#tsukishima and yamaguchi are best friends in high school in a volleyball anime | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kuroosweakness · 3 years

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main haikyuu masterlist: pt 1

-> pt 2

all characters:

haikyuu characters drinking boba habits

haikyuu responding to “where do you wanna eat”

karasuno:

karasuno as boba orders

karasuno boys as sweet treats

karasuno boys in haunted houses

karasuno boys as part-time workers

karasuno boys as students

s/o forgets their lunch

s/o wanting to wear matching sweaters :)

nishinoya, tanaka, kageyama, and hinata when their s/o dodges his kisses

nishinoya, asahi, tsukki, and hinata waking up their s/o who is fake sleeping

kageyama when his s/o’s phone blows up with notifications

kageyama and yamaguchi when their s/o wants something from the store

random kags and hinata headcanon :)

others:

oikawa, iwaizumi, tendou, ushijima, akaashi, bokuto, kuroo as part-time workers

ushijima, tendou, oikawa, and iwaizumi as boba orders

when their their s/o is being made fun during a presentation // kuroo, bokuto, and akaashi

comforting their s/o // kuroo, bokuto, and akaashi

when their s/o makes plans without including them // kuroo and kenma

when their s/o dodges their kisses // kuroo, kenma, lev, and yaku

when their s/o dodges his kisses // ushijima and tendou

when their s/o dodges his kisses // oikawa and iwaizumi

when their s/o dodges his kisses // atsumu, osamu, and suna

when their s/o calls them “just a friend” // akaashi and bokuto

when their s/o wants to do face masks // akaashi and bokuto

when their s/o wants to do face masks // ushijima and tendou

when their s/o wants to do face masks // oikawa and iwaizumi

to losing their s/o in a public place // oikawa and iwaizumi

trick-or-treating with s/o // oikawa and iwaizumi

when s/o’s phone blows up with notifications // oikawa and kageyama

waking up their s/o who is fake sleeping // oikawa, kuroo, akaashi, bokuto

when their s/o is feeling cold // atsumu, suna, sakusa

when their s/o is feeling cold // akaashi and bokuto

when their s/o is feeling cold // kuroo and kenma

when their s/o asks for something from the store // akaashi and bokuto

when their s/o asks for something from the store // atsumu, suna, and sakusa

when their s/o asks for something from the store // oikawa and kuroo

“you didn’t give me enough kisses today” // akaashi and bokuto

“you didn’t give me enough kisses today” // oikawa, iwaizumi, ushijima

“you didn’t give me enough kisses today” // nishinoya and tsukishima

when their s/o gets period blood on bed sheets // oikawa and iwaizumi

when their s/o gets period blood on bed sheets // kuroo and bokuto

when their s/o asks them to open a jar // ushijima, tendou, and semi

when their s/o falls off of the bed // oikawa and iwaizumi

when their s/o falls off of the bed // kuroo and bokuto

s/o who sleeps with stuffed animals (plushies) // kuroo, bokuto, akaashi

when his s/o wipes his kisses off // atsumu, osamu, suna

when his s/o wipes his kisses off // oikawa and iwaizumi

when his s/o wipes his kisses off // kuroo, akaashi, bokuto

requested <33

oikawa comforting an insecure s/o

oikawa with a curly haired s/o

goshiki with his s/o doing facemasks together

road trip with oikawa, akaashi, and kuroo

tendou and goshiki reacts to their s/o coming out as bi

oikawa, iwaizumi, nishinoya, tanaka, and ushijima with a clumsy s/o

akaashi, tendou, tanaka, and osamu with a cutesy s/o

suna and kita helping a s/o on a panic attack

suna when his s/o accidentally calls him bro/dude

kuroo, yamaguchi, and hinata when their s/o accidentally calls them bro/dude

sugawara, kita, and goshiki when they notice their s/o’s self-harm scars

tsukki, daichi, and kenma when their s/o wants to do couple costumes

semi and suna doing a couple tiktok with s/o

shirabu and goshiki when their s/o cute their bangs and style their hair with cute pins

suna, akaashi, semi, and tsukki when their s/o wraps their legs around them when they’re gaming (tiktok trend)

iwaizumi with a chubby insecure s/o

lev, tendou, and osamu with a s/o who loves giving bone-crushing hugs

kenma, akaashi, sugawara, tsukishima when their s/o gets period blood on sheets

yamaguchi, sugawara, and ennoshita when their s/o comes to their game

bokuto and akaashi with a s/o who says “i love you” a lot

kuroo, bokuto, iwaizumi, and akaashi with an amputee s/o

iwaizumi, oikawa, and shirabu protecting s/o from a perv

iwaizumi, yaku, and sugawara with a clumsy s/o

oikawa and iwaizumi when their s/o calls them “just a friend”

atsumu and bokuto protecting s/o on a train from a perv

bokuto’s s/o passes away due to childbirth

iwaizumi, kuroo, akaashi, ushijima, and sugawara with a s/o who cries a lot

sakusa, kuroo, bokuto, and akaashi with an affectionate, small s/o

bokuto, iwaizumi, oikawa, and tendou when their s/o feeling insecure about gaining weight

sakusa, kenma, and oikawa when they’re jealous

bokuto, tendou, sugawara, and oikawa with a plus size s/o

kuroo, oikawa, osamu, and sakusa with a s/o has dimple when they smile

seijoh x manager who knits them scarves and hats

kuroo, noya, and yamaguchi with a plus size s/o

kyotani’s nightmare of losing his soft s/o

sakusa getting jealous

kuroo, iwaizumi, bokuto, ushijima, akaashi taking care of their basketball player s/o

nekoma’s reaction to yaku’s short girlfriend

ushijima, akaashi, and osamu protecting their s/o from a perv

sakusa playing his guitar for his s/o

iwaizumi and “hey shawty, is your man still around”

oikawa and “hey shawty, is your man still around”

oikawa x reader who’s a dry texter

akaashi protecting s/o from perv on train

iwaizumi, osamu, and kuroo accidentally saying “i love you” out loud

kenma and tendou with a s/o who pops their knuckles, neck, etc a lot

kuroo, ushijima, iwaizumi, oikawa, aone, tsukki when their s/o gives them a matching couple item

kuroo, ushijima, and ukai when their s/o comes out as bi

goshiki feeling like he’s not good enough

iwaizumi and akaashi as boyfriends

kenma, atsumu, yaku, and iwaizumi with a s/o who always types formally

ushijima, aone, oikawa, and iwaizumi with a bubbly nerd s/o

sakusa w/younger sister

tsukishima, kuroo, and bokuto walking in on y/n changing

kuroo, iwaizumi, and bokuto with a s/o who plays water polo

bokuto, kuroo, and iwaizumi with a s/o who doesn’t have motivation to work out

kuroo with a memer s/o

iwaizumi, kuroo, ushijima, and aone react to their s/o doing a sexy dance

karasuno, nekoma, aoba johsai when their cute manager gets hit on

kuroo, akaashi, iwaizumi reacting to their s/o sing “baby don’t stop” ( nct u song )

who’ll be jealous when their s/o is crazy for their kpop bias

kuroo and iwaizumi doing the “try not to kiss each other” tiktok challenge

iwaizumi, oikawa, kuroo, and akaashi when their s/o brings home a stray puppy

kuroo when his s/o brings food to nekoma

sakusa going to school with glasses

shiratorizawa, fukurodani, and johzenji when their manager gets hit on

tsukishima, aone, and kenma reacting to their s/o’s self-harm scars

semi, nishinoya, and komori reacting to their s/o’s self-harm scars

terushima when his s/o is mad at him

iwaizumi, kageyama, ushijima, and kenma caught making out with s/o

oikawa x iwaizumi’s little sister

iwaizumi and atsumu when their s/o overworks herself too much

semi, osamu, and lev when their s/o calls them pretty boy

semi and kuroo unintentionally putting their hand on reader’s waist to get past

bokuto, kuroo, and oikawa extravagantly proposing to their s/o

iwaizumi comforting his stressed out s/o

kenma, kuroo, and akaashi when their s/o is jealous

bokuto and oikawa with a s/o who’s in a depressive episode

s/o taking care of stressed out iwaizumi

ushijima, sakusa, atsumu, and bokuto with a s/o who plays soccer

itachiyama when their manager gets hit on

iwaizumi, kageyama, and kenma with a s/o who sleeps with stuffed animals ( plushies )

oikawa, bokuto, ushijima, iwaizumi with a s/o who plays the same position in volleyball as them

iwaizumi, kuroo, oikawa, and bokuto with a s/o whose first language isn’t japanese

oikawa and nishinoya with a s/o who doodles all over their own body

atsumu, bokuto, kageyama, and osamu when their s/o playfully says “i hate you”

ushijima with a s/o with bad anxiety

oikawa’s s/o has an asthma attack

karasuno meeting daichi’s s/o for the first time

asahi, oikawa, ushijima when they accidentally hit their s/o with a volleyball

kuroo, iwaizumi, and tsukishima when their s/o shows up at their game in their jersey

tendou, iwaizumi, and tsukishima with a s/o who has stretch marks

oikawa - “if you miss the serve, you get no kiss”

kuroo, akaashi, bokuto and iwaizumi when their cheerful s/o goes quiet

akaashi and bokuto with a s/o who does archery

kuroo, akaashi, bokuto and iwaizumi when their cheerful s/o goes quiet

tendou, ushijima, and iwaizumi comforting s/o who’s insecure about their weight

kageyama, kenma, hinata, and bokuto x suga’s short younger brother

atsumu, osamu, and suna with a s/o who has a lisp and is starting speech therapy

ushijima, iwaizumi, sakusa, atsumu, and bokuto with their s/o who has scars from surgery

kuroo comforting y/n after a breakup

iwaizumi, aone, and ushijima taking care of s/o’s younger sibling

aone, nishinoya, and ushijima when their s/o shows up at their game in their jersey

tsukishima, iwaizumi, and kuroo comforting their s/o who’s having issues with their best friend

tendou, ushijima, and tsukishima when their s/o breaks down after bottling their emotions

akaashi, bokuto, asahi, kuroo, and iwaizumi when y/n’s ex talks trash about them

iwaizumi, futakuchi, and ushijima when their s/o is hurting from awful cramps

bokuto, kuroo, and akaashi comforting election-stressed s/o

atsumu and terushima supporting s/o who goes to therapy

oikawa, iwaizumi, kuroo, ushijima reacting to their femboy boyfriend wearing a skirt, crop top, and thigh highs

akaashi and kita with a stressed out s/o

shiratorizawa, fukurodani, and karasuno helping their s/o who wants to be a libero

oikawa and akaashi when their s/o tells them they had depression

rich sakusa x rich s/o

tendou, kuroo, bokuto, and iwaizumi with an s/o who needs constant affirmation

kuroo/akaashi night-time cuddles

akaashi x gf who wears glasses

fukurodani and shiratorizawa with a s/o who’s the girls’ team captain

bokuto x kuroo’s twin sister

kuroo x goofball s/o with dad humor

sakusa, oikawa, and atsumu when their s/o asks them to slow dance

hinata, kageyama, and nishinoya when their s/o wants them to teach them volleyball

tsukishima, aone, and kenma’s s/o koala’ing themselves onto their lap

kuroo comfort hcs

tendou, kenma, and sugawara when their s/o is having a really rough time

iwaizumi and osamu college admission essay comfort hcs

kenma and hinata with a s/o who has severe headaches

atsumu, osamu, sakusa, and suna as younger siblings

ushijima, bokuto, tanaka, tsukishima, and kuroo when their tough s/o breaks down

bokuto, ushijima, tanaka, and tsukishima when their s/o asks if they love her

akaashi, iwaizumi, bokuto, and tendou helping their s/o who has a sprained ankle

kageyama when his s/o feels insecure

bokuto, tsukishima, tanaka, and akaashi comforting their s/o who’s in an art block

kyotani when his tough s/o breaks down

tsukishima’s lively, outgoing s/o becomes quiet and cold

bokuto, hinata, atsumu, sakusa when their short s/o wants to reach the top shelf

lev, iwaizumi, sakusa with a touch-starved s/o

iwaizumi comforting s/o who has a toxic mom

kenma when his s/o comes out to him

kunimi comforting his s/o after her bestfriend used her

akaashi when his girlfriend is on her period and wants to hug him all day

kita and akaashi when their s/o wants to serenades him

tendou and yaku helping relieve s/o’s study stress

waking up with kageyama, kenma, and akaashi

tsukishima, yamaguchi, and kuroo with a s/o who has frequent breakdowns

sakusa when his childhood crush/best friend is moving away

bokuto, tendou, and nishinoya with a s/o who has tics

osamu and bokuto when their s/o cries all the time on her period

oikawa helping his s/o go to sleep

akaashi with a s/o who cries easily

kenma and iwaizumi comforting their s/o with scars

atsumu, osamu, and sugawara cuddling their stressed s/o

kenma helping his s/o calm down

yaku and tsukishima when their s/o feels useless and like a bad person

kuroo, oikawa, tendou, kenma with a s/o who has a toxic friend

daichi, sugawara, asahi with y/n questioning their sexuality

bokuto and kuroo trying to cheer up their s/o after losing loved ones

kuroo and akaashi with a lonely s/o

kuroo and akaashi comforting their lonely s/o

atsumu, sakusa, bokuto, and hinata’s s/o koala’ing themselves onto their lap

(pt. 2 of this masterlist)

scenarios/small drabbles:

oikawa: “don’t you think you can do better than me? ( fluff )”

akaashi: where akaashi has a bad day ( fluff )

bokuto: night-time cuddles ( fluff )

(requested) kuroo and akaashi: night-time cuddles ( fluff )

(requested ) story: nishinoya toxic relationship -> sugawara healthy relationship

(requested) y/n wants akaashi to know how much she loves him

(requested) tsukki surprising his manager s/o for her birthday

#haikyuu masterlist #just trying to organize my blog a bit :')

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x-ia-n · 3 years

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― 15:27.

➞ including: tadashi yamaguchi, gn!reader

overview: in which you confess. but yamaguchi can’t process the fact that you like someone like him.

word count: 0.8k

➼ haikyuu masterlist

↳ main masterlist

↦ yamaguchi pov, confessions, denial, hmm self-doubt, self-esteem issues ig, possible unrequited love

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

It was halfway through your last year when you stopped Yamaguchi at the school gates to say, “I like you.”

The confession isn't squeamish in the least. There are no jitters or trembling hands. There are no stutters or flushed features. Only fiery eyes filled with stormy clouds and unsaid words. The words are shockingly direct and blunt, something Tadashi has only encountered on rare occasions outside of the classroom.

You spoke in confidence; as if you were speaking fact. You spoke like you have the words long memorized, like you’ve read them aloud to yourself every night. The freckled volleyball captain noticed the look on your face, and compared it to the look you wear when you’re faced with something serious.

He was immediately caught off guard, mind trying to connect the words to the person. “Oh.”

The words came out cold and indifferent. “I see.”

(He’s confused. Tadashi doesn’t know what to say. Witnessing girls confess to his best friend for years, you would think he would know how to handle something like this.

It doesn’t make sense to him. You don’t like him. Shouldn’t you be saying this to the King or even his best friend, if anyone at all?

His silence should say something.)

You gave a short, knowing nod and walked away as it becomes obvious that this is all he has to say about the issue. You were silent and accepting of this. Like you knew his response.

You left him staring at the empty space you stood at, mouth pressed into a line as he tried to desperately process what just happened.

A sigh left his lips, as though air leaving a deflating balloon. He headed to the Sakanoshita Market, where Kei was waiting for him.

When he got to the shop, he met the blond’s eyes, unspokenly asking why he took long.

“Ah, Tsukki. I was just—” The freckled boy rubs the back of his neck, “—held up a bit.”

Kei nodded, not pushing the younger to tell him something he’s clearly not ready to reveal. He silently started to walk away, with the expectation that Tadashi would follow.

He does.

The walk home was uncharacteristically quiet, the shorter teen keeping his lips shut. A million thoughts were running through his head.

What was he supposed to do? Ask Tsukishima about your alleged "feelings" for him? Is it expected that they will have a heart-to-heart about high school love and the pitter patter of their hearts? Is he meant to approach his childhood buddy for guidance, like a main lead in a romance anime?

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t bring up anything, doesn’t even dare utter a word until they get to his house.

“See you tomorrow, Tsukki.”

The next day was normal. Class was normal. Lunch was normal. Volleyball practice was normal.

He saw neither stormy clouds nor hesitant smiles when his gaze drifted to your direction on the other side of the court. You were all smiles; conversing with Yachi and laughing alongside Hinata. And when you turned to him, your grin did not waver, it was captain-managers business like usual.

Nothing was different.

But since when did your laugh sound like the soft chimes of a bell?

Days later, he was eating lunch with Yachi and Tsukki, the latter disappeared earlier to fetch drinks from the vending machine. The green-haired teen could not help but notice the shorter blonde glance at him ever so often, and her lips parting as though she wants to say something, but visibly goes against it.

They've been working through their physics homework since that morning when Yachi glanced up and asked, "A-ano, Yamaguchi-kun?"

Something about her tone screams 'troublesome,' but he's too preoccupied with equations and statistics to properly investigate the implications of the unfolding dialogue. He merely responded with a hum as he pushed buttons on his calculator.

“I’m sorry if this is sudden, but is it true that Y/N-chan likes you?”

He froze.

This is the first time anyone has mentioned it since you walked off on him that one afternoon. The teen breathed out slowly, trying to regain his composure.

“Who knows?”

Monotone. As if he didn’t care.

(Because he can’t. Shouldn’t.

He shouldn’t tether you to someone like him.)

Tadashi Yamaguchi, pinch server.

Tadashi Yamaguchi, middle blocker.

Tadashi Yamaguchi, Karasuno’s Spear.

Tadashi Yamaguchi, captain of the boys’ volleyball team.

Tadashi Yamaguchi, a normal boy from Miyagi Prefecture.

Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to try to reach for the stars. Would the sky allow him to soar? Will it let the sun’s rays burn his skin? Would the sheer act of attempting provide any sense of accomplishment?

He watched you walk across the stage on your graduation day. Saw you surrounded by your friends, and the club members.

The six of you newly graduates lined up in front of the school, your families wanting to take a picture for the occasion. You were in the middle, sandwiched between Yachi and Hinata; just two arms length away from him.

