Hinata's ankle and gurgled out a weak plea for help before another Sunako-chan appeared. Worked like a charm to knock Hinata out cold and Tetsurou managed to abscond Shrimpy to the cafeteria.

Soon all the teams were in the cafeteria with only a few outliers left roaming around. There was still no power running, Ogano opting to switch it back later when all of the third years had returned to enjoy the aftermath of another successful Fifth Night this year along with everybody present. Those who had accidents shall not be named and tonight's events will stay behind the doors of this cafeteria. Tetsurou sank in his seat, his mischief meter utterly satiated, and let his eyes roam around the shadowed faces, looking for someone―

"Daichi-senpai, Tsukki's not here."

Tsukishima's name was like a siren's call that brought Tetsurou up to his feet and approach Sawamura and Yamaguchi, Lev, Hinata and Kageyama was behind them, shifting in their feet. There was a tensed, nervous energy shrouding them. "There's still some third years who haven't come back," Tetsurou found himself saying, amusement draining and his voice dipping. "I'm sure Tsukki's with one of them."

"Can you check?" Yamaguchi asked. "Please, Kuroo-san. I'm worried."

"When we got split up the first time we all fell over ...I think I stepped on his glasses," Kageyama added, voice tight.

Tetsurou grabbed the walkie-talkie in his pockets and called Bokuto, he didn't wait for the owl to say even a hello. "Is Tsukki with you?"

"No, bro. Isn't he there?"

"No."

"On it."

Tetsurou tried Akaashi, he tried not to let panic color his voice. "Is Tsukki with you?"

"No. Is something wrong?"

"He's not here."

"I'll look for him now."

Tetsurou tried the other third years, beside him Sawamura was also doing the same. They both ended up with no-s. Shit. "Ogano! Get the power, we're missing one!"

Shinzen's captain hopped to it, a few others following him. Tetsurou turned to the crows. "You lot, grab a flash light," he barked before his attention zeroed to his best friend. "Kenma have the other third years help too!"

--

Yamaguchi and the others had quickly taken them to the spot where they got separated with Tsukishima and worrying enough, the blond's glasses were on the floor, the lenses crushed when Tetsurou shone his flashlight on it.

Shit.

"How bad is his eyes?" Tetsurou asked.

"He can make out general shapes afar but this dark..." Yamaguchi answered, voice thick.

Shit.

If Tsukishima fell down some stairs―

"No news is good news," Sawamura said, voice the same quality as the first year. "Let's split up and look for him."

Nodding tersely, Tetsurou took off with Yamaguchi and Lev and called out Tsukishima's name loudly. He got a slew of multiple negatives from his fellow third years again when he contacted them via walkie-talkie and Tetsurou wanted to hurl the damn thing on the floor for being amazingly useless. Tetsurou shook his head. "Tsukishima! Hey come out! We're just playing around!" His voice only bounced against the walls of the dark empty hallway. Nothing. He ploughed on, calling out for Tsukishima, Lev and Yamaguchi doing the same, from afar he could also hear the others calling out for the missing blond.

The power was still not back and Tetsurou knew it hadn't been long since they started their search but every minute that pass without so much of a hint of Tsukishima's whereabouts extended to hours for his frayed nerves.

The sound of light footsteps echoed ahead of the empty hall. Tetsurou sprinted for it. "Tsukishima!"

There was no one when they arrived at the end of the hallway, only the steps that was now accompanied by eerie mutterings and crying. "Fuck." He flashed his light on the source of the sound and saw the recorder responsible for the false alarm. Lev picked it up and turned it off as Tetsurou checked where they were and saw that they ended up in front of the science room.

"Tsukki's bad with this kind of things..." Yamaguchi said, shifting from one foot to another.

Tetsurou could physically feel the worry emanating from the first year, but couldn't bring himself to reassure him. Tetsurou's own worry was already eating him whole, gnawing at his nerves hotly and leaving his fingers cold. "We'll find him."

"...You don't think he's hurt, do you, Kuroo-san?" Lev asked, tone pinched. "He should have heard us by now."

Tetsurou gritted his teeth. "Let's keep looking."

Before they could leave, the soft scrape of a chair against floor sounded from the room in front of them.  The two first years stilled. Tetsurou didn't and was already throwing the door open and flashing the light inside. Something moved from under a table and Tetsurou pointed the light there.

Blond.

Tetsurou's feet was already taking him down to floor and his arms already gathering Tsukishima to his chest.

"...ku...roo-sa...?"

His voice was slurred, thick and heavy like the blanket of sleep was only just beginning to fall off from barely there awareness.

Tetsurou's chest bowed heavily with relief that he wanted to smother Tsukishima in.

Don't do that. Don't ever do that.

The power decided to return at that point and Tetsurou winced at the sudden brightness that assaulted his eyes. He adjusted quickly and drew Tsukishima away slightly wanting to see for himself that he was okay. The blond was still wincing but Tetsurou could see dried tear tracks that stained his cheeks and the edges of his eyes red and slightly swollen. Tsukishima squinted at him and Tetsurou found himself pulling a smile, no doubt the blond couldn't see him well. "Hey, found you," he said, gentle.

The only warning Tetsurou got was Tsukishima widening his eyes before a fist slugged him across the jaw as Tsukishima screeched bloody murder.

~*~

Day 6

Tetsurou could feel the heat passing through his shoes and warming the soles of his feet. The air was still and sticky against his skin. Down ahead, the open road was distorted in a hazy film. The only consolation in walking down the side walk for the hill Shinzen sat on was the overhanging trees giving large spots of shades for them to hide from the overbearing afternoon sun. Not that it was enough. Tetsurou glanced at his companion. Beads of sweat was peppering Tsukishima's temple, making his short fringe stick onto his skin. The blond swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and then under his chin.