He did not hear the calls of your parents to smile. The freckled teen watched you, all his thoughts unspoken, as you continued to be blissfully unaware on how bright you shone—

Tadashi Yamaguchi, just an almost.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu angst #haikyuu #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #yamaguchi tadashi #yamaguchi x reader #tadashi x reader #haikyuu tadashi #yamaguchi angst

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dinosaurtsukki · 3 years

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haikyuu!! + things they were doing on the internet when they were like... 12

a/n: is this also a call-out post for myself and a way to make fun of things i did? yes

Hinata: playing those free to play weird-ass games on y8.com when he’s not fighting over the computer with his sister

Kageyama: watching ‘top ten best sets in volleyball games with slow-motion’ again and again until his sister taught him how to use youtube

Tsukishima: writing long essays that he posts on facebook about how much twilight sucks and how much he hates it. definitely had a twilight phase

Yamaguchi: secretly writing twilight fanfiction and posting them on wattpad. he got pretty famous for them but he’ll never talk about it

Ennoshita: played Feeding Frenzy a lot. like, a Lot. this man was a literal god

Tanaka: MAKING PUNK/EMO EDITS OF HIS FAVORITE CELEBRITIES. his masterpiece was punk harry styles feat. 6 earrings and a neck tattoo

Nishinoya: watching american ninja warrior compilations but the ones with ‘eye of the tiger’ edited over them to make them extra awesome

Daichi: coming up with his own inspirational quotes that are kind of terrible like ‘even though i’ve been beaten down, i’ll always get back up’ and posting them on facebook thinking that he’ll inspire people somehow

Sugawara: watching ‘Hetalia Ep. 25 VIETSUB|SPN|ENG subtitles pt. 2/28′ on youtube. either that or ouran high school host club idk this guy had a phase

Asahi: taking a whole bunch of those ‘what your fashion says about you’ quizzes until he eventually made one himself as well as a polyvore account

Oikawa: reading and writing doctor who fanfiction before eventually getting into sherlock and supernatural. yes, he shipped destiel. yes, the destiel canon thing on november ruined him

Iwaizumi: he was really into looking up random animal videos like ‘tarantula vs. scorpion fight’ and stuff like monster bug wars from animal planet and when oikawa made fun of his search history he figured out how to delete it

Hanamaki: vibing to the Phineas and Ferb songs playlist that he made on youtube (of course the aglet song is his favorite one)

Matsukawa: a true tumblr child and was there when this hellsite was first birthed. he remembers the tumblr wars between the fandom and the hipster blogs all too well

Ushijima: didn’t know what the internet was until tendou realized he didn’t have a skype so he made an account for him. until now, ushijima’s status still says ‘hi, wakatoshi here’

Tendou: watching a whole bunch of minecraft song parodies on youtube before eventually making them himself

Semi: either learning guitar through youtube videos or looking up ‘how to play lucky by jason mraz EASY VERSION | NO BAR CHORDS’

Shirabu: he used only Google+ as his social media and wondered why he wasn’t getting any friends

Goshiki: this kid was blessed to be twelve years old when the lego movie came out so he most definitely just used the internet to listen to ‘everything is awesome’ again and again

Kuroo: definitely a fandom kid, one of those from the six major book fandoms (hp, pjo, hg). used to run a fricking roleplay group on tumblr and his oc’s always have a Dark Backstory

Kenma: youguysaregonnacomeformebut--- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FANFICTION OKAY BYE

Yaku: playing Pet Society on facebook. is it such a coincidence to see him so decked out and rich now when his pet had the same lifestyle? nO

Lev: playing those papa louie games (papa’s pizzeria, papa’s burgeria, etc) and trying to force the game to crash by serving customers 500 chicken wings

Bokuto: as soon as he got a skype account, he’d pretty much voice call anyone and everyone he saw had an ‘active’ status on but his friends didn’t have the heart to switch their status to ‘inactive’

Akaashi: was the king of making ‘which ___ character would be into you (for girls and gays only!!!)’ quizzes that are very detailed. he’d even make a whole character profile with a ‘how you met them’ at the end

Atsumu: used to secretly watch episodes of ‘boys over flowers’ and ‘meteor garden’ on the computer when he was alone at home. eventually got into girl’s generation and super junior

Osamu: a master at playing poptropica and even had a whole gig making poptropica walkthroughs for other people. sometimes he’d play club penguin and get himself kicked out for swearing just for fun

Suna: looking up ‘demons by imagine dragons with lyrics’ on youtube and just playing it on loop. his desktop wallpaper says ‘don’t get too close, it’s dark inside’

Kita: didn’t know what the internet was until suna and aran took pity on him and helped him create a facebook account. until now, his profile pic is still a picture of his jersey number and he has 99+ unchecked notifications

Sakusa: his cousin introduced him to sims. except, sakusa doesn’t play ‘for fun’ but to vicariously live the average salaryman life through his virtual character (he named him steve)

▸ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ◂

taglist (check out my post for details on being part of my taglist):@montys-chaos @miyumtwins @strawberriimilkshake @pocubo @sugawara-sweetheart @akaashisbabydoll @laure-chan @therainroguefanfiction @atetiffdoesart @stephdaninja @oikaw-ugh @charliefredb @dramaqueenweeb1469 @tremblinghearts @applepienation @doodleniella @haikyuu-my-love @waitforitillwritemywayout @kattykurr @atsumusdomain @goodfoodxoxoxo @ah-kaashi @guardianangelswings @definitely-yours @amberalisa @whootwhoot @liz-multifandom-hotel @kac-chowsballs @procrastination-lady

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tsukishumai · 3 years

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First Kiss - Tsukishima, Kageyama, Hinata, Yamaguchi (Karasuno First Year edition!)

Aoba Johsai Edition

It’s a little long, I have zero self control

Can you tell I love Tsukishima (｡◕‿◕｡)

TSUKISHIMA -

Before, you used to spend your days in school with your cousin, Yamaguchi, and his less-than-pleasant-but-ridiculously-good-looking best friend, Tsukishima.

He was a jerk, to put it lightly, but hey, you can be a jerk too.

“Your hair looks like a damn bird’s nest, and your bow’s all crooked. Did anyone even teach you how to be a girl?” “Did anyone teach you not to be such an insufferable asshole?” “Do you even know what ‘insufferable’ means?” “Uh, yeah, it means Tsukishima Kei.”

Yamaguchi regrets ever introducing you two.

Things may have started like that, but it wasn’t long before the biting tone in Tsukishima’s words was replaced by something more playful, each remark followed by a smile. He started walking you to your classes, saving you a seat next to him during lunch, even going so far as to share music with you. (He’ll never show you the playlist he’s made of all the songs you’ve recommended.)

But that was before. Now, you were doing your best not to melt under Tsukishima’s heated gaze, paying no attention to the golden brown eyes that have followed you around for days.

The bell rang to signal the end of class, and you quickly gathered all your things, throwing them haphazardly into your bag, and running out before Tsukishima could get to your desk.

You got to your locker in record time, quickly changing out of your school shoes so you could start your trek home. Usually, you would wait for Yamaguchi and Tsukki to get out of practice but… this was better for you.

“You’re avoiding me.”

You jumped at the voice that was suddenly right behind you, knowing exactly who would be there if you turned around, so you didn’t.

“Don’t you have volleyball practice?” “That’s beside the point.” “Avoiding you? I haven’t been –“ “I’m not a dumbass, so don’t play games with me. You’re avoiding me. Why?”

You gulped, gripping the school bag that hung off your shoulder until your knuckles turned white. You wanted to lie, but there’s no point. Tsukishima was always able to see right through you.

“I heard you tell Tadashi that you liked someone…” “… So?”

You tried to pretend that your heart didn’t just crumple up like a piece of paper. “SO! I didn’t want to ruin your chances; she might get the wrong idea if she sees us together all the time.”

He scoffed. “That is the single most idiotic thing I’ve seriously ever heard. Did you hit your head as a kid?”

You could feel your face turn red, anger beginning to bubble in your throat. You finally turn around to face Tsukishima, ready to give him a snarky comment. “No, YOU’RE the single most idiotic thing –“

The words died on your tongue, muffled by Tsukishima leaning down and pressing his own lips onto yours.

He pulled back, and couldn’t help but smirk at your flushed appearance.

“I was talking about you. Stupid.”

KAGEYAMA –

You had always found it extremely fun to mess with Kageyama Tobio

The boy was a genius when it came to volleyball; but maybe that’s where his genius ends.

It didn’t escape your attention that he would get flustered every time you smiled at him, or that his friends would tease him whenever you walked by, or that it was him dropping off a juice box and melon bread on your desk every morning with a note that says “have a good day.”

You enjoyed it; the way you could make him short circuit just by giving him a hug, the crimson on his face when he catches your eye from the court, and the deer-in-headlights look he gave you when you confessed your feelings.

You were never one to make the first move, sometimes wondering why you did it for Karasuno’s genius setter, but you’re reminded when you feel the shiver in his body as you slide your hand into his, and you see the sweet look in his eyes when you ask him to walk you to class.

You didn’t mind that you had to initiate most of the affection if it meant you got to see the blush that Kageyama always tried to hide.

Today, you found yourself in the perfect position to mess with him. The two of you were having a movie night, and even though you shared the same blanket, Kageyama was sitting on the other end of the couch like a perfect gentleman.

“Tobio,” you whined, “I want to cuddle.”

You didn’t even give the poor guy a chance to reply before crawling from your side of the couch, and situating yourself on his lap, arms reaching up around him as you buried your face into his neck.

You could feel Kageyama’s entire body stiffen, steam practically beginning to come out of his ears.

Laughter threatened to spill from your lips, so you decided you’ve done enough to the guy, and started to make your way off until you felt two strong arms snake around your waist.

You lifted your head to face Kageyama in surprise, but your breath was caught in your throat when you noticed the look he was giving you.

It was like slow motion – Kageyama’s head lowered and your eyes fluttered close before you felt the velvety soft pressure of his lips against yours.

Omg d-did he just kiss you?!

Now it was your turn to be flustered. The corner of Kageyama’s mouth turned upwards ever so slightly, and his hold around you tightened, causing the pink tint of your cheeks to deepen into crimson.

“Let’s stay like this for a while.”

HINATA –

Everything. Was. Going. Wrong.

This was not how Hinata imagined your first date together would go!

Do you have any idea how long Hinata has been waiting to ask you out? Ever since he met you at National’s last year, he’s been planning this day.

You were beautiful, funny, and you could teach him (more than) a thing or two about volleyball? *Chef’s Kiss*

When you finally agreed to go on a date with him, he thought he was dreaming. He knew he had to make it the best date ever.

He definitely didn’t go to the bathroom six times the morning of.

There was a summer festival that weekend, and he figured it would be the perfect place to take you on your first date.

Ten minutes in, Hinata had spilled Kakigori all over his Yukata. He had been in the middle of beating himself up about it when you reached over and dabbed at the stain with a napkin, laughing at his clumsiness.

An hour in, Hinata had spent nearly all his money trying to win you a stuffed animal to no avail. (You got it yourself in one try.)

Two hours in, Hinata had accidentally stepped on your obi, ripping the delicate material. He wanted to die right then and there, but you insisted it was old, and you were planning to get a new one anyway.

Just as Hinata thought he would redeem himself by taking you on the Ferris wheel, he found out that he got motion sickness, and you ended up having to rub his back, while he fought the urge to hurl the whole time.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized once the two of you exited the metal death trap, sitting him on a bench, “I swear I had planned for this day to be much better.”

“What do you mean? I had a great time,” you said, and Hinata gave you a look that clearly said he didn’t believe you. You just laughed. “Hinata, when we first met, you threw up on my shoes. Today was a big improvement.”

He laughed. “Still – I wanted you to have a cooler memory of me.”

“You don’t have to try so hard,” you giggled, “I came here because I like you.”

Just then, the sky lit up with different colors of reds, greens, and blues; dancing together to create a pattern that illuminated your face in a way that made Hinata’s heart race.

You smiled then, sitting beside him on the bench and laying your head on his shoulder. “At least we have these fireworks.”

It was there, on a random bench under the glow of summer time, that you shared your first sweet kiss with Hinata Shoyo.

YAMAGUCHI -

Enter Yamaguchi Tadashi; Captain of Karasuno Volleyball Club, Pinch Server, and all-around good guy.

He’d like to think he was a completely different person now; no longer the shy, timid first year that was stuck on the bench while his classmates shone on the court.

Now, he was in charge, and one needed to have all the confidence in the world if they had to keep his demon classmates in line.

But all that confidence just went down the drain whenever you were around.

“Good morning, Yamaguchi-kun!” “Oh, hey! Hi, yeah, it’s a good morning right? Aha, the homework last night was pretty hard, right? Haha..ha.”

“I watched your game last night, Yamaguchi-kun! You were amazing, I couldn’t take my eyes off you!” “Wha - Ah - Haha, that was nothing, just - it was, uhm, the team they helped ahaha, I – Thank you?”

“Dude…” Tsukki would say, “What the hell just happened to you?”

Naturally, his friends got sick and tired of seeing him turn into a dumbass around you, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Yamaguchi should have known what the boys were up to when they decided they wanted to throw a party after the game. As captain, he probably should have spoken against it, but he was also feeling pretty high from the win, and wanted to let loose.

How they managed to trap him in this closet with you was beyond him. He thinks he heard the words “7 minutes in heaven” but the beers were making everything move too fast, and your proximity was more intoxicating than anything he drank that night.

You looked at him with glossy eyes, and he felt like he was drowning. More than a few minutes passed, neither of you moving. The tension was rising, and Yamaguchi didn’t want to make you feel like you had to do anything you didn’t want to.

“Y/N-san, you don’t have to –“ “Yamaguchi-kun, I like you.”

He froze, mouth hanging open. He watched as your gaze lowered, fiddling with your thumbs as you took a step back, and he instantly missed the closeness.

“I’m sorry, this was stupid. Tsukishima-san told me this would be a good idea, but I can see that I’m making you uncomfortable, I’m just going to –“

You felt Yamagachi’s warm hands on either side of your face, catching you off guard before he pulled you in and locked his lips onto yours. Your hands instantly moved up to wrap around his middle, and you lost yourself in the softness of his movements.

He pulled away, making a mental note to thank his idiot friends when you beamed up at him with a smile that blew him away. “I… I like you, too.”

A/N - This one is for @valiantrevolt !

573 notes · View notes

4aloysius-porteu · 3 years

Text

i am your ally || tsukishima kei.

pairing; tsukishima kei x f! reader

genre: oneshot, drama, flangst, a little comedy

word count: 5.6k

details: 3rd year Tsukishima, artist reader

warnings: reader going missing, verbal abuse, crushing of dreams, lots of sadness, heavy parental argument, everything that happens here hits home

synopsis: tsukishima didnt know what is the right thing to say after he heard of (y/n)’s situation, but the words that stumbled out from his mouth were a surprise, yet it blossomed to a meaningful talk that happens once in a blue moon.

(a/n): wrote in the middle of my depressing days to find a little comfort from this character that I love with all my heart. inspired by true situations irl; if you, my friend, is feeling down today, i hope reading this work of mine can help. i might make this into a full story if this got enough attention tho.

(Y/N) was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't Tsukishima's habit to eavesdrop on other people's conversation, but he couldn't help but listen when he heard her name from her classmates. She was a consistent top student that will never neglect her studies, so it was unusual to know that she was absent today. He thought that maybe she got sick or she decided to go crazy and skip school. If it was the latter, he hoped that she knows what she's doing, because midterms are coming in 3 days, and he's not going to listen to her whines and begs to help her study for the tests.

And now he just happened to overhear that she was missing.

He saw her parents walk out of the campus after talking to the vice-principal and to the teachers. Gossip filled the corridors and rooms. Tsukishima went back to his room, clearly annoyed with the unnecessary noise.

He listened to the lectures of each subject and continued to write down important points, but the thought of (Y/N) lingered in his head. What could've happened that led to her disappearance? Was she kidnapped? No, he just walked her home last night and she'll never leave her place past midnight. Kidnappers won't dare to make a move in daylight because of the town's high authority visibility. There's no way she'll be lost in an area she's very familiar with.

She ran away from home. That is the only logical possibility he could come up with, but he couldn't think of an idea as to why. (Y/N), who loves to be cooped up in her room with music blaring in her earphones while drawing, left her home without a trace. Tsukishima was a little worried, but he won't let his face show whatever the hell he's feeling.

His plays and blocks aren't exactly bad, but Yamaguchi could sense that Tsukishima was thinking of something other than the volleyball practice. He approached his friend who was resting on the floor, his long arms covering his curled up legs.

"Tsukki, what's with that expression? Did you get a failing score in a quiz?" Yamaguchi started, in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere.

The blonde's eyes darted to him, "Like hell, I'm going to let that happen. What do you want?"

He shrugged, "Nothing, I just noticed that you were a little quieter and more passive today. Normally, you would've chewed the first years out with their simple blocking errors, but you didn't say a thing. You're scarier in their eyes when you're silent."

"I was tired. I'll only waste my voice pointing out something I did a million times." A sigh escaped his lips

"Right..." Yamaguchi paused, "So, I assume you have heard?"

"Heard of what?"

"That (Y/N) is missing."

"Oh," A frown fell on his features. It wasn't his usual frown. People who really know him would notice that his eyes are full of worry.

He sat beside Tsukishima before he spoke again. "I know you have ideas on places (Y/N) could've gone to."

"I do not know what you're talking about."

The latter chuckled, "Oh, humor me, Tsukki. If you're that worried, I can excuse you for today's practice. No problem."

"Does that mean that you aren't concerned?"

"I am concerned. I want to look for her as well, but I have to whip the other players into shape. I'm sorry if I couldn't accompany you right away."

Tsukishima stood up and sighed again, "You will excuse me, you said?"

"Yeah."

There were silence and the background noise of balls and shoes colliding on the floor. He wiped the sweat off his face before replying, "I'll be leaving the gym in a few minutes."

He changed his clothes and packed his things up, causing the team to exchange glances.

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi called, throwing his friend's large jacket to him, which the other caught. "Take care! I hope you find (Y/N) and get her home safe."

"I wish. Then, I'll leave it to you, Captain."

The green-haired middle blocker's eyes teared up and sparkled as he beamed a smile back, "I got it!"

Tsukishima started to look for (Y/N) at the places she liked to go to; the art store, the Central Park, the kid's playground, the museum, and the prefectural library. But there was no sign of her anywhere. He looked at the nearby places to no avail. He walked on while dialing her number, but her phone is out of coverage area. He spent 3 more hours finding the girl and soon received a message from Yamaguchi, telling him that (Y/N) hasn't been found yet and that he joined the authorities to help them find her.

He walked back to the direction of his home, panting softly. He had failed to find (Y/N), yet his brain won't stop thinking about her possible whereabouts. The cool breeze of winter hit Tsukishima's face and shivered at the contact. He had hoped again that she is inside of an establishment, safe from such cold weather.

Tsukishima's home has its lights out. Her mother was invited into her colleagues' reunion as said in her text, and both his father and brother are busy at work. He reached for his key in his pocket and was opening the door, not until he heard a loud sob from somewhere. Tsukishima looked around the place as the sobbing continued. He searched for the source and ended up in their backyard. He caught the sight of a small figure behind the bushes and went closer to confirm.

It was a cat. It had scurried away once he got close to it. Oh, how stupid he is to get his hopes up only to find a scared animal. But he was certain he heard a sob somewhere near. And cats aren't capable of making a sound like that. Or maybe he was only hearing things?

He dragged his feet to the main door to unlock it, but this time, there was a loud noise of scrubbing on the roof. What is it this time? He moved back and looked upon where it came from.

To his surprise, it wasn't another cat but a person. Their legs were curled up, arms covered around them, with their chin on their knees. Tsukishima turned on his phone's flashlight and there she was.

It was (Y/N). Her shoulders shook, either from the cold or trying her best not to cry out loud.

"H-Help me."

He stared at the girl, confused and fighting back laughter because of how scared (Y/N) looked. "How the heck did you get in there?"

"I climbed that tree and jumped off to break in and hide in your room. Turned out that the windows are locked. I don't know how to jump back and I-I was too high from the ground. You know I'm scared of heights! Why did you lock the window?! Stupid!"

"Of course, I would lock the window for the security. And wow, aren't you the stupid one for knowing how to climb and jump up to my window and not knowing how to get down? Why did you climb if you are scared of heights? Such an idiot."

"Fine, fine. I am an idiot. Now, can you help me get off this roof?"

He crossed his arms and smirked, "No."

"Ugh! Please, Kei. I've been trapped here for hours. I am begging you to help me get down. Please?"

He sighed in defeat and raised his arms. "Here. Jump."

For seconds, (Y/N) didn't respond as she was having second thoughts about jumping.

"What? Do you expect me to get a ladder? I'm sorry, but it's in the basement, broken." He said in a mocking tone. "Don't you want to come down?"

"Can you catch me properly? Are your arms stable? Won't you fall on your ass?" (Y/N) interrogated.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, "Alright, stay there and freeze to death."

"No, wait! I was just asking! Come back! Don't leave meeee!"

The blonde looked up to her and raised his arms again, "Don't think. Trust me, I will catch you properly and you won't crash to the ground. You weigh like nothing anyway."

"Are you talking about yourself?" She retorted, pertaining to his weight.

"Can you please just jump?"

(Y/N) inhaled and went to the edge of the roof. It was a scary view for her, just looking down makes her dizzy, and want to throw up. She thought he would have the largest frown on his face because of how irritatingly slow she was, but there was Tsukishima waiting for her with the calmest expression. She smiled a little.

"Here I go..."

She took off, closing her eyes, and swallowing her fears. The gravity pulled her feet down shortly after, and Tsukishima readied himself for the impact as he reached her waist. He held on to her lower torso while (Y/N) placed her arms around his shoulders tightly and legs on his waist. The athlete's balance slightly went off, so he took a step back to support both their weights. It was now steady.

"I'm surprised you didn't lose your balance. Where's the weak boned beanpole 3 years ago?"

"I did for a second."

"Doesn't matter. You caught me. Thank you."

They had stayed in that way for a moment until Tsukishima spoke, "Do you plan to get off?"

"No. I'm tired."

"I am too." Yet she refused to let go.

He exhaled, carrying (Y/N) to the main entrance and finally unlocking the door. Her hoodie was cold and some parts are wet, but it didn't rain on that day. He took her in and placed her on the couch. Tsukishima went to his room, changed clothes, and brought a spare sweatshirt, handkerchief, and a towel. He went down but didn't find (Y/N) where he left her, so he walked to the kitchen counter and found the girl on the corner, shivering like a pup.