"You holding up all right, Tsukki?"

Honeyed eyes glanced at him from behind thick framed glasses. "How much farther?"

"Halfway, the konbini's at the bottom of the hill."

Tsukishima grunted and Tetsurou ruffled the younger's hair, Tsukishima swatted it away irritably.

"It's already hot enough, stop," he said.

Tetsurou only grinned or he would have if the side of his mouth didn't twinge and make him wince at the movement.

"...sorry."

He grinned despite the pain. "Don't worry about it. ...But seriously if you were any thinner I'd think you'd stab me with your bones instead of just plain punching me. Eat more, young man."

Tsukishima made a disgruntled grunt, but didn't say anything else and only shot a look at Tetsurou's mouth, no doubt focusing on the dark bruise there.

Tetsurou sighed to himself. "Really, don't worry about it. That fake blood was pretty convincing," he said. "And I should be the one apologizing. We broke your glasses."

"King did and he already apologized enough to make me sick without yours to add, Kuroo-san. Besides it was an accident and I have an extra pair. It's not a big deal," Tsukishima replied, looking away, voice low almost in a mumble. "If you tell anyone..."

"Considering how the others faired, your reaction was far less embarrassing. It's the cutest, though."

"Punching you again in the face will be cute, too, Kuroo-san."

"So not cute, Tsukki."

"Good, because I'm not."

Tetsurou stopped at that. Tsukishima stopped a few steps ahead of him. The blond looked up to him in question. Tetsurou stared right back, wiping off any amusement that decorated his face as he told Tsukishima exactly what he thought:

"You're cute."

The effect was instant. Tsukishima flushed darkly, a sweet, sweet ripe red covering his face from his neck up to the very tips of his ears, exactly proving Tetsurou's point. The blond's mouth parted and surely there was a retort he wanted to say but he snappily turned around and started walking away. Tetsurou caught up quickly, the expression the blond was wearing making him laugh hard, not to caring about the slight pain from his bruise.

He poked Tsukishima by the cheek. "Tsukki. See? Look at you. You're pouting like a little kid. It's super cute."

Tsukishima swatted his finger like it was annoying fly. "I'm not a kid and this is a scowl, Kuroo-san. Get your eyes checked," he glared, the redness of his face, though, taking off its edge.

"We'll get the cashier at the kombini judge which of us is right."

"You're embarrassing."

"Only saying the truth."

Tsukishima clicked his tongue, red still dusting his cheeks.

Super cute.

"When I have kids I want them to be as cute as you."

"...You're as bad as Ryouta-nii," Tsukishima grumbled.

"Oh, your cousin?" Tetsurou asked, keeping a smile to himself. Tsukishima can deny all he wanted but if he still called his cousin like that, it was no wonder his 'Ryouta-nii' find the cute blond cute, too. "I think he and I will get along swimmingly."

"God forbid."

"He's picking you up at Nekoma, right?"

"No, Daiki-nii is."

"His fiancé?"

"Mhm."

The rest of their conversation continued on the same note. Tetsurou finding a bit more about the relative and soon to be relative Tsukishima will be staying over at Tokyo. Tsukishima still didn't say what his cousin do for a living which made Tetsurou unbearably curious but he did find out what the older Tsukishima's fiancé do. The man apparently had his own garage in Shibuya and his clientele were all top shelf. Tetsurou idly wondered if he was walking with a real bocchan right now. Tsukishima did brushed the matter with his glasses easily and he knew prescription glasses didn't come cheap.

Though he quickly put that thought to rest. It didn't matter where in the social ladder Tsukishima sat on. The blond certainly didn't seem like he cared and it wasn't like he was flaunting anything like some rich, spoilt, elitist snob. The blond was a lot of things but he wasn't a snob.

After spending most of the week with him, Tetsurou had noticed a few things about Tsukishima. The blond can be downright antagonistic and snarky and mean, but he was also polite. He had never once dropped his formal speech around him, Bokuto and Akaashi. To any upperclassman he converse with, for that matter, even if he sometimes sounded like he was insulting the second years from his own team. It was a cute quirk. Though Tetsurou hoped the blond would be comfortable enough around him to completely drop his manners.

They arrived at the konbini soon afterwards and Tetsurou welcomed the cool, artificial breeze of the store's air-conditioning that blasted on his face upon entering. Tsukishima made a beeline to the ice cream section, only pausing for a moment at the open chiller section. Tetsurou grabbed two baskets and followed the blond, he glanced at the chiller and saw rows of assortment of single sliced cakes, sandwiches and salads in clear plastic clamshell packaging. Hm. He followed the blond to the freezers.

They got delegated with buying everybody ice pops after the Cats lost to the Owls in their five set practice match earlier. It was only supposed to be their 3rd Gym group―and Kenma―but someone overheard the condition Bokuto placed for their match and now Tetsurou and Tsukishima got saddled with ice pop buying duty. Lev was supposed to come with them but Bokuto intervened and said he needed a blocker for spiking practice, the owl winking at Tetsurou as he said so.

Even Bokuto being his broest of bro, Tetsurou, for the life of him, couldn't figure out what the wink was for.

Whatever.

He had Tsukishima with him, anyway. Between them, they can carry four bags of popsicles no problem.

Tetsurou began piling their basket with random flavors of the same brand of popsicle, Tsukishima doing the same.  "Anything you like in particular?" he asked absently. "They have ice cream tubs over there."

The blond's fingers paused in mid reach for another handful of popsicles. He grabbed two after a second. "Thanks but I'm good, Kuroo-san."

"Really?"

"Mhmm."

Tetsurou nodded. "What about meat buns?" No reaction. "Chips?" Still no. "Sandwiches, biscuits, candies―"

"Kuroo-san," Tsukishima said, cutting him off and looking at him with a sort of exasperated calmness that would make Akaashi proud. "I'm good."

Like that was going to fly with him. "Salad?" he offered. The blond frowned at him. "Cake?"

The frown faltered. It was the blink and you'll miss it type. Good thing Tetsurou didn't blink.

"Do you want some cake, Tsukki?" he wheedled.

Tsukishima snapped his eyes away from Tetsurou and pointedly looked back at the freezer, grabbing a few popsicles again. "Is this some ploy to fatten me up, Kuroo-san?"

"Believe me if I wanted to fatten you up I won't be buying you a slice of diabetes."

Tsukishima made a disgruntled sound. "You won't have diabetes for eating one slice."

"Doesn't deter the fact that they're empty calories and bad for you."

"I'm getting more than enough exercise to burn it down. I don't see your point."

"You can eat something more healthy. Like fish, meat. Carrot sticks."

"Like I can enjoy a carrot stick."

"And you would a cake?"

"Wouldn't you?" Tsukishima said shooting him with a glare that just dared him to say otherwise.

Tetsurou let amusement and smugness leak into his expression.

Tsukishima blushed a cute pink.

The blond tipped the bridge of his glasses higher on his nose with his fingers and snappily broke eye contact again, busying himself with getting more popsicles. "Everyone deserves a treat once in a while, Kuroo-san," he said, stuttering a bit.

Tetsurou patted him once on the back. "Well said! Now tell me which you want."

Tsukishima glared at him, mouth parting slightly.

Tetsurou spoke before Tsukishima had chance to decline. "You did really well, Tsukki. Out of all the people I taught, you're the most attentive and quickest to learn. You pick up everything I say and proceed accordingly. And it's really fun playing and hanging with you, too. Not just me, I know Bokuto and Akaashi also likes having you around. So saying, I'd be a piss poor senpai if I don't even treat you once for that. So, what do you say? Help me out a bit?"

Tsukishima pursed his mouth, face scrunching cutely, pink dusting his cheeks. The blond looked away, huffing. "...ry ...cake."

Tetsurou leaned forward towards the blond. "What was that?"

Tsukishima honey eyes were on him again.

"...I said strawberry shortcake, Kuroo-san," Tsukishima mumbled.

Tetsurou blinked. "Oh, figures."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's cute like you."

Oh. He turned redder, he turned redder.

Too easy. Too cute, really.

"S-stop it, why don't you, Kuroo-san? It's not e-exactly flattering for a boy to be called cute."

Tetsurou only nodded and decided not to tease Tsukishima more. Any more and his face might combust. "Yes, yes. Whatever you say, Tsukki. One strawberry shortcake coming up."

Tetsurou picked up his own basket of ice pops and ambled to the chiller. He plucked the last strawberry shortcake in the shelf for Tsukishima and got himself a plain old chocolate one then went straight to cashier, Tsukishima following behind him. The payment was done in short order, Tetsurou asking the cashier if they could keep the ice pops in the freezer for bit as they'd be eating their cakes at the konbini. He didn't want to be called for favoritism again. Lev and Hinata had been on his case since morning. But more than that, he didn't want to leave the comfort of air-conditioned room just yet.

He and Tsukishima were the only ones in the konbini so they had the pick of seats in the store's few tables. Tetsurou chose the one at the very back and he and Tsukishima soon dissolved to a light conversation starting from volleyball techniques to how Tetsurou got into the sport itself and how he roped Kenma into it, what Nationals were like and how, now that the crows were back in business, he was looking forward to playing against him in that stage.

"We'll meet there for sure, Tsukki," he said.

And then it happened.

It wasn't anything out of ordinary. Tsukishima was still listening to him, only looking at him. But his honeyed eyes had a touch of gentle warmness in them, the type of which you'd want to sink into as you fall asleep, enveloping you all night until you wake up to the brief quiet of early morning. The lines on his face were soft and the corners of his lips pulled into a barely there smile that held the universe together...

Tetsurou's lips parted, breath running out.

How do you breathe again?―

"―But of course we need to get pass the qualifiers first," Tsukishima said shrugging, breaking the spell as he turned his head to look outside the window. "Shiratorizawa’s in Miyagi. And Seijou, too, plus other bothersome schools."

Tetsurou blinked. What the hell was that? He gathered his wits and focused on what Tsukishima had said. He didn’t caught what the blond said first but got the gist of it clearly. "Then you'll just have to beat them all, Tsukki. It's not impossible," he managed.

Tsukishima smiled at him wryly, giving him a sideway look. "I know and it's not like we'll be playing to lose, either."

Tetsurou snorted at the haughty tone. Why was he even worried?

"We should head back, Kuroo-san. I think it's going to rain."

That had Tetsurou's attention turning outside and found that it had considerably turned gray and the once bright blue sky was now covered with heavy dark clouds. The sky rumbled as if to further prove a point.

He and Tsukishima finished up their respective cakes quickly and made their way back to Shinzen. They've only walked a few feet away from the konbini when the first dollop of water hit Tetsurou smack right on the forehead. The first drop became a prelude to a complete downpour. Tsukishima wanted to go back to the konbini but Tetsurou pulled him by the hand, prompting him to run with him through the rain and only laughed when Tsukishima voiced out any protests and calling him on being such a kid.