He tossed the clothing at her without further words. There was a note from her mom beside the curry in the table, saying she had eaten and she left rolls in the refrigerator. He was about to turn on the stove to reheat the food his mother left, but his eyes landed on (Y/N) who sat quietly, hugging the sweatshirt instead of wearing it. Her hair was disheveled, the sleeves and neck part of her hoodie was damp, her nose was red and her puffy, bloodshot eyes implied that she has been crying for who knows how long. He set the pan down to get her a glass of water.

"Everyone was looking for you." Said Tsukishima.

"No one was really looking for me." (Y/N) replied, clearing her nose.

"I didn't spend the last 3 hours tiring myself to scan the whole town for no reason." He sat beside her, handing the glass. "Care to spill the tea?"

(Y/N) drank first before speaking weakly, "I hate them. So much."

The male remained quiet, waiting for her to continue her dilemma.

"Remember when I told you and the class that I will be the most successful doctor in Japan after I finished my studies? It was a lie. It wasn't my dream to stay in a hospital and treat ill people, I only wanted to draw and paint. I didn't care if it never made them or anyone happy, I am happy doing it. And they are taking it away from me."

He knew from the start that her dream job as a doctor wasn't true. For years she stayed close to him as a friend or more, she won't blabber anything of the medical topic. She was terrified of syringes. He saw her reading an article about surgeries and like, but her focus was easily taken away.

She will get a pencil then start scribbling and drawing. Something that Tsukishima always sees her doing whenever she has a pen and paper, but she insists that it was a mere hobby. Her notebooks are well designed and organized, but the back is always full of artistic doodles instead of algebra solutions. She only has very few art materials yet she can make a portrait with only her fingers to shade. She makes digital art without a stylus. She would drag him to the museum after class to view some western and eastern paintings or any work of art while he admires the dinosaur fossils. For times she's watching an art tutorial and talk about art, draw and paint, she has those stupid sparkles in her eyes and a huge smile on her face.

"You know Tsukishima, after I finish studying and became a doctor, I'll become an artist and if the time let's it, I'll open my own art gallery. That's my ultimate dream." She looked alive and delighted.

Very much the opposite of what she looks like right now.

Even though she was a slave of art, as Tsukishima was a slave of his own interests, (Y/N) prioritized her studies so much. He understood why when he went to her house and met her parents before their study sessions. He had noticed everything but chose to stay quiet.

"I-I was drawing last night. Dad entered my room but I didn't notice so he ripped the music away from my ears and yelled. He said that I would always lock myself in my room and draw every night. It was never-ending and irritates the shit out of him. He asked why would I do something so useless that isn't even connected to any academic subject. He was looking down on my art like he was looking at a piece of crap. He told me to stop and threatened me if I didn't. Why would I get punished for drawing? I couldn't get myself to stay silent so I retorted. If he doesn't want to see me drawing, then he shouldn't enter my room at all. He should stop meddling with my hobbies. His anger only went up."

(Y/N) stopped for a while to wipe her tears and snot with her sleeves but Tsukishima placed a handkerchief on her hands. She muttered her thanks and blew her nose and soon followed with a sneeze.

"Soon, it became a full-blown argument. He said that he was checking out if I was doing my projects, but oh he was so disappointed only to find his daughter drawing for nothing. What the heck? I gave them the best grades I could get, and part of it was because of you, Tsukishima, but they still aren't satisfied? I balanced drawing and academics, but they made it seem that all I was doing was my hobby, completely ignoring my efforts at school. I finished the school activities and I reviewed for midterms and all I want is to be left alone and draw. What, they want me to go crazy by studying every hour with things I won't even apply in real life?"

Her fake laughter echoed in the kitchen for seconds before her depressed tone took over again.

"Mom heard all the shouting and joined the argument. Of course, she sided with dad without listening to my feelings and there they ridiculed their youngest child's interests and talent. They told me that everything I do is bullshit and wrong, that I was useless, that I was the huge opposite of their expectations, and... and how come God gave them a joke. She said they raised me so that I could help them, not to do such useless things. It hurts to shout back but I did to explain why I'm so passionate about art in hopes that they will listen and understand but, I was so wrong. I was suddenly slapped..." She placed her hand to her left cheek, her lips quivered a little.

"I-It stung so much. Mom complained about how the Internet generation is so rebellious and won't listen to the elders. They didn't raise and teach me to talk back at them, but here is their child being a bitch. They started comparing me to my elder siblings or relatives who focused on their studies and who are at the door of success. I know they only want me to achieve the best, but my success isn't up to them! It's on me!! And I've invested a lot for that! They shouted at me as mom pulled my hair. It was so loud I thought I was going deaf. Dad blamed the gadget's influence and my drawings. I have only drawn decent fanarts of fictional characters, people, and sceneries, but they believed that because of these, I turned into a mannerless bastard. So mom decided to get my phone and lessen my allowance so that I wouldn't buy any art materials that are a waste of fortune--"

She bit her lower lip that is trembling uncontrollably and her eyesight blurred as her fat tears got in the way.

"and... D-Dad... he... he... he tore m-my sketch pad apart..."

Tsukishima's eyes widened. (Y/N) brought that thing with her almost everywhere she went and it was filled with good drawings and art plans. She has a lot of them though, but Tsukishima could only imagine how she felt when her efforts were trampled over by someone important to her.

(Y/N) broke down, bawled her eyes out, and shrieked hysterically. He looked at her with a heavy heart. He had seen her crying sometimes, be it because of a sad movie or empathy, but never like this. A depressed, emotional wreck. Her eyes were sore enough after a lot of hours, but she won't stop crying. It was heartbreaking to see and hear his significant other in this state, yet Tsukishima didn't know what is the right thing to say.

But maybe there was no need to say anything at all.

Kei wrapped his arms around her weeping figure and pulled her towards him. Cry it out, pipsqueak. (Y/N) didn't expect this action, nonetheless cried in his shoulder He didn't care anymore if this meant he gets his clothes drenched in her snot and tears as long as she felt a little less lonely. He rubbed her back and hair in an attempt to comfort his lover. (Y/N)'s airways hurt, but she screamed the pain out, in hopes that the pain in her heart would vanish. Her weeping went on for long minutes until she choked in her own sobs that Tsukishima had to get her another glass of water.

"Tell me, Kei." She began, wiping her eyes, "Is there... something wrong with me? Is my dream really that insignificant?"

"There's nothing wrong with you. You followed your ideals. Anyone including me would've done the same." He answered beside her.

"I-It's realistic, right?"

"It is."

"Then... why did it turn out like this?" Her voice was cracking.

Tsukishima looked down, "The society is just very cruel."

"Yeah. It sure is. Such a cruel society to live with."

(Y/N) let out a dejected sigh and leaned on Tsukki's shoulder. "I couldn't look at them without such overwhelming fear and hate anymore. I wonder if... they knew that I was doing this for them. I'd like to make them smile with something I've made myself. Once, I made each of them a portrait. A realistic one made from a pencil. I couldn't afford a material set that can be used to paint realistically, but I tried my best to impress them with a charcoal one. Oh, if only you saw their faces when I gave them the portraits. They returned a half-hearted smile. It wasn't the same kind of joy I see whenever I give them perfect scores on tests. I didn't spend 3 sleepless nights just to see their half happy, half unpleased reaction. I wish they could feel more proud of their daughter who worked hard for them... I wonder if they threw it away as he did on my sketch pad..."

They let silence engulf the atmosphere for a while. (Y/N) had calmed down a little, despite shedding smaller tears from the side of her eyes. Tsukishima held the sweatshirt he gave her earlier to make her wear it on the top of her hoodie to lessen her shivering. He stared at her, while the other gazed down on the floor with dead eyes.

Tsukishima asked, "So, what are you going to do now?"

"What am I going to do now huh..." (Y/N) repeated. "I'll probably... put everything to an end."

"You know I won't let you."

"I'm not talking about my life, silly. I might stop drawing and all. I've lost it."

"Isn't your life and drawing one and the same? And I'm pretty sure you have that immense talent to continue."

"No... Besides, talent isn't a talent if it doesn't make anyone happy."

The blonde mentally scoffed. She just said that it makes her happy in the beginning.

"Oh? Fine, stop doing that one thing you put everything into. What would that girl you received a commission from would feel if she were to hear you though?"

(Y/N) was stunned. She had completely forgotten about the whole commission thing she opened in her social media accounts. Tsukishima accompanied (Y/N) on giving the commissioned charcoal portrait to a girl last 3 weeks ago. It was (Y/N)'s first commission for years she's making art. Someone liked her work for the first time and paid for it, and her client looks very contented and glad. The words she said filled her thoughts with inspiration.

"Wow, this is awesome! I'm so happy!! Thank you for making this, it was exactly what I've pictured on my mind! You're amazing! All the excitement I've bottled up for this day is so worth it," The girl, probably a little older than them paused and admired the painting she received from (Y/N).

"Would you ignore those words she said?"

'Please don't stop drawing, I'll be looking forward to your future works!'

A pang of guilt hit her chest. She wants to pursue art, but there are these shackles and chains on her limbs and around her neck that made it hard for her to move forward. She couldn't breathe. What happened yesterday night was too much. Her parents went overboard.

"B-But—"

A monotone voice interrupted her, "Don't. Never stop striving for something you have been building for years. You might be defeated now, but surely, you will win some time. There's no way you'll stay in the lowest level of the ladder after I saw how hard you worked. You will go to nationals again, and I will continue to support you. I'll cheer for you and stay by your side! So please, do not stop! Let me see those beautiful blocks that you execute in the game once more! And I will watch you reach the top! Doesn't matter how many times, I'll never get weary of watching you do amazing things!"

She was silenced by that statement. She had definitely heard those before, but couldn't quite remember where.

"Does the sentiment seem familiar to you? Those are the same words that came from your mouth when I was planning to quit volleyball after our huge loss to Date Tech last year. I am returning them back to you."

"Huh?" She replied with a meek voice.

"That time, you really did a good job meddling with my decisions. It annoyed me first, but what you had stated held a weight that I couldn't disregard. You gave me the small push I didn't know I needed. In the end, I'd like to pay you back." Tsukishima stated with a far away look in his eyes.

(Y/N) listened with watery eyes. This Tsukishima's side isn't definitely the one she gets to see every day so she couldn't feel anything but the warm, fuzzy feeling that is healing her heart.

"It's probably selfish for me to say this but, don't you dare give up. I didn't stop. No matter how long and hard the game is, no matter how tired and discouraged I get, and no matter how many pessimistic thoughts clouded my head, I didn't stop chasing after a falling ball and thinking of another tactic to counter the enemy. I kept your words with me in court. It was you who told me not to in the first place, and I'm not going to forgive you if you ever dropped everything. I won't let the stupid, starry-eyed (Y/N) die today."

The girl beside her started sobbing. "But you told me once that my drawing are ugly."

"Oh. That. I... kind of remember that. I'm not sorry about what I said because I did it to provoke and rile you up. It was a lie though. As someone who always sees you drawing, I can't call your work ugly at all. Your art is... astounding. You make it look like it's so easy to do. I think you forgot next sentence after I told you that."

"What was the sentence after?"

Tsukishima sighed, "I told you to keep doing it, right?"

The sound of (Y/N) crying engulfed the kitchen, "Oh gosh, why did I forget that... I'm sorry, I'm so idiotic..."

The blonde brought her back to his arms, "Will you stop crying, you've been too hard on yourself today,"

(Y/N) hid her face on his chest, muffling her speech, "c-couldn't help it... my mind is such a mess... I do not know..." She paused, coughing. "It's no use if m-my parents don't acknowledge me..."

"Hundreds, or perhaps thousands of people who follow you on social media account recognize you. People in school recognizes you. I recognize you. I am your ally. Isn't that enough reason for you to get back on your feet? I will support you just like how you supported me. You have a lot of people who admire you, but I only have a few people and you. Yet your words are enough. I'm certain that soon, you will reach your parents' standards and get them to acknowledge you. It's not impossible."

(Y/N) fixed her tear-stained face before looking up to him, "You know what? Who are you? Is a good spirit possessing your body? The Kei I know will either stay quiet or laugh at me for being pathetic."

"I was trying to be nice for once and this is what I get?" He frowned.

(Y/N) chuckled and hugged Tsukishima, "I'm sorry. Everything you said meant the world to me. Thank you very much."

She relaxed against his lean body, "I have a question though..."

"What?"

"You literally had no business in my art, it was my own problem. Why are you doing this?"

"Why don't you ask yourself after you argued with me that night? Why did you have to butt in with my choices?"

"Because you like volleyball! You might look like that someone stole your dinosaur collection when you're at practice, but you're good at it and have a future in it! It is a part of you, and you're deciding to throw it away? Your potential is too big to be wasted and I refuse to let that happen." Her voice is a little louder now, but hoarse.

"There's your answer, little gremlin."

"How is that— Oh."

"But I'd like to add something."

"What is it?"

"You look better doing what you really like. It makes you look less like a hag."

It was silent after that. (Y/N) punched his arm. Tsukishima didn't even wince but asked, "What was that for?"

"The last statement was unnecessary, and the first one is sweet yet cringey." She criticized.

"C'mon, I'm just a teenager. Aren't you the cringey one most of the times?"

She used the handkerchief to sniffle her runny nose away, "Why do you have a knack of returning everything I said to me?"

"I won't do it if it's not appropriate." Tsukishima placed his hands on her back and to her hair, "So, what are you going to do now, (Y/N)?"

"I'll think things through. My brain is still slightly messy, but I'll be fine, thanks to you. But Kei..."

He hummed as a response. "I don't want to go home. I want to run away."

"Not possible. You can't survive on your own. You're almost 18 and until now, you don't understand how a washing machine works with all your perfect scores in exams."

"This is just a thought. I didn't say I'll be alone. I'm taking you with me."

"I refuse."

"Why?"

"Couldn't you wait for more months until we graduate?"

(Y/N)'s eyebrows raised, "So basically, you're agreeing, but not this time?"

"No, but you'll be free of your parents' suffocating control. Who knows how huge is your potential by that time."

"How considerate of you." The girl smiled.

"Only this time. And no, we won't live in the same place in college. Not yet. Not until we finish our studies, have secured jobs, and get important things done."

"Will you be playing volleyball at college?"

He lazily replied, "Probably."

"Don't give me such an ambiguous answer!"

"Probably yes."

"Hmm. Fine by me. I'll continue to draw, then." (Y/N) rested her head near Tsukishima's neck.

He smiled a little at her answer, "Another thing though. I don't think... you should leave things with your parents like that. There'll be a time where you have to face it."

"Yes, that sucks... I don't want to think about it but I'll have to go back eventually... When that confrontation happens, I'll try to calmly talk it out with them. I will never be certain if it will end well. But my hate and fear of them won't change."

"You can always run back here if it didn't end well."

"Kei, don't want to see their faces just yet. Can I stay here for a while?"

"You even bother to ask. You are welcome anytime in this household. Just enter the house in the front door, not in my window."

"Right... thank you."

"Oh, now it's my turn to ask. How did you get in there?"

(Y/N) sighed, "It was on 4:30pm. I was on the loose and I looked for a store where anyone can't recognize me so I can eat for lunch. But there's this creep who kept on following me—"

"Did he hurt you?" He abruptly questioned.

"No. I ran as fast as I could before he could even get close to me, but in the next block, there were the town authorities with my mom, and I knew they were looking for me, so I blended into the people with my hoodie on and made my way. I climbed the tree in panic that they'll find me and hid there. It took me hours to notice that your house is just next to it, so I decided to climb to your window. However, the window was locked, and I was stuck."

Tsukishima sighed in relief. "It was a miracle that a klutz like you didn't fell off the tree and surprisingly, no one found you."

"I was high in adrenaline when I climbed the tree. My blending and hiding skills are in ninja-tier now, I beat you."

"Whatever. What did you have for breakfast?"

"...a melon bread."

"Just that?"

"Just that."

Tsukishima kissed her forehead before lifting her up with him. "Go change. Borrow any of my clothes. I'll reheat the food."

(Y/N) kissed his cheek, slowly got off him and went upstairs. Tsukishima opened his phone to text Yamaguchi about her situation and proceeded to reheat the spicy curry.

"Wait, Kei! Is it okay for me to eat?" She shouted from upstairs.

"What kind of question is that? Of course you can." He shouted back.

"Your mom left that for you, for your dad and for your brother. I'd feel bad."

"My brother and dad will come home late and I'm sure they've eaten already. So is mom."

"Are you sure? I can replace the food." She said while going down the stairs.

"Oh, you can cook? I'm afraid you'll burn the whole kitchen." He mocked.

"At least not the whole house." (Y/N) laughed, "Just kidding, I have a tiny knowledge in cooking."

"You don't have to, I told you they already ate. I'll bring out the sushi mom made if you still want to eat."

"Alright. Thank you for the food."

Few hours later, Tsukishima's mom came home and took off her shoes. "I'm home."

As she was about to enter the living room, Akiteru greeted her and placed his finger in front of his lips, indicating her to keep quiet. She wondered what was going on and saw her youngest son and his girlfriend leaning on his shoulder, asleep on the couch in front of the TV. He signaled her to read the note Kei left on the table.

To mom, dad, and brother,

Earlier in the morning, (Y/N) went missing and her parents and town authorities were looking for her. I found her on the way home, but it turns out that she ran away from her home because of an intense argument between her parents, and doesn't want to be found yet. Please let her stay here for a while. I'll do most of the household chores or any favor you ask me in return.

Mom, I shared the curry and sushi rolls with her. I left for some for dad and brother. (Y/N) said it was very delicious.

Love,

Kei.

She smiled after reading the note and looked at the sleeping kids. She took notice of (Y/N)'s eyes and quickly understood the situation. Before she left to rest in her room, she looked for a spare blanket and laid it atop them to keep them warm.

(Y/N) snuggled further to Tsukishima's arms, satisfied on how this night will end well, unlike yesterday's.

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9h05t-f4c3 · 3 years

Text

Tall Ass | Hinata Shōyō x Tsukishima Kei

my anime/manga masterlist

———

"Back off, short stack. I already told you I'm not helping you study again."

Hinata Shōyō, number ten of the Karasuno High School Volleyball Team, was once again begging his teammate, Tsukishima Kei, for help studying to get his grades back up so Hinata could go on the next overnight practice camp with the rest of the boys volleyball team. And Tsukishima, who had told Hinata he wouldn't be dragged into this mess again since the first time they'd been in this predicament, was telling Hinata to, to put it simply, 'fuck off'.

"I'm not short! You- you tall ass!"

Hinata, however, was not having it.

Tsukishima's eyes widened for a split second as he registered what Shoyo had just said to him; The sunshine boy had never retaliated like that before.

"Really?" Kei quickly composed himself. "You think calling me names will raise the chance of me helping you? As if."

"Tsukki has a point, Hinata-Kun." Yamaguchi Tadashi, Kei's childhood best friend spoke up, having been witness to the whole scene.

Hinata only pouted.

"But he keeps calling me names! So it's only fair!" The orange haired boy defended himself before pleading to Kei once more. "Please, Tsukishima-Kun, please?" A pause; then grin. "I'll cover your next clean up duty!"

Kei raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" Shoyo nodded in response, the only thought on his mind being to raise his grades.

"Fine." And with that, Tsukishima turned and walked away. "My house, after practice."

———

"Tsukishima-Kun! Yamaguchi-Kun!"

It was now the end of the day, sun setting and all, and volleyball practice had ended.

Turning towards the frantic voice, the two fore mentioned boys saw none other than Shoyo running their way at full speed; Kei and Tadashi stepped to the side just in time to avoid being ran into. And Hinata? Yeah, he face planted into the wall and landed on his ass.

"Heh."

"Oh my god! Hinata-Kun, are you okay?!"

Shoyo jumped up, cheeks reddened with embarrassment (his lower cheeks red from pain); he rubbed his head with a wince before smiling brightly. "I'm good! Let's go!"

The three left the gymnasium, proceeding off of school property.

"Are you sure you're okay, Hinata-Kun?" Tadashi worried. "That looked like it hurt! And you're face is still red!"

Shoyo flashed a smile to his friend and teammate. "I'm okay, Yamaguchi-Kun, really! I promise!"

"Shortie will be fine, he does idiotic things like that all the time."

"Tsukki!" Tadashi held back a laugh.