By the time they got back they were completely soaked through the bones. It was good, regardless though, as everybody got their ice pops.

Later, when it was time for bed, Tetsurou saw Kenma fiddling with his phone and made him remember that Tsukishima hadn't given him his number yet. The brat.

Tetsurou went over to the neighboring room and knocked once, Sawamura was the one who answered. The other captain didn't even greet him and only turned to call Tsukishima. Sawamura left them alone when Tsukishima was by the door. Tetsurou promptly held his smartphone to Tsukishima. "Number," he said.

Tsukishima took the cellphone gingerly and only took a few seconds before he gave it back to Tetsurou. Tesurou read over his new contact. Tsukishima... "How do you say your name? Hotaru? Kei?"

"Kei. It's Kei."

Tetsurou blinked. "Hoh. Cute. You have the same name as the model I like. Hm... And now that I think about it, you two look kinda alike. You even like the same cake."

Tsukishima sneezed as a reply.

~*~

Day 7

22 to 25.

Yaku's sigh was heavy and long. "We can't really seem to win against Fukurodani much."

Tetsurou tipped his head back as he drank more water. Today was the last day of the training camp and earlier was their last match against Fukurodani. They lost.

They needed to step up their game before the qualifiers. If not, they could get in real trouble.

"Senpai!" Shibayama exclaimed as he ran towards them, holding a paper with both hands. "I tabulated all the stats so they're easier to read."

Tetsurou turned to the first year saying his thanks as he and everyone else viewed the results:

Fukurodani: 50 wins, 14 losses

Nekoma: 42 wins, 22 losses

Ubugawa: 36 wins, 28 losses

Shinzen : 29 wins, 35 losses

Karasuno: 3 wins, 61 losses

"Just as I thought, those owls did come out as top again," Yaku commented.

The whistle ending another match at the other side of gym was blown before Tetsurou could get a word in. The match was between Karasuno and Ubugawa. 25 to 23, in favor of Ubugawa. Sawamura called out for a round of diving receives as if he was ordering his team into battle, most of the crows behind him answered appropriately.

"...They have a strange sense of dignity around them when they take their penalty," Tetsurou couldn't help but voice out as he watched them do their drills.

"Including the last away games, they've also done more penalties than other teams, too," Kenma said beside him. "If it were me, I wouldn't be able to do it."

Tetsurou nodded absently, his attention zeroing onto his favorite crow. Tsukishima's gotten good with the receives. A silver lining in doing so much penalties, if not a little brutal. The blond was slow to get up, though...? Tetsurou furrowed his brows.

His attention got snagged away when Yaku made comment that Hinata had gotten good at the receives as well, calling Karasuno's first year 'Chibi-chan'. Lev, the idiot, pointed out that Yaku wasn't much taller than Hinata which earned him a roundhouse kick on the ass. Tetsurou made a face. "There's no saving him from that," he said as Yaku tried to beat the crap out of their problem child.

"I told him not to mention Yaku-san's height. Moron," Yamamoto agreed.

They watched Yaku and Lev's antics a bit more before Coach Naoi called them for their next match. Kuroo spared Tsukishima another glance just as the blond was getting up. Hm.  

Their last match for the training camp was against Shinzen. Yamamoto was first to serve and the familiar solid whap! of his jump serve blasted from behind Tetsurou, starting their match. Shinzen's No.8 barely received it from the back row, disarraying their opponents' formation.

"Chance ball!" Tetsurou called out, claiming the ball and doing a perfect receive that had the ball flying to Kenma to set a nice back attack for Kai.

Kai jumped and spiked the ball into the other court, Shinzen's blockers unable react in time.

First point to them.

Their good rhythm lasted until the midpoint of their game where the coaches called for a brief break for both teams. It was just in time for Fukurodani and Karasuno's match to begin. The crow's ace was first to serve. The bearded third year threw the ball upwards and ran after it for a jump serve. He hit the ball with resounding whap! but it sounded off. Furodani's No.11 received it perfectly, sending the ball towards Akaashi. The setter called out for Bokuto and Tetsurou noticed that Tsukishima moved closer to Karasuno's intense setter, readying for a block. Bokuto leapt and Tsukishima jumped to meet the spike. Bokuto whipped his hand forward, sending the ball straight to Tsukishima's block. The ball ricocheted out of bounds.

A block out.

But still.

"Nice one, Tsukki," Tetsurou whispered to himself.

The whistle for their court blew and signaled the start of the second half of their match against Shinzen. Nekoma was leading by three points. It was Tetsurou's turn to serve. His eyes drifted to Tsukishima again for one last time before the whistle for the serve was blown. Tetsurou wiped out all unnecessary thought for the next rally.

Their game with Shinzen continued just like that. Tetsurou finding himself pausing per break in rally to watch the game over at the other court, perfectly catching Hinata successfully pulling a feint. Something Bokuto taught him a couple of nights ago and something Tetsurou already knew back then that would bite the owl in the ass. Another rally was about to start for Nekoma and Shinzen again and Tetsurou focused his attention to their own match.

Kenma served the ball and it went straight to Shinzen's setter, cutting off any complex set-ups for the team. Ogano followed it up with a kind of sloppy toss that their wing spiker was able to smash. Unfortunately for them, Tetsurou was in the front, he jumped straight up and the ball smacked right into his hand for a kill block.

Point. Match set. In favor to Nekoma.

There was a short round of cheers for a job well done before Tetsurou's eyes gravitated back to Karasuno's game just in time for the crows' setter to toss the ball to Hinata in―WHAP!

Tetsurou blinked.

The fuck just happened?