"I do not!" Hinata. "Tall ass."

The trio fell into a tolerable silence after that, not speaking again until Tadashi had split off from the other two.

"You're not staying over this weekend?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at his friend; they more often than not spent the weekends together.

"No," Yamaguchi scratched the back of his neck, "have family coming over. Sorry, Tsukki."

"It's alright. Bye, Yama." Tsukishima waved to Tadashi as he walked off, Shoyo doing the same. "Byebye, Yamaguchi-Kun!"

Tadashi waved back with a small 'goodbye' of his own.

The rest of the walk to the blonds house was uneventful, Kei staying relatively quiet while Shoyo studied the route they took; he'd never walked this way before.

Upon arriving at the Tsukishima household, the two teenage boys walked in and took off their shoes, setting them by the front door.

"Kei? Is that you, baby?" A feminine voice called from the kitchen, to which Tsukishima replied: "Yeah, mom, it's me. I have someone over, is that okay?"

"Of course, dear! Is it Tadashi?"

"No, just-" Tsukshima's mother ran to the foyer. "someone from volleyball..."

"Oh my, hello there!" The woman took Hinata's hand into her own, gently shaking their hands. "I'm Kei's mom, who might you be?"

Shoyo grinned at the brunette. "I'm Hinata Shoyo, Mrs. Tsukishima!"

"Ms.." Kei grunted, eyes rolling.

"Oh, sorry, ma'am!" Hinata rubbed the back of his neck. Kei's mother only smiled sweetly. "That's alright, dear."

Kei cleared his throat. "We'll be in my room studying. Love you, mom."

"Aw, I love you too, sweetie!" A pause. "Oh! Dinner will be ready shortly, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, mom." Tsukishima kissed his mother on the cheek before turning away, walking to his room; Shoyo followed after bowing politely to Ms. Tsukishima, smiling brightly.

"Your mom seems nice."

Kei didn't respond as he closed his bedroom door, walking over to his desk and sitting down in his rolly chair. The blond pulled his math notes out of his backpack.

"Are you just going to stand there?" A small squeak, followed by the sound of a body flopping onto his bed was Shoyo's response.

———

"...and that's how you solve for x, y, and z. Understand, short stack?"

Hinata nodded at the taller teen, beaming. "Mhm! Thank you so much, Tsukki!"

"Tch." Kei ignored the blush spreading across his pale cheeks.

A knock echoed throughout Kei's bedroom.

"Sweetie? It's getting late, is Hinata staying the night?" Tsukishima's mother opened the door, peeking her head in. "If so, please make sure he checks in with his parents."

Kei looked towards Shoyo, who's eyes widened as he checks his phone for the time. 11:57.

"Oh crap-! I'm so sorry! I'll be leaving on now, thank you so much for having me!" Hinata began frantically cramming his papers, pens, and pencils back into backpack.

Ms. Tsukishima laughed. "Oh, that's quite alright, dear! You're welcome to stay the night, though. I'd hate to make you go home in the dark."

"Really?" Hinata looked between Tsukishima and his mother. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

"Whatever."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Shoyo grinned. Kei's mom smiled back, reminding Hinata to call to his house before leaving the room.

After calling his mother and getting the okay to spend the night at the Tsukishima residence, Shoyo looked towards his teammate- friend?- and beamed; Kei blankly stared back.

"What?"

"I haven't had a sleepover is sooo long!" Hinata emphasized the 'o' is 'so', expanding on the vowel. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

Kei deadpanned at the shorter with a small "tsk".

Shoyo paid him no mind, standing up from Tsukishima's bed with a bubbly bounce. The small male grabbed his backpack and put it next to the blonds that sat up against his desk. Then, with a sudden realization, Shoyo froze; a perplexed look dawned his freckled face.

"I don't have anything to sleep in."

Kei stifled a laugh.

———

"Thanks again, Tsukki!"

Said male refused the blush threatening to cover his cheeks once again when Hinata reentered his room; the orange haired male was currently wearing one of Tsukishima's shirt, that hung off the side of his left shoulder, exposing his collarbone as the piece of white fabric was sizes too big for him. Not only that, but Hinata was also wearing a pair of the blonds black basketball shorts, the string tied into a tight knot to keep them from falling, causing the light, airy fabric to shape Shoyo's ass perfectly.

"...Don't call me that, short stack."

Choosing to ignore Tsukishima's name calling for once, Hinata threw himself onto the others bed with a small giggle. "Your beds comfy!"

"I know." Kei rolled his eyes. "Move over."

The two had already discussed sleeping arrangements, agreeing to both sleep in Kei's bed. Well, not exactly, as Ms. Tsukishima came to check on the two boys and glared at her beloved son after hearing him telling Shoyo to sleep on the couch. Kei reluctantly listened to his mom; she could be scary when she wanted, despite being such a sweet and caring woman.

Shoyo obliged, scooting over to make room for the beds owner.

After turning off the lights, Tsukishima took off his glasses and set them on his desk. Then the teen made his way towards his bed and lifted up the covers, crawling under them; he lay on his side, back facing Hinata.

"Goodnight, Tsukishima-Kun!"

"Night."

The two fell asleep easily, unknowingly finding each other's presence rather comforting.

And, if Ms. Tsukishima we're to find the two boys cuddling when she checked on them the next morning? Well, that was her little secret.

#tsukishima x hinata #hinata x tsukishima #haikyu!!#haikyuu!!#hinata shoyo #shoyo hinata #tsukishima kei #kei tsukishima #hinata shouyou #shouyou hinata #Kenny Writes Shit

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nepenthendline · 4 years

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Love Languages hcs - Tsukishima, Tendou and Tanaka💞

Hi! Here’s headcanons on the way that the boys show their love best. These are quite brief and vague so if you want something more in-depth lmk. Also my requests are open so feel free to ask! Hope you enjoy 🥰🥰

Tsukishima:

Quality Time -

tsukishima is a pretty quiet guy overall, he isn’t loud and energetic like some others, and he doesn’t particular enjoy spending his whole day on activity after activity

however he does like to just exist with you

whenever his teammates besides yamaguchi mention hanging out together his instant reaction is a sigh and a sharp no, but with you, it’s so easy to say yes

simple things where the two of you can spent peaceful time together, not doing much except soak up each others presence

going for evening walks, cuddling in bed while listening to music, visiting the tucked away cafe he loves and knows you’ll love too

he finds any excuse for the two of you to spend alone time together, usually studying is his go-to

he doesn’t really like hanging out with you and group of friends, if he’s going to see you he wants to make sure all his attention is on you, and vice versa

Physical Touch -

tsukishima is not a touchy guy, no no

at least thats what he wants you to think, and certainly not with anyone else

but its the little touches to be aware of

a hand grazing on your thigh as you sit next to each other, a light touch on your back when he reaches up to get something off a high shelf or to guide you through a crowd, his shoulder brushing against yours when you’re walking next to him, a hand firmly in yours whenever he gets the chance

he’s not big on pda at all, but he always needs to be touching you in some way, almost a reminder that you’re still there, so all the affection is subtle and sneaky

cuddles? yes pls

cuddling you is his favourite way to wind down from the day and release his stress

he never asks for them, he just comes closer and closer until his arm is wrapped around your wait and your face is buried in his chest

it takes him a while to succumb to this tenderness, it makes him feel so vulnerable, however, this just proves his trust towards you

Tendou:

Words of Affirmation -

every single day tendou will shower you with praise and compliments

some about how pretty you look, or how he really enjoys your outfit

others about things you’ve achieved recently and your wonderful personality

even just little things such as getting out of bed earlier than usual one day will have him praising you on being ‘so strong and motivated’

he knows what it’s like to receive hateful comments and to feel low about yourself so he wants to make sure you never feel insecure around him

he definitely like to brag about you to his teammates

he loves to tell you he loves you and how much you mean to him, partly because he wants to make sure you know, but also because he’s still so bewildered that you chose him

always there when you feel down, always helps you get back on your feet with a comforting sentence

sometimes he can get so blinded by the amazing things about you that he doesn’t notice negative behaviour, leading him to realise problems in the relationship a little too late

Physical Touch -

tendou almost always has his arms wrapped around you

unlike tsukishima, tendou is clingy and he wants everyone to know it

back hugs are his favourite, he adores being draped over you while you do other tasks

another favourite of his is having you between his legs as you watch anime together or read manga, where he can easily tighten his grip on you and nuzzle into your neck and hair

likes to randomly pick you up from time to time and swing you around - half because he’s just so excited to see you and half to show you how strong he is

he loves to admire you while stroking your cheek or the back of your hand, he’s so gentle with his touches as if you’ll break in his grasp

Tanaka:

Acts of Service -

this boy is always doing something for you, whether that is carrying your bag, giving you his jacket when it’s cold, bringing you drinks when you’re thirsty or running you a bath

he just wants to take care of you

to him, being a good boyfriend is putting all your energy into your partner and treating them like royalty

no matter what you ask him to do, he will find a way to do it

just make sure you put in the same effort for him too

he gets so caught up in trying to treat you the best that he’s actions can easily be taken for granted

likes to have a day every once in a while (it would be everyday if he had his way but you guys have things to do) where he just gets to pamper you

like a full spa day - he’ll give you a massage, make you all your meals, scrub you down and wash your hair, sit you on the sofa with a movie in his arms and not let you lift a finger

Gift-giving -

often times when you meet up with tanaka he’ll have something to give you

usually at school this will be an item of food or drink to help get you through the day

other times it’ll be little trinkets or keyrings he saw that reminded him of you and just had to get you it

it’s very cliche but tanaka loves bringing you flowers too when he visits your house or before a date

to him, that’s the gift of romance

he doesn’t have much money though and he’s a bit chaotic so sometimes these flowers will be from someones front-garden or the park he walked through but they looked so pretty and he wanted you to have them

he’s favourite gifts to get you are of something he loves too, he wants to share his interests and passions with you, such as your own volleyball jersey with his name on or his favourite melon pan flavour

Tags: @togasknifes

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amethystroselily · 3 years

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Thoughts as I rewatch haikyuu

Why do people always depict yamaguchi as so small? I’m pretty sure he’s around Daichi’s height.

I hate kuroo’s dub voice. He constantly sounds like he’s about to put a hit out on someone.

Honestly not surprised daichi became a cop, he has that whole repressed anger, thinly veiled control issues thing going on. (I vaguely dislike him, ngl. I don’t hate him, but he’s definitely one of my least favorite characters in haikyuu) (okay, he gives off suburban dad vibes, as much as I hate thinking of him as the dad of the team, and I just don’t trust suburban cop dads, that’s probably where my mild dislike of him comes from)

I’ve noticed that out of the important karasuno third and second years, Tanaka is actually the nicest to Asahi. Daichi and Suga bully him for fun (friends are just like that sometimes) , and Nishinoya means well and just cares a lot but he’s kind of a dick about it, and Tanaka is usually the one telling nishinoya to tone it down on the coward comments.

Ngl, I kinda ship Michimiya and Daichi

Oikawa gives me really strong ‘heavily closeted gay’ vibes. Like the type of guy who refuses to come out to anyone even though all his close friends already kind of know. Like he’d have a girlfriend for a year even though he never liked her, even like as a friend, and just kind of wait for her to break up with him. ( it’s probably the perfectionism and weird way he talks to girls that gives me that feeling)

It’s so funny when everyone’s in intense shounen anime mode, and then it goes to the scorekeepers just apathetically turning a number (I don’t know sports terminology)

Iwaizumi: had to stop my best friend from throwing hands with a twelve year old

Oikawa seems like he’d stress-cry if he got an A-

Yamaguchi, #1 Tsukishima simp

Never noticed Kiyoko’s glasses were pink before, that’s kind of cute

Why do they all act like their whole family was just killed in a car accident every time they lose a game? Like, chill, you’re in high school and most of you don’t even plan on going professional, it’s not the end of the world. ( but I have purposely lost every time I’ve been forced to play a sport, so I guess I’m just not a very competitive person)

Ukai, stop chain-smoking in your store, this is why you never have any business.

I somehow didn’t notice before, but Yachi’s internal monologue sounds like she legit has a crush on kiyoko.

Yachi and kenma are the most relatable characters in this show

But also yachi feels like she’s from a whole other show than everyone else for some reason

I actually like her dub voice

Yachi, Tanaka, and Nishinoya: the Kiyoko simp club

I’m pretty sure yachi’s mom is the only parent we ever see, and she kind of sucks

Hinata and Yachi’s friendship is really cute

It’s so funny to me that the two nekoma players they hype up the most are Kenma who doesn’t really want to be there and Lev who doesn’t actually know how to play volleyball

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silhouettica · 3 years

Photo

Disclaimer: image shown above is not mine; source is linked to the image.

____________

It’s been a long time since I’ve written an anime review, but this one is too well-deserved to pass up.

I tend to have a love-hate relationship with the sports-shounen genre in the manga industry. On one hand, good quality stories have great characters, undeniably well-drawn images, and okay storylines... but--- technique-wise, there was just too much suspension-of-disbelief required to go on reading.

Take for instance, Kuroko no Basuke and the legendary Phantom Sixth Man who is capable of magically disappearing in court; or, there’s Prince of Tennis and the gravity-defying non-arc path that their tennis balls traverse -- OR do not traverse, as do those which avoid the Tezuka zone. Basically, most popular and long-running sports genre mangas have a tendency to go borderline fantasy in many elements, or otherwise tend to sport some rarely-seen-in-a-thousand-years genius to spice up the story, which is understandably unrealistic (after all, this is fiction we’re reading). But perhaps, after almost two decades of watching anime and reading manga, my personal preference is now leaning towards the comfort provided by the slice-of-life genre, and against typical expectations, there’s that lingering desire to taste the slice of life in a sports manga...

Enter: Haikyuu.

Haikyuu was already a famous anime when I heard that it revolved around volleyball. When I heard that, the first question that occurred to me was, How much plot can be formed around such a sport as volleyball? Don’t get me wrong -- I’ve only ever been involved in two fields of sports: one is track and field, and the other is volleyball, so I at least like the sport. But since we’re used to being exposed to mangas centering around basketball or some martial arts, a story revolving around volleyball was foreign territory. But it was already famous, and with fame comes expectations --- thus, for fear of suffering from failed expectations, I deferred, or more like skipped out on Haikyuu.

But, well, with FB Watch capable of being a demonic source of temptation, Haikyuu showed up in my Watch Feed, and poof! - I was hooked. Manga was finished in less than a few weeks, and episodes repeatedly watched on FB (still ongoing, haha). In my personal list of top mangas, it has far surpassed even One Piece. It’s that good.

What’s so attractive about Haikyuu is that above being refreshing character and plot-wise, it was also obviously painstakingly created with so much attention to detail, in terms of the technical aspects of volleyball. I mean, just watch the videos contrasting Haikyuu to real-life volleyball matches - there’s almost no difference to be seen. The accuracy is admirable. In this regard, suspension of disbelief is very minimized --- well, except for the repeated overtime in matches; but if they stuck to the usual 15 or 25pt matches, we wouldn’t have much screentime to make a viable story, now, would we? So it’s an understandable adjustment to accommodate for the sake of cultivating the story.

Beyond this, Haikyuu boasts of a roster of interesting and complex characters littered throughout the storyline. Honestly, I can’t hate any single one of them. Your heart would go out to every character in every team. It’s amazing how the mangaka depicted each character differently, with all their bias and flaws, besides their refreshingly non-OP strengths, all combined to portray each individual’s humanity. And gah, when they’re made to mix together - the rapport between and amongst such variety of personalities is just fascinating to behold. And then comes character development - whoosh. How one person’s evolution affects the quality of a team’s mixture is another feast to behold. So much respect for this mangaka for bringing to life such abundance of quality complex characters. Seriously. Shounen x Sports x Slice of life + epic ups and downs + epic ending arc (MOST SATISFYING ENDING TO SPORTS GENRE EVER).

This is plain epic.

At first glance, any reader/follower would be drawn to the main characters - there’s Kageyama, Hinata, Ushijima, Oikawa, etc., all those OP-level players (or at least potentially so, for Hinata).

Well, Hinata is the main character, as the story is dominantly affected by his actions and skill development. Watching his character growth is a treat, in and of itself. Seriously. Hinata may be boke at times, but isn’t really stupid. He’s just less-skilled than others (understandably so, given his lack of experience), but he more than makes up for it with his bottomless enthusiasm. And that innocence... Kawaii~. His love for the game is just contagious. Freakin’ want to buy a volleyball just to start playing on my own.

Kageyama may be called a genius setter, but really, he’s far from being the complete package. And he’s one of the more complex characters that really steals your heart. Like Hinata, he just overflows with love for the game, but his innocence is of a different level. After being shown his blindspot, he tempers his snobbishness, and literally BEGS for help --- I mean, look how he bows to Tsukishima for help in acads, or towards his senior Oikawa, in order to improve in volleyball. He’s mostly snobbish only towards those who don’t do their best (besides being just plain socially awkward). But he’s a very good kouhai, and it’s especially touching how he and Hinata paved the way for Asahi’s attack against Date Tech. I appreciate that he’s not so OP-level that he didn’t need anyone to improve -- he was helped by their coach, he was helped by Oikawa, there’s his senpais guiding him somewhat, etc. He’s not the Echizen-type who can learn on his own. He has so many blindspots, but he listens and asks for help once he’s shown that they exist.

There are a wealth of other characters worth mentioning, but recently, when I think of relating to the characters, what I easiest to resonate with are Yamaguchi and Ennoshita. Tsukki is another runner-up, being one who’s overly phlegmatic, with a defeating inferiority complex, but with a taste for vengeance... Bokuto’s answer to his existential question on why they play volleyball was very insigtful --- you don’t enjoy volleyball probably because you suck in it. HAHAHA. Isn’t that true for all of us - how we superficially hate some things when actually it’s because we just aren’t good at them. But at the very least, Tsukishimi Kei has so many qualities that puts him above others, it’s hard to compare oneself to him. On the other hand, there’s Yamaguchi the one-trick pony and Ennoshita the returning quitter. Sometimes I think of quitting when the academic “training” gets tough, but coming to think of Yama, I’m reminded that this is my one sword. The only reason he enters the court is as a pinch server - apart from that, there’s nothing else. So if he gets cold feet and settles for an easy serve, he forfeits the right to enter the court. If he lets go of the jump float serve, he has nothing else. Similarly, there’s Ennoshita who actually quit the team, but returned because the comfort became uncomfortable... I dunno if I’m the only one who’se quit in at least one point of my life, and took an easy way out or through something, but Ennoshita’s lesson is true for all of us - we’d regret quitting. Quitting is a no-go.

Anyway, I can’t describe all the other characters, else, this would be too long. But it’s just so amazing how Haruichi Furudate was able to create so many complex characters, each with their own backstories (okay, unrealistically, no sob stories here since this isn’t a drama) and no antagonist to hate, but the story was was just so complete and wholesome. I mean, take the Nekoma team, for one - they’re supposed to be Karasuno’s biggest rival, but they’re the ones who gave them a fighting chance to improve. Sportsmanship really dwells high on this one. Bokutooo, that once-spoiled ace... Oikawa, that snobbish great king who only recognized Kageyama as his junior when talking to Ushijima... The side characters who made up each respective team’s coaching, managerial, and cheer squad... There’s just so many personalities to admire and be thankful to the author for.

Haikyuu is truly a story about volleyball --- it’s not a story about inter-high, it’s not a story about high school; rather it’s a story that explores the different aspects surrounding volleyball - from childhood, as between friends, to high school and inter-high competitions, to the coaches and managers and trainings behind the scenes, to (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) in-house vs. beach volleyball, to a professional career and international competitions. It’s really volleyball in different seasons of lives of a variety of people.

One poignant fact is that for most people, playing sports would be limited to high school. After inter-high, teammates would separate and a new team will be formed, year after year. That’s why it’s so precious how (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) the manga showed the fanatic-highchoolers-turned-professional players being watched by their previous volleyball teammates and competitiors --- something I’ve never seen in other sports mangas (which mostly had to do with players getting some injury, going to rehab and recuperating, and so). Previous teammates faced each other as competition, and previous rivals became comrades. It’s just. so. epic.

Anyway, thank you, Haruichi Furudate-san. May the anime remain top-notch in quality. Viva Haikyuu!!

#Haikyuu #volleyball #manga #annime

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briswriting · 4 years

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haikyuu x hogwarts houses

requested by @rose-tarts-and-angel-hearts: Um um hello again! I was wondering which Hogwarts houses the Haikyuu characters belong too? Cause I was curious about what you thought of them!

a/n: okay so like i had a HUGE harry potter phase and still kind of do ahaha (hence my main’s @) so wow i love this request!! i knew straight off the bat which house each character was in but it took me super long to think of why i sorted each character into which house so i hope you enjoy!! these are also all my opinion so please lmk what you think of each sorting and if you have a different opinion !!! also there are soooooo many characters so i chose the characters that i knew the best from watching the anime!! hope you enjoy bb! used the wikis a bit to help me out hehe

KARASUNO

daichi sawamura ➝ is always putting his team and friends first, a very loyal and devoted person, who has exceptional leadership qualities, a natural born leader, and is determined to do what’s right for the people he cares about which would place him in gryffindor

koushi sugawara ➝ he is hardworking and dedicated on bettering himself as a volleyball player even though he isn't the starting setter anymore, also known as the pillar of support for the team because of his nurturing and kind behavior despite him also being a little shit sometimes, which i think would place him in hufflepuff

asahi azumane ➝ very modest about his accomplishments as the team’s ace but works hard so no one can take the ace position away from him, also quiet and gentle but values his friendships, making him a good hufflepuff

yuu nishinoya ➝ he embodies the words “brave to the point of recklessness” and his personality is extremely boisterous and daring, which is what many people describe gryffindor as. he is the fred to tanaka’s george weasley.

ryuunosuke tanaka ➝ determined to be the team's emotional support during games, stays fired up to keep the morale of the team high, also is short tempered and hot headed, which is the qualities of a gryffindor. he is the george to noya’s fred weasley.

tobio kageyama ➝ when he was known as the “king of the court” he was arrogant and self righteous in his skills as a setter. he also isn't the best at being able to control his frustrations, causing him to be hot headed and have a lot of nerve when it comes to things and other people, making him a good gryffindor

shoyo hinata ➝ i was really stuck between gryffindor and hufflepuff for him. his personality is literally cheerful, energetic, and baby friendly making it easy for him to make friends with everyone but on the other hand he also doesn’t give up and is determined to be the best that he can be, also makes a lot of rash decisions causing him to be reckless once in a while. ultimately i think he ends up in gryffindor

kei tsukishima ➝ i was stuck between ravenclaw and slytherin but i ultimately think he is a slytherin. slytherins tend to be self preserved, to protect themselves from harm, and in the beginning, tsukki enjoys playing volleyball but holds himself back from putting in a lot of effort so he doesn't suffer like his brother, but later on becomes ambitious and determined to block every ball that comes his way. he’s also smug and takes pride in riling people up.

tadashi yamaguchi ➝ the kindest boy ever to be seen, also the hardest working boy ever, like he went out of his way to improve his jump float serves, tries to improve not only his volleyball skills but his confidence in himself which would place him in hufflepuff

kiyoko shimizu ➝ she’s passionate about her role as the team’s manager, very hardworking and diligent in her work for the team, pays attention to details about the members of the team knowing exactly what would keep them motivated and happy, making her a ravenclaw

hitoka yachi ➝ she is one of the friendliest people around, she’s also very modest in herself and her skills and doesn’t try to compete with others, underestimates her abilities and importance to others, this would place her into hufflepuff

NEKOMA

tetsuro kuroo ➝ i was stuck between ravenclaw and slytherin but i think he would be in slytherin. he’s a scheming little shit which makes him very cunning, something slytherins are known to be. slytherins are also strong leaders and he is a reliable captain for nekoma, taking charge when need be and cheering up the team through sly comments.

morisuke yaku ➝ works hard to be nekoma’s libero since they are known to be the school with good defence. loyal to his friends and team, often being supportive and parental towards them, which would make him a hufflepuff.

kenma kozume ➝ he’s very analytical and composed, paying close attention to everything around him and noticing small changes in behavior and actions on the court and amongst his friends which would make him a ravenclaw.

lev haiba ➝ has confidence in himself, declaring himself the ace of the team, and is competitive with others he deems interesting to compete against. extremely blunt, causing him to say daring things and offending others even if he doesn’t realize it which would place him in gryffindor.

AOBA JOHSAI

tooru oikawa ➝ he is extremely smart and cunning along with his smug attitude, also being very ambitious, which would make him a slytherin. he is very observant and attentive causing him to be clever and resourceful in figuring out his teammates and opponents’ weaknesses.

hajime iwaizumi ➝ stubborn and a little short tempered, especially when it comes to oikawa, but he is a very reliable and supportive friend, constantly keeping people in check and calling them out on their actions. Very dependable and has faith and courage in his own skills and abilities making him a gryffindor.

FUKURODANI

koutarou bokuto ➝ energetic and friendly personality which makes it easy for him to get along with anyone. he is also very hard working, being one of the top five aces, and is kind and just towards others when they are being teased on making him a good gryffindor or hufflepuff but ultimately i think he would be a hufflepuff.

keiji akaashi ➝ he throws in witty comments and replies when having a conversation with someone, also very analytical and can notice small changes in a person’s personality, which allows him to make split second decisions during games in the team’s favor which would place him in ravenclaw.

SHIRATORIZAWA

wakatoshi ushijima ➝ i was stuck between ravenclaw and gryffindor for him because he believes that improving one’s talents is the most important thing for a player which is very ravenclaw of him but ultimately i think he would be a gryffindor because is very confident in his skills as a volleyball player, taking pride in himself and not doubting his ability to win.

satori tendou ➝ he is a little bit sardonic, as he teases a lot of people, and relishes in the defeat of his opponents on the court. he is also very confident and self assured in his skills as a blocker and uses guess blocking as a resourceful and cunning way to defeat the other team which would make him a slytherin.

DATE TECH

takanobu aone ➝ despite his physical features that make him seem intimidating, he is definitely a hufflepuff. he is very kind hearted and composed and tends to dislike arguments, acting as the mediator to stop the arguments from furthering some more.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq!!#haikyuu headcanons #hp #harry potter #hogwarts houses #karasuno #nekoma #aoba johsai #fukurodani #shiratorizawa

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cheezritsu · 4 years

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Taiwa 2014

Summary: It’s been a long time since Tsukishima has traveled back to his hometown, Taiwa. The last time he was here, he was moving out. But even still, there’s this unsettling feeling that he never truly left. Everything that ever mattered to him, Karasuno, Yamaguchi, his family, they were still here, like always. So why did it feel like something was missing?

Pairing: Tsukishima Kei X Reader

Word Count: 9.7K

A/N: I’m bringing what’s probably one of my favorite fics over to tumblr. crossposted on AO3 if you prefer the format. Also pain; lots of pain.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Sitting in Yamaguchi’s car with the windows down, messing up the left side of Tsukishima’s (too long) hair, he recalls one of the reasons he left Miyagi.

He has resigned to not lean his arm outside, because the grey exterior has super heated to an ungodly degree, and he’s sure there’s a 1st degree burn that will be agitated the moment it slides against a volleyball court. He joked that Yamaguchi was trying to sabotage him, that maybe if they weren’t best friends he’d actually be upset.

But it’s not like Yamaguchi can block out the sun. He didn’t remember Miyagi summers being so damn brutal, especially not in June. The sun beamed down on them as if God had a laser pointer on Yamaguchi’s Acura LX, which seemed pretty harsh even if the car was old.

Sendai fades into the background, and the buildings get shorter and shorter like they’re descending stairs. Telephone wires criss cross the highways overhead, and incoming traffic gets a little congested. Yamaguchi leans back, exhaling slowly through his nose.

“It’s always like this now. Everyone’s moving out of Tokyo and coming up north and for what? So they can hike up grocery store prices?”

“That’s awfully prejudiced of you, Yamaguchi. Why would they raise prices if they don’t know how to cook?”

Yamaguchi laughs. “Tokyo boys ain’t shit.”

“Careful,” Tsukishima gives a close lipped smile. “Your country accent is slipping through.”

“Yours is all gone.”

“I never had an accent.”

Yamaguchi hums when he grips the steering wheel, jerking the car left as he changes lanes. “Sure.”

Tsukishima keeps his mouth shut, as if sealing the evidence.

The rip of motorbikes replaces the stalled car engines as his hometown becomes a highway exit. Like it’s been anything other than that.

Tsukishima reels as they start to pass familiar landmarks. He never realized it was all so close together; it seemed like trips that used to take hours were now whizzing past at the blink of an eye. It couldn’t be Yamaguchi’s featherfoot on the gas, either.

Suburbs isn't the right word to describe Taiwa. Hinata used to ride his bike uphill both ways to get to Karasuno, and all of his friends were spread out across the large expanse of undeveloped land. Animals likely outnumber the amount of residents in the town. When Kuroo used to call the team country bumpkin crows, he wasn’t exaggerating.

Tsukishima narrows his eyes, and Yamaguchi’s gaze flickers over. “What’s got you so upset? You just got here.”

“It’s nothing,” he replies, then catches Yamaguchi still trying to look at him. “If I tell you, will you keep your eyes on the road?”

“As long as you don’t tell me something that’ll make me crash the car.”

“Just don’t crash the fucking car?”

“Spit it out, Tsukki!”

He grumbles at the old nickname. “I get enough of Koganegawa calling me that, thank you.” Date Tech’s school used to feel hours away; how long would it take under the wheels of this thing?

“Everything’s just. Closer than I remember.”

“Closer?”

“The places, I mean. The town feels smaller.”

A snort. “Sure is, hot shot. I see you got acclimated to Saitama real nice.”

There’s something charming about the northern drawl of Yamaguchi’s words he knew he’d hate coming out of his own mouth. “It’s not the same.”

Yamaguchi’s chuckle tapers into a sigh. “Neither are you.”

The blocks become residential, and houses he used to know are obscured into oblivion. The people that bike by are different, the parked cars are newer, while some faces are just older in a way that settles like lead in Tsukishima’s stomach.

And then he sees it: the house with wood paneling in the front, white everywhere else. Atop the stone pillars are the plants still taller than him, even though he’s upwards of 195cm these days. White undershirts catch the summer breeze on the clothesline, billowing like flags. Cross-hatched metal gate, a new car in the driveway. Faded pink door.

Your house. With a for sale sign in the window.

Tsukishima nearly breaks his neck as Yamaguchi passes it without so much as a glance.

“Did you see that?”

“What?” Yamaguchi checks his mirrors. “Did I see what?”

The houses blend together once again. Everyone on the street carries on like Tsukishima hasn’t been shot through the chest. He slumps into his seat, listening to dogs barking and the laughter of children as everything goes accordingly.

“It’s nothing. A kid fell off his skateboard. It looked pretty awful.”

Yamaguchi hesitates, but doesn’t question it. He minds his business, even when Tsukishima’s scowl falls into something a little more melancholy than usual.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Tsukishima frowned from his post at the front desk, annoyed how your presence alone could stir...things in him.

It had been a long time since he’d seen you at the museum. Perhaps that was good for his job security, but when he saw you walking up to him in a wool blazer that looks like a mirror image of the one he had on, he couldn’t help but admit he’d missed you. He didn’t know where you’d been, and he wanted to ask, but you flashed him the 460 yen entrance fee before he could speak.

“I’ll take the 4:15 personal guided tour.”

He schooled his face to keep it flat. “How many times have I told you—”

“It’s your last day, what are they going to do, fire you?”

The sarcasm was dry, and there was no twinkle in your eye. Tsukishima sighed, taking the money and putting it in the register. His replacement, a quickly scouted kid that was barely his shoulder height, tapped away on the computer next to him. “Hey, Hiroto.”

The boy was obviously younger, probably still in high school by the way his eyes widened when his senpai called for him. “Yes, Tsukishima-sama?”

You lean against the counter. “Sama?” you mouth, lips curling into that smirk he hated to love.

“Take over the front desk for me. I have a tour to do.”

Hiroto squinted in confusion, but as soon as Tsukishima slid out of the booth the kid immediately took his place. He looked so nervous and unsure, and you, still leaning over the counter, sent him a wink.

“Don’t worry kid, just make sure you turn this over.” Your fingers toyed with a plaque, tipping it over so it read Closed. Then, you cupped one hand over your mouth, whispering close to his ear.

“This guy sucks at customer service anyways, and they kept him for a whole year.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes at your loud-as-all-hell whisper, pulling your arm.

“Leave the kid alone.”

“I’m just giving him some friendly advice!”

“You’re going to give him a lot more than that if you keep with the “friendly” attitude.” Hiroto looked absolutely mortified, standing like a wooden plank at the front desk. You hummed.

“How old is he?”

Tsukishima ignored your question. You looped your arm with his. “I feel like college students keep getting smaller and smaller these days.”

“That’s because you hung out with giants.”

You walked through an ornate archway into an octagonal room filled with glass cases of samurai memorabilia. The armour room had only a few stragglers left, all of them in silent contemplation. Against the archway, an employee Tsukishima recognized gave him a long glance as you two strolled past, but Tsukishima was more preoccupied with looking at you. He would sneak glances at your reflection in the glass, concerned by the indifferent frown you sported. Maybe it was the exhibits; samurais and swords were never your thing. But there was something he couldn’t put his finger on that made him anxious.

You either didn’t notice him staring, or you didn’t care. Waltzing through the halls like you were the guide, you two stepped into the completely secluded painting wing. Sharp angled walls jutted out to create more surfaces to hang the portraits. You tilted your chin, studying them like an art critic.

“Are you going to miss working here?”

Tsukishima shrugged. “It was fine. Gave me a use for my degree.”

“You regretting college now that you’re a superstar athlete?” The words are punctuated with tiny jabs to his arm, but they lack conviction. “Kinda seems like a waste, huh?”

Tsukishima frowned. The implication that the past four years spent being in your care and watching over you were suddenly useless didn’t sit right with him. “It’s not like I didn’t like it.”

“I know,” you sighed, moving onto the next painting. “It just seems like a detour now, doesn’t it? I mean, you’re a pro-athlete.”

There was a stress on how you said “athlete” that didn’t slip past him. He realized what was so off: you weren’t imitating the goofy poses of the long dead samurai anymore. Your all black outfit, once chic, seemed like you were in mourning. The heel clicks of your loafers brought his eyes back to you, where you stood with your hands grasped behind your back, pulling your fingers tightly.

Tsukishima drew up to your side. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

You whipped your head around like you’ve been caught. “What’re you talking about?”

He snorted. “You’re a bad liar, you know. Your accent is your tell.”

“Shut,” you started to say, though it lacked a hard T and it made Tsukishima laugh. “Shut up.”

It almost feels normal between you two. Almost.

“It’s been weird, you know,” you started, voice barely a whisper. You looked like you were talking to Date Masamune’s portrait when you said “I’m back at home, and you’re not there anymore.”

He didn’t know why you were saying that. He should have kicked himself in the ass and given you some kind of reassurance, but he was frozen, mouth agape with an unasked question.

You tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. Tsukishima always thought your profile should have been on these walls. You looked regal, even with your eyes fixed on the ground and an ashamed smile. “Who woulda thought two kids from Taiwa would be all the way out here, hm?” Your chuckle is self deprecating. “And now you’re gunna be playing for a Division One team in Saitama. Fuckin’ hot shot.”

You finally turn to him, head cocked with a smile that doesn’t reach your eyes. “I’m glad you’re getting out, Tsukki. It’s what you wanted, right?”

He can’t pinpoint what’s wrong with this image. Sometimes, it appears to him in dreams, your smile warped and faded like an overexposed photograph. The right words are floating in the ether above him, elusive, mocking. But he is destined to say the wrong ones.

“Yes, it is.”

You looked into Masamune’s eyes once again, like you could read the brush strokes and find the answer to the universe in them. “You deserve it, you know. Miyagi never suited you.”

The irony was lost on him, as were most things in the moment. Your presence had now soured his mood, but you hooked your arms through his like nothing was wrong.

“C’mon, this is the last time I’ll ever step foot in the place again; tell me something cool.”

You didn’t say “probably.” Tsukishima dwells on this now more than ever, because his response never addressed that. “Did you know there’s an anime series based on the Date Clan?”

Your laugh; that’s what he was more focused on. The way it lit up your face, and how you said “seriously?” a little too loud for the dead silent museum. Tsukishima hasn’t been back to Sendai City museum either, because this memory is pristine, and it’s the last one he has of you.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Tsukishima’s family is still the same.

His mother has kept her hair short for the past fifteen years of her life, and Tsukishima might have a childlike tantrum if she’d cut it otherwise. But when Yamaguchi pulls up to his childhood home, she steps out of the house with her signature bob, sans a couple more grey hairs.

The way golden hour makes his mother look ethereal never ceases to make him smile. She gives Yamaguchi a one-armed hug as he carries Tsukishima’s luggage inside, and Yamaguchi kisses her on the cheek like a better son would.

All Tsukishima can do is stand in front of her with his hands behind his back, head dipped with a bashful smile as his mother cocks her hands on her hips. He feels sixteen again, fidgeting with his fingers when she comes closer, giving him a smile that could coax anything out of him.

“You never stop growing, do you?” She has to stand on her toes to brush back his fringe. “Even your hairs’ gotten longer.”

“Can you cut it for me? I only trust you.”

A smile. He’s suddenly even younger; twelve years old, standing in front of the house and holding up the award from the science fair. His mother is so brilliant that the sun goes away, shamed by her beauty.

“Of course, Kei. Come on, your brother’s waiting.”

Nothing’s changed in the house. Muscle memory brings him to the kitchen, where the table is set for four. Yamaguchi sheds his jacket, but Akiteru swoops behind him, snatching it from his hands.

“I’ll take that, Tadashi.” He’s as smooth and polite as ever, grinning the megawatt smile he inherited from their mother. Akiteru may be a full head shorter than Kei now, but the slap his older brother gives him still makes him lose balance.

“You done growin’ yet, you little jerk? Huh?” Akiteru has grown less doting in years gone by, much to Tsukishima’s own (disgusted) dismay. Akiteru stops, looking him up and down before that teasing grin distills into something prideful. In a flash, he is pulled into a tight hug, the pats on his back more tepid and loving. Tsukishima leans in for only a moment, and then Akiteru holds him at arms’ length.

He suspects Akiteru will say something sappy, but Yamaguchi’s jacket is thrust into his arms. “Be a good friend and put away Tadashi’s coat, will you?” He gives an infuriating wink before helping his mother in the kitchen.

Tsukishima turns, even if only to hide the sentimental smile that graces his lips. When dinner is finally ready, Tsukishima sits beside Yamaguchi, facing his mother, and suddenly he is nine years old again; Yamaguchi is over for dinner and Akiteru will no doubt embarrass him, but it’s okay because mom cooked their favorite. Time stands still and the sun doesn’t set, not for them.

It’s almost enough to make him forget. Almost.

“Did you know the (Surname) house is for sale?”

Yamaguchi blinks, but his mother doesn’t miss a beat. “Oh, you saw?”

“It’s the one on the way here, with the pink door. It’s hard to miss.” Tsukishima keeps eating like its normal conversation--isn’t it?--but Yamaguchi’s eyes are trying to x-ray his skull.

“It’s been up for a little while, hasn’t it Aki?”

Akiteru, who’s sixth sense is his little brother’s emotions, clears his throat. “Probably since March.”

“They’ve been wanting to get rid of that house since (Name) left.”

Hearing your name out of another person’s mouth sends a ripple through Tsukishima, like he’s been punched in the stomach. Akiteru and Yamaguchi don’t miss the way his breath hitches, how he drops his utensils to crack his knuckles.

“It’s probably too big for them anyways,” he says, returning to his meal, head bowed so he can’t see their prying eyes. “They’re getting kind of old.”

“It’s been so long since it was full, hasn’t it? Their older daughter moved out over a year ago, I think.”

His mother’s words buzz in his ears as the conversation dornes on. Akiteru steers it away from the house, asking about Tsukishima’s appointed condo in Saitama, but he only gives one word answers through the fog in his mind.

Suddenly, he is eighteen, time fast forwarding as his glasses change and his hair gets shaggier, and you, like his mother, brush it out of his vision. Yamaguchi sits on Akiteru’s left because Tsukishima scowled at the idea of you sitting next to his brother. It’s not like it even matters, because you aren’t his: everyone in the room is showering you with attention and you have to divide yourself four ways, giving them individualized smiles.

“--(Name) really broke their hearts when she left.”

“Huh?”