There was stillness in the whole gym as everybody seemed to comprehend that something amazing just happened. Tetsurou shook his head, gathering his wits. Should have expected this. Of course after a week of a bunch of failures, they finally get it right on the last match. The freak duo was back and this time more dangerous.

"Shouyou..." Kenma suddenly intoned, making Tetsurou turn his attention to him. The shorter boy's eyes were wider and livelier than usual. "He always does something new."

Tetsurou inclined his head as his thumb and forefinger hooked onto his chin, considering his best friend for a moment. "Maybe if Chibi-chan came to our team, you'd feel more motivated."

Kenma spared him a look before turning his attention back to the Fukurodani-Karasuno match. "I wouldn't be able to be on the same team as Shouyou."

"Huh? Why?"

"If I'm not able to keep doing new things, I wouldn't be able to keep up with him," Kenma replied. "He'll find me out no matter how good I am playing around. Even that genius setter of theirs. When he hesitated just for a second, Shouyou figured him out. ...That'd be too be tiring."

"Hmm... Chibi-chan should just stay as our opponent and practice partner, then. So you'd feel a bit more motivated."

"Why?" Kenma asked turning to him.

"Well... when you watch him play, you have the same expression on your face when you're just about to play a new game you bought."

Kenma's shoulder jumped, telling Tetsurou that he was right on the money with his best friend. "I do not," the pudding head insisted.

"You do."

"Do not."

Their childish round of 'you do-s' and 'do not-s' was put to a halt when the match between Karasuno and Fukurodani restarted again with the whistle for the next serve―

"You do."

"Do not."

The next serve was for Karasuno's bearded ace again and now that Nekoma was finished with their last match Tetsurou was able to watch without any interruption.

Karasuno and Fukurodani's match proceeded smoothly, both team going neck to neck. Predictably Bokuto went into one of his slumps again. It was the first time the crows experienced the phenomena so their surprise was a bit too obvious when Akaashi and the rest of their team still kept it together despite Bokuto's uselessness. Tetsurou only watched and enjoyed the match, keeping close eye on Tsukishima. The blond made a few good plays and successfully kill blocked Fukurodani's No.2's spike. Tetsurou inclined his head. It was a good, clean block, but there was something really off...

"Doesn't Tsukki seem a bit gloomier to you?" he asked absently.

"I wouldn't know," Kenma replied. "Isn't he always like that?"

Tetsurou watched the match and ultimately Bokuto took the match point for Fukurodani, prompting the crows to do their last penalty run on the hill. Tetsurou picked up a water bottle and stepped outside to wait for them to finish. Coach Ukai raised a brow at him and Tetsurou bowed his head and offered a smile as a reply. Karasuno's coach didn't say anything and only returned the gesture.

Tetsurou watched them sprint up the hill, Yamaguchi seemed to hover over Tsukishima for a bit before he continued to dash up, Tsukishima doing the same albeit a bit less enthusiastic about it. It didn't take long before they finished their laps and it wasn't really surprising when it was Tsukishima who lagged behind. Tetsurou met the blond halfway the hill. Surely they'd excuse him for not finishing? He looked like he was about to faint.

"Tsukki, here," he said offering the water bottle up towards Tsukishima.

Tsukishima reached for it and promptly tipped forward, eyes shutting close.

Tetsurou was only too quick to catch him into his arms and bracing himself to secure his footing to prevent them from toppling over.  

It felt like hugging a space heater amped on high setting.

Only it was Tsukishima he had in his arms and the blond was burning up.

--

Tetsurou sank into his chair as he watched Tsukishima sleep. His face was still pale and flushed scarlet due to the fever. When they took his temperature earlier, it was at a hundred and two. Too high.

"Stupid," he mumbled.

If he wasn't feeling well he should have sat the morning out.

And Tetsuoru should have known better.

He already noticed something was off with Tsukishima before their match with Fukurodani started but he didn't do anything about it.

The infirmary door opened and the smell of grilled meat and vegetables wafted into the room. Glancing at the door, he saw Bokuto and Akaashi silently make their way towards them. Bokuto placed the small plates of food on the bedside table where Tsukishima's glasses sat.

"How is he?" Akaashi asked quietly as Bokuto went and grabbed two more chairs by the nurse's table

"He already woke up but I only got him to change into something more comfortable," Tetsurou replied in the same quality. "Freckles is getting his things from their room."

"I thought he was a little pale earlier but I didn't think he was sick," Bokuto said, straddling one of the chairs he brought over. "Good thing you caught him when you did, bro."

Tetsurou nodded.

Needless to say, there had been an explosion of panic when Tsukishima fainted earlier. Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai had been quick to get to their side. The two adults immediately kept everyone at bay from smothering them when they saw Tsukishima's pale, flushed face. It was hint enough of what had caused the blond to faint. Azumane had volunteered to help him but Tetsurou only had the bearded ace to help get Tsukishima on his back before he hastily carried the blond to the infirmary.

He could still feel how hot he'd been back then.

He sighed.

This was his fault.

The infirmary's door opened gently again, and Tetsurou rose from his seat upon seeing Takeda-sensei saying goodbye to Coach Nekomata, beside him Bokuto and Akaashi did the same. Coach Nekomata notice him looking and he gave Tetsurou a thumbs up as he grinned cattily before leaving. Takeda-sensei turned around made a beeline towards them.

“Kuroo-kun,” Karasuno’s adviser greeted when they neared. “Bokuto-kun, Akaashi-kun.”

Tetsurou nodded in greeting to the short teacher.