As it turns out, eighteen wasn’t so long ago. His mother smiles fondly at a memory. “She was a firecracker, wasn’t she? Used to walk around like she owned the place. Her older sister was always more respectful.”

“Wasn’t her older sister in a rock band?” Akiteru reminisces.

“Yeah, but which one was constantly skipping school and getting caught with boys?”

“Younger sibling privileges. They get to do whatever they want and never get punished.”

His mother laces bridges her fingers, then leans her chin down. “But everyone still loved her, didn’t they?” His mother’s eyes are far away, like she was in the same moment as her son. “I miss her.”

Tsukishima doesn’t mean to raise his voice, but he has to force the words out of his throat. “Why’re you all talking like she’s dead? She just lives in...wherever the hell she got whisked off to. Who knows?”

The entire table halts, staring at him. Akiteru and Yamaguchi share another secretive glance, and Tsukishima’s forehead throbs.

“Whatever, can we just talk about something else?”

Another reason Tsukishima revered his mother: she knew how to deal with him. “Of course dear,” she says, her voice never even missing a beat. “You haven’t even told us about your last match!”

“It was televised,” he drones, but Yamaguchi gangs up on him

“It was your first time playing against the Black Jackals, though.” Despite his years of practice, Yamaguchi still has some hesitance when he changes topics. “Was it satisfying blocking Hinata’s spikes? I bet you liked shutting down Miya Atsumu.”

There’s a twitch to his lips as he gives Yamaguchi a grateful glance. The rest of dinner goes off with little conflict, and Tsukishima groans when Akiteru pulls out strawberry shortcake and the alcohol that pairs poorly with it--beer.

“I’m not drinking that.” Tsukshima means it, too, leaving his brother and Yamaguchi to their own devices. His mother cleans up easily with the extra set of hands, and while they chat over booze, he drops his things off in his old room.

It’s the same as when he left. His old books are still on the shelves, the dinosaur figures covered in a thin, disrespectful layer of dirt. His first Karasuno jersey still hangs next to his door, swinging idly when he enters.

It, like Taiwa, feels small. Perhaps it’s because his bed is still full sized, and his feet hang over the edge. His suitcase doesn’t really fit anywhere, and when he sits down at his desk, he can barely fit his knees under it. He feels like he’s in a dollhouse, or worse; a museum.

The last time he was here, he was moving out. But even still, there’s this unsettling feeling that he never truly left. Everything that ever mattered to him, Karasuno, Yamaguchi, his family, they were still here, like always.

So why did it feel like something was missing?

There’s a knock on the door he didn’t remember closing. When it opens, the light from the hallways creeps in, and Yamauchi peers inside. “Why are the lights off?”

“It wasn’t dark when I sat down.”

Yamaguchi pushes the door open with his back and when Tsukishima sees why, he lets out a snort of disbelief. “Where did you dig that up?”

The Kahlua bottle has a layer of grime on it bleach probably couldn’t cut through. It’s barely half empty, sliding across the desk into Tskishima’s waiting hands. How his friend was able to balance the bottle, a beer, and a glass of milk between his fingers was beyond him; perhaps it was the years of volleyball under his belt.

Tsukishima isn’t light handed when he pours his drink, clicking the glass with Yamaguchi’s beer and relishing it with a long sip.

“You looked like you needed it.”

“I’m fine,” he hides his lie with another sip. Yamaguchi isn’t fooled in the slightest.

“I didn’t know they’d bring it up.”

“You guys can stop using euphemisms, you know.” His amber eyes are dull when he looks over his glasses. “She’s not Beetlejuice.”

Yamaguchi laughs. “I suppose she won’t appear if we speak her name three times, but she’s frightening all the same.”

“Frightening isn’t the right word,” Tsukishima thinks, staring at how the liquor and milk swirl galaxies in his glass. Maybe if he looks hard enough he’ll find the right word to describe you, but the thought stays unfinished.

Leaning on the wall, Yamaguchi turns his head to look out the window at the last vestiges of light. “Sometimes I think I see her in the convenience store; you remember the one we used to eat at after practices in third year?” Tsukishima nods at the memory. “I’ll just be standing in line, and then out of the corner of my eye, there she is. Like a hallucination.”

Yamaguchi’s glazed eyes come back into focus, smiling sheepishly. “It’s stupid I know. It’s just,” he stares down at the floor, shifting his weight. “I know she hated Taiwa, but I thought she loved us.”

The drink has gone sour in his mouth. Tsukishima sets it down with a heavy thud, looking at Yamaguchi with a blank expression.

“I guess she didn’t.”

Yamaguchi frowns, then tilts his head back to finish his drink. “I don’t know why I thought I’d talk to you about it,” he humorlessly scoffs. “It’s been what, five years?”

“You’re the one seeing her in grocery stores. She got what she wanted; she left this place, married her rich CEO husband, and forgot about us ‘northern folk,’” Tsukishima exaggerates the accent he fought so hard not to maintain. “I’m not going down memory lane with you. Not this one.”

His tone drips with finality, and Yamaguchi pushes himself off the wall. “You don’t have to talk about it,” he says, leaving the Kahlua bottle on the desk. “But don’t act like you didn’t want her to stay, too.”

Yamaguchi leaves him alone in the dark. His footsteps pound down the staircase, and as they cease, Kei slouches into his chair, defeated. He tops off his drink, taking a miserable sip while his feet push the office chair side to side.

He spins idly, and the years unravel at the seams.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Not so suddenly, he is twenty years old. It’s not a milestone, not in Japan, not anywhere in the world, and yet, you wanted to celebrate.

The day after his birthday was a lot more memorable than the actual party. Not because he was black out drunk, but because when he came back to your apartment after getting a fabulous nights rest, he was greeted with not just you, but your three overnight guests.

“What the hell happened to them?”

It was both luck and a curse that the MSBY Black Jackals were in town for a match. The few members that knew Tsukishima had come over for his birthday party, and the morning after they were face down at your kitchen table. Instead of their usual lively antics, they were slumped with hangovers, groaning in harmony.

“You’re too loooud Tsukki!” Bokuto yelled, making Atsumu Miya hiccup.

“Bokkun, please shut the fuck up,” he whispered, that melodic Kansai dialect shriveled and dry in his throat. His presence had been most shocking, but the way he called him “the snarky middle blocker” proved that he truly did remember him.

“Language,” Hinata’s tiny voice squeaked out and you chuckled behind your hand.

“They’ve been like this all morning. apparently they can’t head back in this condition, so,” you held up a frying pan. “I’m making breakfast.”

“Yer an angel, sweetheart,” Miya said, drawing himself up from the table. “If you had any painkillers you’d be a god.”

“You better get to worshipping then,” you pointed to the cabinet. “Bottom shelf, all the way against the wall.”

“Marry me,” he joked, and Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at your laughter. There was something about how your hair was pulled back with a headband that made him want to possessively kiss your forehead, but he held himself back.

“What?” You said, and he realized you’d been staring at him too. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

“There’s nothing picture worthy here. Except maybe those two.” He jabbed a thumb to the duo rolling on the floor. “Might keep it for blackmail.”

“You can’t blackmail people who don’t get embarrassed,” you reminded him, beginning to crack eggs into a bowl. Everything looked so effortless when you did it; even Miya was impressed by how you whisked together the eggs in a homogenous scramble.

“Gosh, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Basic mathematics, hold her alcohol, go five seconds during a movie without crying,” Tsukishima ticked off his fingers. “Need I continue?”

“I can’t stand you, so there’s another thing,” you bit back, and Miya laughed behind you. You hummed.

“You’ve got a pretty voice, Miya-San. Where’re you from?”

He raised an eyebrow at your compliment. “Well ain’t you sweet? I’m from Hyogo, darlin’, more specifically Kawanishi.”

The stove made that loud tick tick tick! as the flame flickers to life. It’s like that scene from Howl’s Moving Castle, and Tsukishima is enraptured at the sight of you pulling apart strips of bacon and placing them in the sizzling pan.

“Kawanishi,” you muttered, and Tsukishima knew that longing, tired voice of yours. It always broke his heart. “Is it big?”

“Not really; maybe ‘bout less than 200 thousand people.”

You scoffed. “Where I’m from, that's huge.”

The setter cocked his head. “Ain’t you from Sendai?”

“Nope,” you said, popping the last consonant. “I’m nobody from the middle of goddamn nowhere.”

“It’s not like you had to bike uphill both ways to get to school!” Hinata piped up from the table. “At least you lived closer to Karasuno than I did!”

“Ah, is that how you know this guy?” Miya jutted his chin toward the taller blonde. Their gazes met momentarily, and through Miya’s whisky brown eyes, Tsukishima saw a black hole of hunger. He looked back down to you as you drained the bacon onto a paper towel.

“Yup.” You were proud when you said it. “Tsukki and I have been together forever.”

“Oh? I didn’t know you were dating.”

Tsukishima didn’t correct him, but you did. “We’re not not dating. Hell, to be honest we don’t even go that far back. We’re both from Taiwa, which isn’t really weird because it’s a huge place, even though there’s barely thirty thousand people in it.” A fond smile played on your lips, and you fixed Tsukishima with an adoring look.

“Thirty thousand people, and I lived walking distance from you. And you never even knew I existed.”

If he wanted to kiss your head before, the urge was stronger now. He licked his lips, putting the feelings aside. “What do you want me to do, apologize?”

“Hmm, no. I think I’ve harassed you enough to make up for it.”

That little smile on your lips said it all. You busied yourself with cooking once again, and Miya looked between you two like there was something tangible. If there ever was a red string of fate tied to your pinkies, it has long since been severed. But in this memory, the two of you danced around each other in the kitchen with ease, plating breakfast for five like husband and wife.

Actually, it was just four. You returned to cleaning the apartment, quite a monumental task with all the drunk volleyball players you’d had over last night. Tsukishima had dipped after everyone was either safe at home or tucked in on your couch, and daylight was not kind to the aftermath.

“This is why I didn’t ask for a party,” he said, watching as you tossed beer cans into a trash bag.

“You should be grateful she threw ya a party, string bean,” Miya said in between bites of toast. The eggs on his plate matched the blonde of his hair, and Tsukishima can never unsee this. “Even more so that it was a rager.”

“Yeah! (Name)-san has always been so nice to you.”

Tsukishima choked on his drink. “You must have gotten the memory knocked out of your head with a receive, shrimp. That woman has never been kind to me.”

“I threw you a whole party!”

“I am once again asking when I told you to do that.”

He could hear your petty insults drift away as you walked out of the living room. There was only the sounds of utensils scraping against plates until you stomped back in, holding up a box that filled your arms. It’s wrapped up perfectly, because you were always good at that; in second year of high school, every member of the volleyball team brought their Secret Santa gifts for you to wrap. You charged everyone five dollars, except for him.

When you got closer he could see the dinosaur stickers you’d placed sporadically across the surface, and Miya snorted with laughter when you unceremoniously dropped the present in Tsukishima’s lap.

“Happy birthday, asshole,” you spat, but he could see how the corners of your mouth tipped up in a suppressed smile, getting wider by the second.

“Well? Open it Tsukki!”

“Yeah, I wanna see!”

The peanut gallery beside him banged their hands on the table, and Miya groaned, clutching his forehead. “I’m begging you two to stop.”

Tsukishima let them carry on in their torture for a little while longer, liking the sight of the setter gnashing his teeth. When it became too much for even him, he opened the gift at the seams, careful not to rip the wrapping paper. It was pretty cute, and he smiled at the visual of you sitting down on your bedroom floor and strategically placing the stickers, your head bouncing to a playlist he’d shared with you.

When he lifted up one long edge, he caught a glimpse of the gift, and his breath hitched. He gazed up at you in disbelief, peeling it all back to reveal the turntable in all its glory.

Tsukishima is a pro-athlete now; he could afford music systems that cost more than a regular citizen’s car, and yet he still proudly displays this exact one in his Saitama apartment, and he always gets compliments from the girls he brings home. Above the wall, in a frame never to be touched, is the first record you ever gave him; the one he will find out momentarily was sitting under the box. But he wanted to drink in that particular moment, the moment his heart stopped completely.

The other three leaned over to get a better look at it, oohing and ahhing at the sight. Tsukishima was too busy memorizing your proud smile, your hand on your hips, and how the constriction of his heart resembled love a little too closely.

“Because you’re always lamenting you don’t have one. Just so you know, the only presents you’re ever getting from me are vinyls.”

He should have hugged you. He should have told you how much it meant to him, but he just assumed you could see it on his face. Maybe he expected too much from you.

But he did say, “Thank you, (name).” with the most sincerity he’d ever used, and you’d smiled like you knew he loved you.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Tsukishima knows he does not have enough money to buy a house, and isn’t even interested in buying one, but that doesn’t stop him from putting on his (second) best clothes and working through whatever the hell he’s going to say to the person who opens your (old) front door.

It’s the second dumbest thing he’s ever done. The neighborhood is bustling today, and a couple people do double takes as he strolls by with his headphones up, cap tilted low. He’s aware he kinda looks like he’s undercover in a Marvel movie, but there’s only so much he can do; height is a curse, he keeps telling people, but they never listen.

He blends in enough not to get stopped, which may be yet another curse, because then he’d have time to recollect his thoughts and ask what the fuck he thought he was doing walking to your parents house in the middle of the goddamn day like they didn’t have jobs. Had his brain finally conked out now that he was a jock for a living?

Maybe so, because the faded pink door was finally in sight. From the street he could see it clearly: a realtor’s number under the brilliant bold FOR SALE, like it’s yelling at him to leave. But his eyes drift, catching the little details of your house.

Everything in his memories has shrunk and distorted, but not this place. It’s still as clear as day: the red brick steps up to the door, lined with potted plants your mother had a talent for growing. The iron gates have rusted with time, and they stand much shorter now that he’s 195 cm. The bushes were trimmed into weird rounded shapes, both indicative of the neighborhood, and still odd in your front yard. The second story balcony had the same sheets—the same fucking ones from high school! Tsukishima had to laugh.

And then his laugh tapers off as he realizes they’re yours. Purple with little moons and cartoon bunnies on them. The sheets from Sailor Moon! Your whine is an echo in his ears.

He’s just standing there, hands in his pockets as the memories bombard him one by one, crowding his brain, making him lose his—

The front door opens, creaking like a horror movie sound effect. Tsukishima steps back, watching in terror as a figure comes into view, checking his pockets before lifting his head up and seeing a man—a fucking giant—standing right outside his house.

“Hello?” he greets cautiously, stepping closer.

Tsukishima holds in a breath. Your father has gotten old; almost all the hair on top of his head has thinned and greyed, like a samurai in a black and white movie. He’s still wearing the same uniform from the manufacturing plant he was employed at back when you were in high school, his (your) surname stitched on the pocket. He holds a lunchbox in one hand, the other curled into a defensive fist by his side. Intimidating as always.

That is until he squints, and then his eyes light up with recognition. “Tsukishima? Tsukishima Kei?”

With equal hesitation, Tsukishima walks up to the gate. Your father pushes it open, and when he walks down the steps to be on even ground with Tsukishima, he laughs at how much shorter he’s become.

“My god,” he whispers it like he’s staring at a ghost. Tsukishima feels too aware of his long legs and arms, holding them behind his back when he bows respectfully.

“(Surname)-san,” he says, and your father’s eyes twinkle. “It’s been a long time.”

“So it has. How have you been, boy? I hear you’re playing for Saitama now.”

The recognition has him reeling. It’s too much, he shouldn’t have come. His stunned silence makes your father laugh.

“No need to be modest about it! We’ve been following your progress, you know.” He sounds proud, as if he was talking to his own son. “I always brag to my coworkers that a pro-athlete used to come to my house. Three of em, really! How fortunate you’ve all been.”

“Thank you,” he says stiffly. “It’s been such a long time.”

“How is your mother?” She must be awfully lonely without you two boys in the house.”

“I’m visiting her now. She told me your house was for sale?”

Your father was never an idiot. He looks up at the for sale sign, something heavy settling on his shoulders. “Both of my daughters have moved farther away than we intended,” he sighs, although there is no particular sadness in his tone. “I’m proud of them both, really, although (Name) has less filial piety than her sister.”

“She was,” Tsukishima cannot use the word that comes to mind in front of your father. “Something.”

Your father barks out a laugh. “That’s the polite way to say she was a pain in the ass.” Tsukishima’s posture visibly relaxes. “You couldn’t tell her nothin’. Sort of a shame she’s someone’s housewife, ya know? She would have done great things.”

This time there is a wistful quality about his voice, but it vanishes as quickly as it came. “You know, you haven’t been here in a while. (Name)’s mom would love to see you. You were her favorite of all (Name)’s friends, I think.”

A paternal pat on the arm makes all thoughts of weaseling out of this fly out the window. Tsukishima ascends the steps, the top of his head brushing just underneath the archway.

“They don’t make houses for your height, I’m afraid.”

“I’m used to it.”

He wasn’t sure why he expects the inside will be any different. There’s no new furniture, the walls are all the same color, even the books your parents kept out were arranged the same way from nearly five years ago. The only difference is you’re not running down the stairs to save him from the embarrassment of talking to your parents.

“Honey?” your father’s voice calls out as they round a corner. “You’ll never believe this: there was a professional athlete just standing outside.”

You mother looks over her small glasses from where she’s sitting, her brows furrowing, then raising as she places her hand over her mouth. Much like his own mother, time has been kind to her, the only signs of aging appearing in the grey that grew from her back roots.

“Oh my-” she’s standing in front of him with an awed look, and Tsukishima remembers that you and your mom have the same face, just older. He once thought he’d get to see you this age, maybe even in a house like this. His eyes fall to the floor, because your mother looks like the future he can no longer have.

She holds his arms like she’s going to lift him, her lower lip trembling. “Look at you! So tall, still so handsome. (Name) was an idiot for never making you my son-in-law.”

It used to be embarrassment that pained him. Now it was bittersweetness filling his mouth as he thought of something to say to that. “Yeah, she was” feels a little too familiar, and not at all cognizant of his broken heart.

“Oi,’ your father warns. “Enough of that, yeah?”

“Oh,” she swats her hand in his direction, then looks back up to Tsukishima with praising eyes. “I’m kidding. Kind of.”

Tsukishima rubs his arm, giving her a strained grin. He didn’t expect your parents to reopen the wound he’s done his best to forget. Time is supposed to heal all, but you are a fever that’s never broken.

“I came by because I saw the house was for sale.”

Your mother’s face softens. “Oh, you must have so many memories here. Gosh, you haven’t been here in a long time.”

“Years” your father pipes up.

“Years. You should head up to (Name)’s room, you might find something in there.”

This simultaneously piques his interest and fills him with existential dread. “Is that alright?”

“You’re probably the last person in Taiwa that has attachments to this house besides us.”

The sobering reality of that statement makes him drag his feet up the stairs. He looks back down, and he feels like he’s staring backwards in time. Every step forward is another year, and suddenly he’s anxious like he’s entering a girl’s room for the first time.

Your presence, though missing, is overwhelming. He remembers condensation from something dripping onto the hard word floors he’s standing on now, your heart patterned socks mopping it up behind him.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

The sun was still up over the horizon, late July prickling Tsukishima’s bare arms with the last vestiges of heat. Your white dress shirt was speckled with little dots of red like a blood splatter.

“You look like a homicide victim.”

“You look like you swallowed blue paint.”

Convenience store slushies were actually a terrible way to beat the heat. They condensed and made the cup soggy, meanwhile the ice in the drink melts immediately after it leaves the machine. But Tsukishima wasn’t going to say no when after ten minutes of begging, Hinata proclaimed he would buy him “his last slushie of high school.” Tsukishima had just clicked his tongue, telling the excited middle blocker, “As long as you’re paying,” so he wouldn’t see how red his ears were.

Hinata and Yamaguchi chuckled at your little back and forth, while Kageyama slurped his drink with a seriousness that didn’t suit the moment. Bathed in sunshine, you all looked like bronze statues: immortal, eternal and infallible. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, but Tsukishima still liked the analogy.

“You would think after spending like, every waking moment together these two would be nicer to each other.” Hinata hummed.

“I thought graduation might make them sentimental,” Yamaguchi sighed. His hair was long back then, decorated with multicolored clips you had strategically placed to match their uniforms. Tsukishima has told his friend once and only once that he liked this hairstyle on him the most. He doesn’t know if it’s because he has the happiest memories associated with it or not. Not that Tsukishima would ever say that.