“We’ve talked to Tsukishima-kun’s mother and cousin. Tsukishima-kun will still be staying in Tokyo─”

“EH?! TS─”

Akaashi slapped his hand on Bokuto’s mouth before Tetsurou could. Tsukishima shifted in his bed, turning to his side, face scrunching. Tetsurou clicked his tongue at Bokuto as he reached and ran his hand over Tsukishima’s head, shushing him gently. The blond’s expression smoothened out after a while.

“…sorry,” Bokuto mumbled.

“It’s all right, Bokuto-kun,” Takeda-sensei said. “But, yes, Tsukishima-kun’s still staying in Tokyo. His cousin will be waiting for him at Nekoma.”

“I’ll sit with him in the bus, sensei. I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Tetsurou said.

Takeda-sensei smiled. “Thank you for taking care of our Tsukishima-kun, Kuroo-kun. I’m glad he made friends with you. And to you as well Bokuto-kun, Akaashi-kun.”

“It was no trouble. And we’re glad to be his friends too, sensei,” Akaashi said.

“That’s good, it’s very reassuring to hear that,” the short teacher’s smile widened. “Anyway, there’s still a lot of time before we all pack up. You should all enjoy the barbecue. I’ll keep him company now.”

Tetsurou shook his head. “I’ll stay. It’s my fault he’s like that. I made him run in the rain yesterday.”

Takeda-sensei regarded him for a long second and Tetsurou willed resolve to back his words. The teacher gave a short chuckle. “I’m sorry, Kuroo-kun, but I must insist. Sawamura-kun and the others wanted to keep watch, too. They wouldn’t find it fair if I let you and not them.”

Tetsurou thinned his lips and Takeda-sensei patted him on the shoulder, smile still in place but was urging him to do what he was told. He sighed, nodding, knowing he was beat. He turned to Tsukishima, reaching to lightly stroke his hair. “I’ll see you later, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima only nuzzled into his hand weakly. Tetsurou hesitated, letting his hand linger for a second before he retracted it and turned back to Takeda-sensei.

He, Akaashi and Bokuto ducked their heads in bow to say their goodbye to the teacher and in return the latter waved at them. Yamaguchi was only about to slide the door open when Bokuto opened it. The freckled teen bowed his head in greeting and let them pass before he entered the infirmary. Yamaguchi didn’t come back out even when Tetsurou, Bokuto and Akaashi rounded the corridor that will lead them out of the school building. Tetsurou tried not to feel cheated because of apparent best friend privileges.

“So, Tsukki’s staying in Tokyo?” Bokuto piped up before they reached they stepped outside.

“For five more days, yeah,” Tetsurou answered.

“We should all hang out! Where’s he staying?”

“Omotesando.”

“Omotesando.”

Tetsurou looked at Akaashi. Akaashi only stared right back. “Tsukki told you?”

Akaashi shrugged. “We all had an interesting chat when you and Bokuto-san left early.”

“And Lev and Hinata didn’t make a fuss?” Tetsurou asked, ignoring Bokuto’s ongoing indignant squawks. That was the reason why Tsukishima didn’t want anyone to know until last minute.

“They surprisingly have enough tact. Haiba-kun especially. …But I guess it’s understandable considering their unique relationship.”

Tetsurou stopped mid step. “Haa?”

Akaashi stopped a few steps ahead, turning his head back to Tetsurou. There was a quirk in the setter’s mouth that Tetsurou couldn’t decide whether it was smirk or smile. Either way, he didn’t like it.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out later.”

The setter didn’t wait for Tetsurou to react and only continued forward, finally giving Bokuto attention and reprimanding his boyfriend that they’ll hang out with Tsukishima if the blond felt up to it and then tacking that it wasn’t like Tsukishima will be staying in Tokyo for a vacation and successfully spurning Tetsurou’s curiosity again.

When they arrived at the school’s yard, the whole of Karasuno had immediately flocked around Tetsurou, Sawamura and Sugawara going close up to his face to demand Tsukishima's current condition. Tetsurou backed up a little to explain that it was a fever like Coach Ukai had explained earlier and that he’ll take care of Tsukishima until they got him to his cousin so they shouldn’t worry. Which was a mistake because the crows didn’t know yet that Tsukishima wasn’t going home with them.

It was quickly absolved when Coach Ukai intervened and explained the gist of the arrangement they made for Tsukishima. In the meantime Tetsurou was finally free to go back to his team and eat a bit. He tried getting something out of Lev and even Hinata, to give some sense on Akaashi’s annoying hinting but, like the setter had said, the two had tack. Incredible and unyielding at that.  

Tetsurou made his way to Kenma, sitting beside him on the grassy hill. “Hey, I’ll─”

“I’m sitting with Yaku.”

“Oh, all right.”

Tetsurou picked at his food and started nibbling on the piece of grilled meat as he watched Hinata, Lev and Bokuto make a fuss about the Top 3 spikers in Japan.

“Hey, Kuro.”

“Hm?”

“Kuroo-san!!”

Hinata and Lev was suddenly up to his face speaking in unison.

“If we beat that Sakusa guy then we’ll be number one right?!”

Tetsurou sneered at them with a smirk. “Big talk for being the top two in sucking.”

Both first years flinched.

“Hinata must be top one,” Lev said.

“Kenma said I’m better at you at serves and receives!” Hinata countered.

They then focused their attention to Kenma, demanding he tell them right then and there who sucked less. Tetsuoru let them and rose up from the ground and dusted his shorts. “I’ll go back to the room and get my things ready,” he said to Kenma.

Takeda-sensei said to enjoy the barbeque and Tetsurou already did so now he should be allowed to stay with Tsukishima and wait until they leave. He’ll wing it if Takeda-sensei tried to send him away again.