Yamaguchi pulled his little ponytail taut. “And to think, I wanted them to get their happily ever after.” How a person could look so much like the tear drop emoji, Tsukishima would never know. Your disgusted grunt broke his thoughts.

“Ugh Yama, please,” you begged, throwing away your slushie like he’d spoiled your appetite. “Will you cut it out with this fantasy of yours?”

“What? Wouldn’t it be nice if my two friends got married?”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“I’d divorce him and steal all his money.”

“Now you’re entertaining the thought.”

Hinata jumped excitedly. “I think it’d be really cute! You guys are going to the same University right?”

Tsukishima bristled, staring at his shorter teammate with contempt. “That means nothing.”

“It means you still have time!”

Tsukishima hated the gremlins optimism, but in that moment, with the sun painting a strip of light across your already brilliant eyes, he’d had the fleeting thought that Hinata could be right.

(He can’t kid himself. It wasn’t a passing thought; it was all consuming, like a tsunami. He couldn’t sleep, because he would dream of domesticity, and your next words cemented how unrealistic this was.)

You waved your hand at Hinata. “I’m not the marrying type, Hinata-kun.”

(A complete lie, but back in 2014, he’d believed you.)

“Besides, what’s so exciting about marriage when Kageyama’s going to be a famous athlete by next year, hm? And you’re off to fucking Brazil.”

All eyes shifted to the quiet setter, still casually drinking his slushie. When he opened his mouth to speak, his mouth was comically purple.

“Marriage isn’t any less significant than being an athlete.” He’d said, sounding very much like the student counselor. Then he grimaced. “But you two would be an unholy couple.”

You broke into piercing laughter. The sound still rings in Tsukishima’s ears. “Kags, will you join me and Tsukki in an unholy matrimony?”

“You want me to get married to you two?”

“No, idiot, she wants you to officiate the wedding.”

“What wedding?”

“I-“ Tsukishima shook his head. “Good fucking question. I’m not marrying you.”

He wonders from time to time if you’d been serious back then. It didn’t make any sense when you were third years, but in retrospect, maybe, just maybe you were hinting something. That sun-made sparkle in your eyes glittered with dimension, and underneath the mirth was something Tsukishima never understood. He thought he would have more time to.

“My original point still stands,” you said, exasperated. “You’re all going off to do great things, and I’m just going to Tohoku.”

“Oi,” Tsukishima chided. “Don’t make it sound so inconsequential when I’m going there too.”

“You're literally going on a full ride with your volleyball scholarship,” you rolled your eyes. “So, no, it’s not inconsequential. It’s just not the same.”

Tsukishima will not be able to fully read you until freshman year of college, so he didn’t catch your downturned lips or how you tried to blink away welling tears. He just thought you were malfunctioning. “You’re being weird.”

“It’s not weird to miss your friends.”

“AHHH! (Name)!” Hinata jumped high enough to nearly kick you in the head. He looked at you with teary eyes and you’re astonished, even though you’ve known him for three years. “Don’t miss us! Don’t be sad!!”

“We’re not even gone yet,” Kageyama grumbles, and you grasped at your heart, confusing him.

“Kageyama...do you care about my feelings?”

“What about his response gave you that idea?”

The black haired setter clicked his tongue. “I’m just saying, we haven’t graduated yet so you don’t have anything to be sad about right now.”

“I can’t believe the Kageyama Tobio is giving me a pep talk,” you dabbed at your eyes dramatically. Kageyama flicked water onto your face, and you giggled.

“Hey!” He was relentless, so you hid behind Tsukishima who didn’t have a quick enough reaction time to be mad at you. Not that he would say anything about the way your hands touched his sides, sending a jolt down his body. His face is probably as red as a slushie.

“Kageyama, when you’re rich and famous I’m going to send all the embarrassing pictures I have to the paparazzi.”

Yamaguchi laughed at the mental image. “That would take an hour long special.”

“A two part hour long special.”

“You’re a fake friend,” Kageyama said, and you prop your head on his shoulder.

“That would imply that I don’t love you all, and that could never be true.”

You used to say such brash things so casually. Kageyama, with his congested emotions, bloomed into a furious blush. Hinata mocked him, pressing his wet hand against his heated face, much to Kageyama’s dismay. Chuckling at the freak duos antics, you shuffled into Tsukishima’s side, who simply looked on with indifference.

“You’re such a sap, (Name),” Yamaguchi notes, and you gave him a brilliant smile, more golden and beautiful than the sunset at their backs. The only thing Tsukishkma laments is that the smile wasn’t aimed at him.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Tsukishima walked ahead of everyone, slurping aggressively on his slushie, trying to quell the jealousy that erupted in his chest. He didn’t have the right to feel so possessive over a friendly declaration, but it still worked its way into his heart.

Suddenly you were beside him, leaning forward to catch his expression. “What’re you hiding from?”

“Who says I’m hiding.”

“Ya know, Tsukki, you shouldn’t be jealous,” Your grin is troubling and sweet, because you’re a walking contradiction. Here and gone all at once.

“Who says I’m—“

“Because I love you most of all.”

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

The door to your room is open. Tsukishima stands at the threshold, hands stuffed in his pockets so he can’t feel them tingle as he approaches.

Already he can tell something isn’t right. The blinds are closed even though it’s the middle of the day, making slits of light like jail bars shine across the floor. The walls are completely stripped of posters and pictures, but they never stripped away the paint. The blue has faded with years gone by, and everything is a hollow shell of what it used to be.

Tsukishima steps in. It doesn’t feel like anything special, which annoys him a little. But then again, how could it feel like anything different when the room has changed so much?

It’s a storage room now. Your bed is gone, your bedside table stuck up against the wall. Your antique dresser, the one you were so proud to steal from your sister, stands alone on the far wall, no clothes sticking out. Your closet is open with suitcases crammed inside, the hangers swinging idly and the floorboards creak under his weight.

It feels colder in here. There’s no peach scented candles, no window open, no nothing. This isn’t yours. This isn’t right.

It’s blasphemous what they’ve done. Tsukishima is not an irrational, angry person, and yet he has the violent urge to take a metal baseball bat and smash everything in your room. Not your room.

Tsukishima's trembling fingertips trace over a water raised circle on your bookshelf, a scar to mark your existence. And there, on the side, where you recorded the length of your growing ivy plant, the months going down down down like a timeline until they stop. Until you’re gone with hardly a trace.

Tsukishima balls his fists. You did leave something behind. He just can’t touch it, can’t see it anywhere else but his mind's eye and he curses because no one can see how you’ve ruined his life and continue to, even in this void you’ve created in your absence.

He stops trying to control it. The memory swirls over him like a hurricane, pounding against his skull as tears well in his eyes. He falls to his knees to take a breath, then lays on the floor, in the exact spot where your bed used to be; in the middle of the room, parallel to the windows. He can almost feel the Sailor Moon sheets, closing his eyes. His panicked breathing splits into two, and like Athena from Zeus, you’ve sprung from his mind.

You’re catching your breath. The drawn curtains turn afternoon sunlight into a diffused red glow. It colors Kei’s pale skin and blonde hair a dreamy pink, and you roll onto your naked stomach, legs kicking up playfully.

Through the haze of warmth and pleasure, Kei cracks open an eye just a little bit to see you gazing at him with a sickly sweet smile. Your index finger traces his collarbone, setting fire to the skin underneath.

“What’re you doing?” He croaks, and your chuckle sends waves of pleasure to his crotch. You drag your blunt nails across his throat, and he suppresses a hiss.

“Can’t I touch you?”

“No.”

“Hmm. It’s a little late for that now, don’t you think?”

In all the years that came after this, Kei couldn’t figure out why this happened. It felt like—still feels like—a fluke the universe handed out to him. It never happens again and you never talk about it.

This memory is his most prized possession: he keeps it under lock and key in the back of his mind because the way his palm tenderly connects to your cheek baffles him. His hand slides down, knuckles skimming your jaw in soft strokes, like he’s carving you out of clay.

“You said—“

“I know what I said.” Your hand catches his wrist, bringing his long, slender digits to your lips. You inspect the cuts and bruises, how they’re bent and mangled from blocking harsh spikes and slamming down equally powerful ones. You kiss them like you could heal them, and Tsukishima wouldn’t put it past you.

“Did I change your mind?” He has a smile that’s a little too smug. You’re ignoring his face and he feels anxious; he wants your eyes on his so you’ll melt, so he can devour you while you helplessly watch just how you’ll go down.

That never happens. Not with you. You open your mouth and give one clean suck to his index finger, and Kei inhales through his nose to control the heat pooling to his abdomen.

You kiss the pad of his finger. “I guess I had second thoughts.”

“Second thoughts?”

“You’re trying to get into Tohoku, right?”

“So are you.”

“Right. If we don’t get in—“

“Don’t jinx it, stupid.”

“—if I don’t get in, I don’t want to feel like I wasted my time.”

His brows furrow. Kei draws up on his side, catching himself with his elbow. His body is thoroughly wrecked from giving you everything, and he shivers upon seeing the damage on your neck. But he pushes aside all thoughts of pleasure and stares down at you. “What are you talking about?”

Your hands drag down his chest, trailing the curves and contours of the muscle he’s built up for three years. His shoulders have broadened out and his waist tapers into a trim V. He is chiseled marble, a statue come to life in your bedroom. If only he were as permanent.

Kei follows your gaze, reaching down to intertwine your hands. The gesture is obscene, intimate, and reverent all at one. “(Name),” he pleads, and your eyes flicker up to his.

“You really think you’re going to stay in Miyagi? You, Tsukishima Kei? With the handsome face and the brains and the brawn?” You’re joking, trying to put on a smile but your voice is thick with emotion. You can’t hide, not after what you’ve just done. “You’re going to be, I don’t know, something great, and I’ll be here, like always.”

(Tsukishima, the one on the cold floor with his eyes closed could laugh. What he wouldn’t give to be here, with you.)

The old him didn’t share that sentiment. “So, you wanted to have sex with me because you didn’t want to miss the opportunity?”

“You’re missing the point, Kei.”

“Hey now, just because we fucked doesn’t mean you can get familiar.”

You try to pull your hand out of his grip, but his fingers curl, locking you in. He pulls you closer so your bodies are flush, and lays his head next to yours.

“You act like you’re not more than capable of getting out on your own.”

“It’s easier for you,” you admit, words nothing but a whisper. “You’re so bright, Kei, so talented. I think it would be cruel if you didn’t leave.”

“God you’re so,” he‘s stuttering, trying to keep the awe from your voice. He can’t hide from you, not after what you’ve just said. “You don’t get it, do you? How you’re the only good thing about Taiwa, about fucking Miyagi.”

“Kei,” you whisper, on the verge of tears. “Kei stop.”

“This is the only time I’m going to say something nice about you, so.” He tilts your chin with the hand that’s bigger than your whole head, gentle as a lamb. “I don’t want to be like all the other Karasuno grads, living and dying here.”

“We can’t do anything about it.”

“Like hell we can’t. If either of us get out, if I get out, we’re going together.”

“Ha,” you laugh dryly. It certainly knocks him down a peg to hear you reject his proposition. “Please don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

“Well, you gotta keep up your end of the bargain. Get into Tohoku and we can take it from there. It’ll be you and me.”

“This doesn’t sound like the Tsukishima I know,” you say coyly, lopsided smirk making him crazy. “What’s got you so sentimental all of a sudden?”

“It could be that there’s someone I don’t mind being sappy for, especially if they’re naked under me.”

“I’m not—“ the words are stolen from you as Kei bruises your lips with a kiss. His hands turn your cheek toward him, and he kisses you into the mattress, all while climbing on top of you. He pulls back with a satisfied smirk, your lips glistening with (his) saliva.

“You were saying?”

You shove him and he falls back against your knees. “No, you were saying.”

Kei presses his chest against yours, kissing your neck, your jaw, then your lips in a softer kiss. “We’ll get out of here together. How does that sound?”

You don’t have a hopeful face. Your eyes have closed and you sigh, like you’re looking into the future and seeing Kei’s broken promise play over and over in your head. You two were young, but even you were less optimistic than he was.

You opened your eyes, letting your face morph into a happiness Kei now realizes is tinged with melancholy. He thinks it’s beautiful, in a tragic sense. Tragedies were timeless classics, like you.

“It sounds like you should put your money where your mouth is.”

“Do I ever disappoint?”

This brings out your real smile, beaming at him like the sun and the moon and every star in the galaxy. “Never. Not to me.”

Tsukishima lays on the cold floor with his hand over his eyes, lungs threatening to pop as he tries to exhale the guilt and heartache. None of the memories of this god forsaken town and this goddamn house hold anything but guilt, nothing but a knife in his stomach; the same one he stabbed into your back the day he signed on for the Saitama Spears and left.

He used to firmly believe that if you never try at something, it can’t break your heart. He took that attitude to volleyball and wasn’t proven wrong. Tsukishima does not know if it would hurt more if he’d tried with you. It wasn’t like he did it on purpose; he simply forgot. Somewhere in the shuffle, somewhere between keeping his promise and not, it slipped from his hands like a bad block.

He tries wiping the tears from his eyes. It’s not like thinking about it matters anymore; there’s no differentiation between the memories and the reality, only the same crushing pain.

And yet, Tsukishima finds himself dissociating into the ceiling. If he stops breathing, he can hear your laughter echo off the walls. Perhaps his ghost and yours can live here forever, like they do in his mind.

It’s the only way he can keep his promise.

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krsnbgirl · 4 years

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Fly High! || Kageyama x Fem!Reader || Part 2

Summary: Still reeling over what had happened the week before, you look back at how your daily life at Karasuno immediately changed for the better. Nishinoya also comes to ask you for a favor that helps you grow closer to the weird quick duo after school. The boys also learn more about your past from middle school.

Pairing: Kageyama Tobio x Fem!Reader

Genre: Rom-Com, Slice of Life, Sports

Word Count: ~3.1k

Warnings: Slight swearing, smoking (for Ukai), Signs of Anxiety from Reader, Timeline heavily based on the anime

Author’s Note: And here is part two of the series! I hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you to anyone that has interacted with the first part :) Taglist is still open if any of you would like to be a part of it! Also crossed posted on AO3! xoxo, Ren ❤

Taglist: @misnmatchedsox

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Masterlist

It’s been a week since the boys caught you doing a serve in the gym and a distraught look could be seen on your face as you made your way to the rooftop during one of your breaks. The boys began to try and convince you to become their manager even more ever since that practice. Tanaka would always call you their manager, a hopeful glint in his eyes, in the midst of his jokes. Hinata would try to bug you whenever he bumped into you in the hallways with Kageyama being dragged behind him. Then there was also Yamaguchi who would just give you a smile while Tsukishima would give you snide remarks whenever they passed your desk to sit at the back of the classroom. You sighed as your daily life at school was becoming more filled with the different presences of the boy’s volleyball team. It was nice finally getting to see the boys that Nishinoya always talked about, but you heavily underestimated the chaotic energy they brought with them. Escaping to the rooftop had become more of a daily thing for you so you could take a moment to breathe. You rested your arms on top of the railing as your mind flashed back to the moments right after you served the ball.

The boys gaped at you as Hinata began his typical rambling after seeing something amazing with Nishinoya and Tanaka closely behind him with proud smiles. Sugawara, Daichi, and Asahi shared a look before smiling to themselves and giving a thumbs up to Shimizu. The second and third years were aware of your situation with volleyball because you used to frequently appear at their games when Nishinoya, Tanaka, Ennoshita, and the others were first years. The team had found out that you used to play volleyball when Nishinoya mentioned that he was going to attend one of your matches as his weekend plan. You were similar to Nishinoya on the court and a lot of people at Chidoriyama used to call you two ‘The Yin and Yang Twins.’ Nishinoya was always the hyper one but quiet on the court meanwhile you were the more composed one but very hyper on the court. They were all there when you got injured and watched your downfall. All of them tried their best to be there for you, but the players knew how devastating it was to have one’s ACL tear. It’s one of the worst injuries to have and the hardest to come back from depending on the degree it got injured. Unfortunately for you, it was the degree that had to be taken with caution and the healing process was a lot longer.

So once the boys gave up on finding Kageyama and Hinata on their jog, they decided to return and Nishinoya was the first to come back. He noticed right away the look in your eyes and looked to his side to find the rest of the team approaching. Motioning them to stay quiet, he pointed towards you and they all crowded by the entrance. As they watched you serve the ball, those that were by your side and respected your space felt a warm feeling spread across their chests. This could be your time to finally realize your worth once more. Before they knew it, they all surrounded you and complimented you on the serve.

You ruffled your hair in frustration as you looked over the school grounds to find Hinata and Sugawara practicing at the gym’s entryway. You noticed Kageyama walking towards the vending machine near them and pressing the buttons to get his drink. A chuckle escaped your lips as you watched a couple of students get scared of his presence. You shook your head in amusement and raised an eyebrow once you noticed a soft expression on his face as he enjoyed his drink. ‘So he does have a soft side to him…’ you thought to yourself as your eyes followed him.

“(Y/N)-chan~”

“Oh, Yu-nii, did you need anything?” you asked as Nishinoya joined you by the railings and he shrugged.

“I just wanted to check up on you after everything that’s happened.” he asked and looked at you from the corner of his eye.

You gave him a scrutinizing look because he typically checks in on you like this if he needs something. He’d usually just try to tease you or joke around with you when he knows that something is troubling you or waits until you come to him. Besides, he already scolded you on your way home about being more careful with your knee since you haven’t been conditioning lately and skipped more than one appointment with your physical therapist.

“Liar, you need something from me.”

Nishinoya laughed out loud and smiled at you. “You know me too well, (Y/N)-chan.”

Turning your attention fully onto Nishinoya, you waited for him to speak. He rubbed his neck sheepishly and said, “Daichi said that we needed to pass our exams in order for us to go to Tokyo for training. If we fail, the supplementary exams fall on the day that we leave.”

“Yu-nii, I can’t help you with your studying. I’ve tried and can be a lost cause sometimes.” you sighed.

He winced at your bluntness but knew he had it coming. You were always the more studious one and had to always make sure he concentrated on homework whenever he came over. But in this case, he already had the third years and Ennoshita whipping him into shape during their after school sessions. But seeing the first years struggle and being the amazing upperclassman he was, Nishinoya wanted to give his beloved underclassmen some help.

“It’s not for me, (Y/N)-chan. If you think Tanaka and I are stupid, Kageyama and Hinata are struggling more than us.”

You couldn’t believe what came out of Nishinoya’s mouth and you burst out laughing. “W-Wait, are you saying that Kageyama-san isn’t smart? But he looks like he has good grades!”

“That’s what we thought too but I guess he’s only smart when it comes to volleyball.” Nishinoya pouted.

You couldn’t stop imagining Kageyama failing at regular school work because he just gave off that impression that he had some common knowledge in him. With Hinata, you had a good feeling that he wouldn’t be that smart since it looked like volleyball was the only thing on his mind. But it was a good surprise to you to find out that Kageyama was just as bad because it proved to you that you shouldn’t have assumed in the first place. It did give you some amusing thoughts though. Crossing your arms, you looked at your best friend as he rubbed his hands together and bowed slightly towards you.

“Please, I’m begging you (Y/N)-chan, please help Kageyama and Hinata! We need them to be there with us! I’ll even buy you lunch for a week straight because you helped them!”

With such a good offering, you smirked to yourself and ruffled his hair. “Alright Yu-nii, I’ll go help them.”

You could see his eyes immediately light up and was about to go hug you when you held your hand up to him.

“But, they have to come and ask me for help first.”

Nishinoya cheered before hugging you tightly, thanking you a million times before darting off to tell them the good news. You shook your head in amusement and gathered your things to head back to your classroom and get a jump start on your homework in order to help the team’s newfound duo.

------

The lunch bell finally rang and you mindlessly sipped on your carton of juice that you got during the previous break. You weren’t sure if the boys were going to come to you that day since Nishinoya never texted you back after the conversation on the roof. Listening to your stomach, you considered dropping by the shop that Coach Ukai ran for some snacks and a meat bun. You frowned to yourself as you realized that Coach Ukai still wanted to talk to you about your volleyball history. The grip on your juice carton slightly tightened and your other hand began to tap your desk as you thought about the questions he was going to ask. With a sigh, you shook your head to try and clear the questions and assumptions racing through your mind. You were snapped out of your thoughts when you heard your name being called and looked over to see Hinata and Kageyama walking into your classroom. You smiled at them and waved them over. The look of determination was evident on their faces as they stood in front of your desk and you couldn’t help but find their dedication towards the sport endearing.