Fortunately the teacher did no such thing as he saw Tetsurou already in his track pants and donning the red Nekoma jacket with his bag slung over his back. Yamaguchi was there and Tetsurou sat with him and Takeda-sensei. At one point, Yamaguchi had asked for his number and Tetsurou gave it easily. He wanted to be updated when his friend reached his cousin. Tetsurou understood the concern. Coach Naoi came to fetch them after a couple of hours, Lev in tow.

“I’ll help you with Tsukki, Kuroo-san,” Lev said when he neared.

“I can manage. Just get my bag,” Tetsurou replied as he ambled to the sleeping blond.

He pocketed Tsukishima’s glasses, now in its case, in his jacket before he shook blond’s shoulder gently. He was rewarded with glazed honeyed eyes looking up to him. “Hey, Tsukki. Time to go,” he said, keeping his voice quiet.

Tsukishima was obviously still out of it but Tetsurou managed to guide the blond to ride on his back. It felt like draping on a heated quilt. Tetsurou sighed, hopefully he’ll get better soon. He’ll call him tomorrow. He secured his hold on Tsukishima, hunching his back forward so that the blond didn’t need to hold onto him and his weight would solely rest on him. Tsukishima was asleep again before they could even step out of the school building.

Nekoma will be leaving ahead of all the teams due to their sick passenger. Every team was gathered in the parking lot. Karasuno being the nearest to their bus along with the owl couple. Sawamura approached Tetsurou and reminded him not to harass any of his first years. It was meant as a jest and Tetsurou took it with a quiet laugh, saying he’ll be keeping one of his kids for a while.

“I’d shake your hand but I have mine full at the moment,” Tetsurou said to the other captain.

“Just make sure he gets to his cousin all right.”

“Kuroo-san…” Yamaguchi said.

“I’ll text you when we get there,” Tetsurou replied, turning to the first year.

The freckled first year nodded. The younger teen still looked worried and Tetsurou could understand. Yamaguchi had shared to him that regardless of their excursion in the rain Tsukishima usually get overnight summer fevers and it always got worse first before he got better.

“Thank you,” Yamaguchi said before he turned to Tsukishima. “See you next week, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima shifted on his back and Tetsurou felt the small whine that Tsukishima made more than he heard it. That was his cue. He turned back to Sawamura. “This is bye, then. See you again in two weeks, Dadchi.”

“Yes, see you.”

Tetsurou gave a final to Sawamura before giving Bokuto and Akaashi and the rest the same gesture. Bokuto waved at him enthusiastically with one hand while the other was making a phone call sign, no doubt the owl meant it for him not to forget about hanging out.

Tetsurou was first to board and he settled Tsukishima on the inside of the first row seat before he made himself comfortable beside him.

Tsukishima slept the rest of the way.

--

Familiar streets and building pass by the bus window, late afternoon sun casting them in orange light. It was quiet, his teammates conscious to keeping their voices low when they chat among themselves. Tetsuoru glanced at the sleeping blond beside him. There wasn’t much any visible improvement on Tsukishima’s sickly pallor nor did from the feel of his temperature. It still felt like sitting beside a furnace. His jacket slipped down from Tsukisima’s shoulder when the blond shifted in his seat, head nudging Tetsurou’s. He reached for the jacket and affixed it again. Tsukishima had caught a chill earlier, before they entered the metropolitan highway prompting Tetsurou to cover him up more.

Nekoma High’s wrought iron gates came to view after a couple of minutes. There was a glossy black pick-up truck parked near it, the bulky sleek thing looking out of place in the mundane neighborhood. When the bus entered the school Tetsurou saw the red letters of GMC on its front grilles. Tsukishima shifted again and Tetsurou used his palm to stop the blond’s head from tipping forward. Still too hot. Hopefully, Tsukishima’s cousin was already here so he could get him to bed.

And apparently he was. There were two adults in the front steps of Nekoma’s main building, one of the two, the blond, approached where the bus would stop in a hasty jog, his dark skinned companion following more languidly behind him, both dressed casually but there was a certain poshness in their choice of clothes and the way they carried themselves. Tetsurou studied the strangers from the bus’s front window as the vehicle slowed down. Both men were probably in the higher side of 190s. Taller than Lev, definitely. Height must really run in Tsukishima’s family. Did they play volleyball, maybe…?

“AH!”

Inuoka had stood up from his seat. “Th-that’s Kise Ryouta and-and Aomine Daiki!”

…What? Kise Ryouta?

“Like those Generation of Miracles you told us about?” Shibayama asked, standing from his seat as well.

“Like the model?” Fukunaga added.

Lev shushed them loudly, sticking his forefinger against his lips.

What.

The bus stopped and before anyone could get their bearings the lemon blond─Kise Ryouta─was already boarding the bus, dark golden eyes going over to Tetsurou before fixating itself on the person beside him. The blond’s fine face creased into tight worry. “Kei-chan...” he said and made a beeline to Tsukishima, unminding of anyone gawking at him and of Tetsurou who was sitting beside Tsukishima.

The dark skinned man boarded next. He had dyed dark blue hair that oddly suited him perfectly.

The man addressed Coach Nekomata first. “Sorry about his manners. He’s just worried, Coach,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it, Aomine-kun. It’s understandable,” Coach Nekomata chuckled. “His fever’s a bit bad, though. You should take him home.”

“Yeah… Coach Harasawa was asking if you’re free for drinks, by the way,” the man replied as he ambled over the fussing blond. He tapped the other man on the shoulder. “I’ll get his things, you get Firefly settled in the truck.”

The older blond nodded and then, for the first time, placed Tetsurou under his attention and smiled, asking him wordlessly to move. Tetsurou slipped off from his seat while the blue haired man came down the bus with Coach Naoi and Coach Nekomato. Tetsurou stepped back into the aisle of the bus and watched the older blond silently, mind reeling and making connections on this new information, the things he noticed about Tsukishima and the blond’s similarities to the model he’d been crushing on without his permission. Tetsurou’s jacket was suddenly thrust forward to him. Tetsurou took it gingerly.

“Thank you for lending that to Kei-chan,” the man said, smiling, making Tetsurou notice the subtle similarities between this man and Tsukishima. The man then turned his attention back to Tsukishima. “What’s your name?”  

“K-Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou.” Tetsurou congratulated himself for being articulate.

The man scooped Tsukishima off his seat and carried him against his chest. His eyes were on Tetsurou again. “Ah, so you’re that senpai… Kei-chan’s been in your care, thank you.”

“Not. Not a problem.”

The man nodded before his eyes roamed around the bus. “Thank you for letting my cousin ride with you, I hope it wasn’t too much of a trouble.”

Tetsurou felt all his teammates shake their heads.

“Oh, and hey, Lev, right? Tell Alissa I said hi.”

“Uh…” Tetsurou intoned, catching Kise-san’s attention again. “Is Tsukishima…?”

Kise-san regarded him for a second. Tetsurou had a hard time articulating himself then. The man smiled again. “A model?”

Tetsurou pinched his lips. Not exactly what he wanted to ask.

“Or are you asking about his ZIPPER spread?”

“Well. That is…”

“Alissa already told me about her baby brother’s senpai crushing over my cute baby cousin. It’s a bit photoshopped but Kei-chan is super cute in that shot, yeah?”

Tsukishima chose that moment to stir from his sleep. “…nii?”

Kise-san’s attention was suddenly sucked down to Tsukishima and he murmured a few soothing words to the younger blond, urging him to go back to sleep. Tsukishima didn’t need telling twice and snuggled his face onto his cousin’s neck. Kise-san smiled apologetically at them. “Well, that’s my cue. Let’s keep what I said to us, okay? Kei-chan doesn’t like his part-time fussed over.”

Tetsurou found himself nodding along with the rest of his team.

Kise-san nodded once before he carried Tsukishima out of the bus.

It took Coach Naoi to come back up to the bus before everyone snapped back into their senses and promptly bombard Lev with questions. Their first year giant came clean with any questions hurled at him. Tetsurou only listened and willed himself to come into grips that his most recent celebrity crush and Tsukishima was one and the same.

The acceptance came to him with unsurprising ease.

Tsukishima was already plenty cute to begin with and with a wig and, apparently, photoshop, he’d make a pretty convincing girl.

After the excitement, Tetsurou managed to send Yamaguchi and Sawamura a text that Tsukishima was already with his cousin before Coach Nekomata and Coach Naoi gathered them for a short meeting, reminding them of their practice schedules and upcoming matches before letting them go home.

Their team stuck together as usual on their way home and only strayed from the group when they reached their respective stops and streets. Soon it was only him and Kenma walking down on the darkened street of their neighborhood, the streetlights blinking to life when the roofs of their houses were already on sight.

“Kuro?” Kenma suddenly intoned, breaking his silence.

“Hm?”

“What do you think of Tsukishima now?”

Tetsurou glanced at the shorter teen, Kenma had his eyes on him, too. He raised a brow, not really getting what the question for.

Kenma thinned his lips. “I mean since he turned out to be─”

“Oh. You mean that,” Tetsurou said, turning his gaze forward. “Tsukki’s still Tsukki to me. It was for a job. He didn’t have a choice in it, right?”

“…Do you like Tsukishima, Kuro?”

Tetsurou laughed as he reached the gate of his house. “Of course. What’s there not to like?”

“…”

He opened the gate before turning to Kenma again. “Oi Kenma, come over for dinner when you’re done changing, all right?” he said as he watched his best friend enter his own house. Kenma had been frowning to begin with but his face soured at the mention of dinner. He no doubt knew that Tetsurou would be dragging him if he didn’t come and force him to eat a proper meal. Kenma might not like it but his mother, busy as she was with three jobs, was surely thankful to Tetsurou for ensuring the younger was healthy and fit.

Kenma disappeared inside their house, and satisfied that his best friend was home safely Tetsurou entered his own home.

Later, after dinner and with Kenma hanging in his room, Tetsurou found Tsukishima’s glasses in his jacket's pocket.

Hm.

When Lev said that Tsukishima was actually in Tokyo for that November issue photoshoot for ZIPPER, Tetsurou had thought that the next he’ll be seeing the blond now was in the next away games for their group, but with his glasses in Tetsurou’s possession it seemed that it won’t take that long to see him again.

~*~

Owari

Spring High-Miyagi Prefecture Representative Playoffs...

"What's your name?"

"Tsu-Tsukishima... Tsukishima Kei."

Wakatoshi dropped his gaze to the linoleum floor. "Tsukishima Kei..." he said to himself quietly, testing how it would feel like saying the name of the middle blocker that was intelligent and skilled enough to successfully block him. He nodded to himself, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards, liking how his mouth curved around the blond's name. He returned his gaze to Tsukishima-san and he really did have beautiful eyes. "It suits you," Wakatoshi said.

The faint dusting of red that bloomed across his fair face was sweet.

.

.

.

.

.

Haikyuu!! ☆Pre Love Stage 0.5! 

☆END!☆