“Hey (L/N)-san!” Hinata greeted you happily and Kageyama met your eyes as he nodded at you and said, “Hey.”

You held his gaze and greeted them back. Kageyama’s eyes widened slightly, surprised that someone was able to hold his gaze like that outside of practice, and looked outside the window. You smiled to yourself and turned your attention towards Hinata who asked you a question. You laughed to yourself because seeing Kageyama be so awkward outside of the gym was a cute sight to see.

“(L/N)-san, do you like studying?”

You looked up in thought before shrugging. “I don’t hate it…”

With a hopeful look on his face, Hinata held out his notebook and asked, “Could you teach me this English?” He tugged on Kageyama’s shirt too and continued to say, “You should ask her, too, Kageyama!”

You looked back to the quiet setter who stuffed his hands in his pocket and you met gazes once more. “Please teach us.”

Hinata continued to try and convince you as he stepped forward and said, “If we fail any tests next month, we won’t be able to go to the Tokyo away games, so we’ve been having the tall guy with glasses named Tsukishima help us...But lately, he’s getting irritated because Kageyama and I are so stupid.”

“I’m not scared of him.” Kageyama snorted, glaring at Hinata.

“But it’d be better for someone to teach us nicely!” Hinata huffed.

You couldn’t stop yourself from letting out a soft chuckle, holding your hand to your face to cover your reaction. “You guys are really too much. I didn’t think you guys would be struggling this much.”

Kageyama felt an unfamiliar burning on his cheeks as he noticed your cute expression and shook his head to get rid of any unnecessary thoughts. He couldn’t get his focus messed up now, even if you did catch his interest. He didn’t need any distractions but a small part of him wanted to do something to keep seeing similar reactions from you.

Giving both of them a warm smile, you gestured towards your desk and said, “If I’m good enough-”

“Really?!” Hinata excitedly asked.

You pursed your lips as you let them know what you were thinking, “But I wonder if I’ll be able to teach in a nicer way than Tsukishima...I used to get really strict when I helped Yu-nii with his homework.”

Both of them shook their heads simultaneously as Hinata reassured you, “You definitely don’t need to worry about that.”

“Well, then shall we get started?” You smiled as you clapped your hands together and opened up your notebook.

As the study session took place, you simplified what was being taught to them in a way the two would understand it. If what Nishinoya told you was true, then the way that you outlined things would be easy enough to teach to them.

“I see! Wow!” Hinata exclaimed as you explained the construction of an English sentence to him.

You rubbed her your sheepishly and shrugged. “Oh, it’s nothing..”

“Your notebook’s really easy to look at, (LN)-san. You’re great at drawing too.” Hinata commented when he noticed the small doodles that covered the sides and corners of your notes.

“Ah well, when I was on a break I suddenly got into drawing and I typically try to be the best in everything I get into so I guess it’s from my perfectionist side.” you sheepishly replied before pointing at Hinata’s notes. “Oh, if you leave a space here, it’ll be easier to fill in later. Also, if you limit the number of colors you use, it won’t get confusing.”

Kageyama watched as you bit off the cap of your pen and began to write guides on Hinata’s notebook. He wasn’t much of a talker, but he was grateful for you being willing enough to help them. There was something about you that helped calm down his nerves as you taught them their class’s material. He didn’t feel as competitive or stressed when they studied with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. You were encouraging but knew when to be strict with them. As he quietly took down his notes, Kageyama listened in on your conversation as you and Hinata talked about his dislike for studying and how he’s just trying really hard to get to Tokyo.

You were amazed at Hinata’s passion and was surprised to also find Kageyama chiming in on the conversation when Nekoma High was brought up. She vaguely remembered Nishinoya complaining about Nekoma one time so she assumed they were pretty strong opponents and now friends off the court. Especially if Kageyama mentioned that there was someone as good as Nishinoya on their team. It reminded you that you should check up on your friends from that school and filtered a mental note to do so once she got home. You lost contact with them for a bit during your rut and since volleyball was starting to make a comeback in your life, it was a good idea to check up on a childhood friend.

Resting your chin on your palm as the two boys got lost in their own banter, you began to think about going to their games more. Nishinoya had been trying to get you to come back to their games but then he got suspended after his scuffle with Asahi. You mentally sighed and realized you had been so caught up with your own problems, you fell short on supporting your best friend. If anything, you should be thankful for Nishinoya introducing you to his new friends at Karasuno. With your budding relations with the current team, you were able to make new friendships with classmates you never noticed before. Your eyes unconsciously went towards Kageyama and you began to admire his features as he continued to talk to Hinata. You hated to admit it but now looking up close with him off the court, Kageyama was quite attractive. It was funny to you because people often got scared of him, but all you saw was a socially awkward guy. Also having grown close to the second and third years, you saw those boys as older brothers so none of them had gotten your attention when you got to know them. It didn’t help that Nishinoya would try to get in on your business to see if he could play cupid between you and a member of his. That idea didn’t sit right with you in the beginning but now, you might just be open to it.

“So, (L/N)-san, did you used to play volleyball?”

You sighed as you knew that this question was going to be brought up sooner or later after they saw you serve.

“I’m pretty sure Yu-nii has already told you guys this, but we went to the same middle school together. He was the libero for the boy’s team and I was the wing spiker and pinch server for the girl’s team. Our school called us ‘The Yin and Yang Twins’ because of how our personalities switched in and out of the court.”

The boys noticed your eyes softened as you remembered your days playing the sport that they loved and Kageyama couldn’t help but ask, “How come you stopped?”

“I tore my ACL during my final match.”

They winced trying to imagine how that went down and you shrugged. Kageyama couldn’t help but blame himself for making you remember something that terrible and murmured, “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

You shook your head dismissively and looked down to play with your hands. “It’s okay. To be honest, taking time off to heal has opened my eyes a lot. I just don’t know if I’ll ever be fine to properly play again.”

“Have you tried to give yourself that chance?” Hinata asked.

You looked up to find Hinata smiling down at you as he stood up from his seat, palms resting on top of your desk. “I know that there are times where things seem to be impossible. I’ve had those thoughts for the longest time, but giving myself a chance to try things out and see where it goes has gotten me to where I am now. A lot of people underestimate me for being small and even if I’m not big, I can fly.”

Your eyes widened as you saw the look in Hinata’s eyes. His words had an impact on you and you sat back in your chair, your mind going back to your serve. Kageyama noticed the thoughtful look on your face and understood that you needed your space for the time being.

“Hinata, don’t you need to copy this down?” Kageyama asked to divert Hinata’s attention from you.

You looked out the window as Hinata sat down, continuing to write down his notes. While doing so, he began to ramble about volleyball again and while listening, you mindlessly said, “Then you’re like the Little Giant of the team, Hinata.”

Kageyama sighed as Hinata got amped up again just by hearing the nickname he respected so much and then met your gaze. It was asking for him to help you calm him down so that you could all wrap up the study session. Turning his attention back to his notes, Kageyama continued to write down what he needed to know.

“Hey, Little Giant that’s not gonna make it to Tokyo, hurry up and copy this.”

Once the two finished copying down your notes and finally understanding some of the material, you agreed to continue to tutor them. You walked them to the hallway and the both of them thanked you once more before bumping into Nishinoya who held up your lunch in the air on the way back to their classroom.

“I hope she’s been treating you well, boys!” Nishinoya greeted his underclassmen before walking up to you.

Kageyama couldn’t help but turn around and watch as you gave Nishinoya a bright smile and hug. An unfamiliar feeling crept inside of him as he grew irritated for some unknown reason. He clicked his tongue and tried his best to forget about the part of him wishing that you would greet him like that in the near future.

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fruitchakra · 3 years

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why you should read haikyuu!! (no spoilers)

as an sns-focused blog, i’m going to frame this through the lens of sns/naruto (the series) because the fact is that i finally, finally picked up haikyuu because i read something posted by someone on tumblr or twitter saying ‘hinata and kageyama are basically just naruto and sasuke in high school’.

which is true but mostly false BUT i am so glad i gave it a chance when even my best friend pestering me couldn’t get me to watch/read it (she doesn’t watch naruto so i didn’t trust her lmao).

the reason i’m so hesitant to start on new manga is because i’m extremely picky with the type of shonen manga i read. 9/10 times i’m just disappointed with the art style, plot, storyline progression, etc. this is also the reason why i reread and rewatch naruto for the nth time because i just cannot get into anything else.

enter haikyuu. haikyuu is truly what a shonen manga is imo - one that revolves around friendship and rivalry with a single key person and overcoming adversities to become the best. compare this to naruto which is a love story because i still cannot believe that it is a shonen manga because it’s not (naruto’s focus on sasuke is not normal or platonic lol. it can’t be. i refuse).

1. character development and world building

the characterizations are really good and they don’t go obsessively deep about people or a single character - hinata’s rivalry with kageyama is clear but it is not the basis of the entire plot. there are no real ‘villains’ too, even if the other team is the opponent. the way things are written makes you root for everyone involved (unlike naruto because there are many characters that i absolutely cannot stand. in haikyu i either like them or can’t remember them because there’s so...many...players.)

furudate’s strength is making you connect with the characters.

the most refreshing thing is that the world building is good (volleyball is super interesting) but not fraught with things that are uncomfortable, like naruto and its politics and how some people absolutely lose all critical thinking skills when it comes to examining things like fascism and genocide. haikyuu is so much more lighthearted and because of this, it’s a lot of fun.

2. hinata and kageyama’s bond

this is one of my favourite things and it’s so SO refreshing compared to naruto and sasuke’s relationship. hinata and kageyama are introduced as rivals and hinata doesn’t fixate over kageyama - his main goal is to the best volleyball player. in naruto, the narrative is set up as naruto’s desire to be acknowledged and become hokage, but there is a disconnect because the plot is driven by sasuke and his actions.

i watch naruto for sasuke so i absolutely have no issue with it but when the second character becomes more important than your titular character, something has gone wrong in your plotting/writing.

but there is no escaping that there are similarities: hinata’s name means sun and kageyama’s name means shadow. their character designs and colors are in direct contrast as well (tall and short, bright and dark hair).

3. tsukishima

give me an aloof, quiet character with brother issues, who finds himself changing due to the influence of the protagonist and I AM SOLD. add in moon symbolisms and i am crying because you are now my favorite character.

4. nostalgia

the best thing is the nostalgia i think! pretty sure everyone reading this has gone to high school. most people have (or were forced to) participate in some sort of sport. everyone has had dreams and in high school, the world outside seems impossibly big and anything and everything is possible. haikyuu really plays into this and it is absolutely hopeful and inspiring it is.

it also reminds me how naive and flawed this thinking is because life will not go the way you want to, just because you really truly want something and work hard for it. of course, as a children’s manga, it doesn’t linger on the negative aspects of growing up but seeing something so hopeful and happy really highlights the stark reality of adult lives. and i honestly love how introspective it makes me.

5. furudate’s art style

the manga is 100000% better than the anime because we get furudate’s art style which is insanely good because you can really sense the speed and motion and excitement of the volleyball.

more importantly are the little tiny details he adds into little frames. it builds so much more character and i’m slowly getting through the anime because the volleyball parts are much better animated and the OPs are hype but the pacing is really off and i don’t think the voice casting is as good as naruto’s.

6. the importance of a strong opening

the first chapter made me cry, with hinata’s enthusiasm and lack of support and him still finding his way around it to make things work as best as he can. it’s incredibly earnest and just so pure.

naruto didn’t do this for me tbh, and it was only sasuke’s introduction that hooked me. the closest feeling i’ve come across in the introduction of a story from another form of media is the kdrama vagabond. no other opening has hit me as hard with this sense of warmth and purity (12/10 would recommend. it’s on netflix!)

7. stand-out characters

hinata - my big hearted sunshine boy. best protagonist ever thank u for existing

kageyama - the way to my heart: a boy with dark hair and dark eyes. his growth is so so good

tsukishima - moon. background and character growth. i love his attitude

yamaguchi - i scream whenever he steps onto court. pure and sweet

basically everyone on the karasuno team

kenma - basically me irl

oikawa - “i hope they both lose” truly the single best sentence ever given to a character

miya twins - they’re drawn so beautifully?? and great chaotic energy

if you’ve read all the way here, you’re the best and take it as a sign you start haikyuu :)

#truly no thoughts just haikyu

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psycheitup · 4 years

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Tsukishima Kei, his Jonah Complex, and how he overcame it

SPOILER WARNING. POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM HAIKYUU ANIME AND MANGA.

Tsukishima Kei is a volleyball athlete from Karasuno High School in Haruichi Furudate’s manga, Haikyuu!! In the manga and anime adaptation, Tsukishima Kei was introduced as a blunt, and arrogant character. It was also depicted that he does not like to put effort in volleyball and overly enthusiastic people annoys him. As the plot goes on, we were introduced to his brother who is passionate about the sport and still did not make it to the regular line up of athletes. We saw how this affected Tsukki by not being passionate about volleyball as it is “just a club”. He sees no merit in giving his all into something that would not be useful in his future or that it is not certain that he will become the best at it. This is when I noticed that this character is one of the best example of Jonah Complex.

Jonah Complex is coined by Abraham Maslow, a humanistic theorist and psychologist. According to Maslow, Jonah Complex is the fear of success, a fear of being one’s best, and a feeling of awesomeness in the presence of beauty and perfection. Maslow said that there are 2 things that can cause Jonah complex. The first one is because the human body cannot take the feeling of pleasure from achieving fulfillment and the second one is because they do not believe that they will achieve greatness in comparison with other people who have accomplished greatness. Tsukki, in my opinion, falls under the second reason. He mentioned in the training camp arc that even if he becomes good at it, there will always be someone who is better. This is an indication that he lowered his aspirations, humbled himself, just because he does not see himself being greater than other people. He does not seek to reach his full potential because of this and that is exactly Jonah complex. Tsukki was running away from his fate, from his full potential because he did not think it was possible. Yamaguchi replied with “what else is there besides pride?”. Yamaguchi was suggesting that being good at something and striving to become the best is something to be proud of. Bokuto suggested that reaching his 120% potential is everything and the best feeling in the world. This is a close description to self-actualization depicted in this scene.

Maslow suggested that to beat Jonah Complex, one must remind himself that he is not a god, but not a worm either. This means that a person must not think too highly or too little of his own abilities. He must stay at the middle ground while striving for greatness. This was exactly how Tsukishima Kei overcame this. His brother, Akiteru, mentioned during S3 that Tsukki does not believe his own abilities, he only believes what’s in front of him. When asked if he can stop Ushiwaka, a powerful top spiker, Tsukishima answered with no, but he is planning to stop several spikes. When Hinata and Tsukki were talking about stopping Ushiwaka, Tsukki said that he does not like it when it comes from other people that he can’t do it. He does not think highly of himself that he can block all sorts of spikers. At the same time, he no longer believes that it is impossible for him to get better. He successfully stood on the middle ground. It is now a matter of “if not me, then who?”. That is how we can say that he is over his Jonah complex.

According to Maslow, humans have the natural drive to improve ourselves and to achieve our full potential. This reminds me of that moment when Daichi said that after their 3 on 3 match, he was not worried about Tsukishima. That is most likely because Daichi saw that Tsukki has the natural drive to desire victory. His family, friends, and teammates were all a great support in helping Tsukki overcome this obstacle towards reaching self-actualization.

I hope you guys learned something from this. Keep striving! :)

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pandaplxys · 3 years

Text

Akaashi x fem!reader

2.4k fluff oneshot for Akaashi’s birthday! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

relationships: Akaashi x fem!reader

characters: Akaashi, reader, Bokuto, mentions of Fukurodani team, brief mention of Tsukishima

warnings: none

~ my ao3 profile ~

Pov: You are a second-year studying in the school's library and you're looking for the last copy of a book that another boy, who was in your class, was also looking for...

"...over there dear." "Thank you." You bowed you head to the librarian in respect, letting your long (h/c) hair fall in your face and glasses. You walked over to the bookcase where the last copy of the book you needed for a research project. You saw a boy following you, but paid no attention to it, assuming he needed something from the same aisle. As you reached for the book you needed, he also reached over to grab the book. You both stopped in your tracks in confusion. "Did you need this?" He asked you in a soft voice. "Oh no, it's okay, you can have it." He stared at you for a few seconds. "Wait, (l/n) (f/n)? Second year right?" "Yes.." You answered slowly, unsure of how he knew your name. "I'm Akaashi Keiji. I'm in the same class as you." Something finally clicked in your mind. He was the Akaashi Keiji, setter for the school's team the Fukurodani Owls. "Oh- you're that setter right? Sorry I don't know much about volleyball." You chuckled. You were the one of the most forgotten students in your class due to the teacher constantly skipping over your name for attendance. You always sat in the back corner in the classroom where everyone could easily overlook you, so you were even more confused as to how he knew your name. "It's okay. And you got my position right, I am in fact the setter!" He quietly clapped, making you blush out of embarrassment. "Well, since we're both working on that research project.. maybe we could share the book?" You offered. "Sure. I don't mind." He gave you a small smile. "We could work at my table if you'd like." "Sure." He followed you back to your table with his backpack and sat with you. You both started up some small talk, learning more about one another. From how he knew you and noticed you in class, to a few things about volleyball. Both of you realized you had a lot in common. About how you both were only children and you both even had the same habit of fiddling with your fingers when you were anxious. After a couple hours of working, the librarian warned both of you that the library would close in 5 minutes. You both wrote down important parts from the book so you could return it and started packing up your things. "Hey, we should do this again sometime." Akaashi said to you. "Yeah." "Oh- nevermind... that would be a pretty dumb thing to ask.." You mumbled out loud. "What is? I doubt it would be stupid." He asked curiously. "I was wondering if you would like my number..." You mumbled. He pulled out his phone. "Well, what is your number?" You noticed your face heating up out of embarrassment, knowing he noticed too. "I- uh-" You stammered trying to get your words out. "It's okay, take your time." You finally gave you number to him, along with him giving his to you. You both parted ways, heading back to your own houses.

You were the one to text him first. You were a pretty reserved, quiet, and introverted person, but you had your occasional boosts of confidence. After figuring out what you wanted to asked him, you came up with what you wanted to say. You asked if he wanted to facetime each other sometime and he said yes. 5 minutes later your phone lit up with Akaashi's name.

You both compared what you wrote down from the book and gave each other pointers and tips. Eventually his mom was calling him to eat dinner and he had to go. You finished up writing down more notes as you put away your things and laid down on your bed. Even though you two never talked about it, you both became quick friends, and for you he was your first friend since starting high school. You got lost in your thoughts as you drifted to sleep.

At school he talked to you a lot more, wanting to know even more about you. You partnered up with him in his AP classes, you sat with him alongside Bokuto, who was confused as to why Akaashi invited you to sit with him, knowing he wasn't a sociable person. He overlooked that and gladly welcomed you to their table. You started coming to his volleyball practice, and was shocked to see you there, writing something down on a notepad. Then you two would facetime each other usually every other day, sometimes for the project, sometimes just to talk. Eventually one day at school, you couldn't find him anywhere. You asked Bokuto, but he had no idea either. He ended up texting you saying he didn't feel well and was taking the day off. You felt bad for him, with him telling you his parents were out of town for a month, he would be at his house all by himself. You remembered him saying something about his address one before on a call before. You made a plan to see him after school.

"Come in, the door's unlocked." A hoarse voice called out. You opened the door and found Akaashi lying down on the couch with a box of tissues beside him. "Oh- what are you doing here (y/n)? What if you get sick because of me?" You silenced him by putting a finger up to his lips. "Shhhh. I'll be fine, just rest for now." "Is there anything you wanted? Something to eat or drink? Extra covers?" "No, I'm good..." He said as he drifted to sleep. You sat down beside him, quietly humming a song that had been stuck in your head for a while. "You have a really pretty voice.." Akaashi mumbled. You blushed profusely in response to his compliment. As the sun set you told him you were heading back to your house. You told him to call you if he needed anything, no matter what time it was. He nodded his head as you walked out the door. As you walked back to your house, the only thing on your mind was how pretty Akaashi looked. "Damn he's hot." All you could think about is how he looked even more peaceful asleep. How his beautiful black curls framed his face perfectly. How his chest rose and fell slowly. You could go on and on about it all night. All your thoughts remained unspoken, especially about how big your crush on him grew bigger.

The research project that you and Akaashi helped each other on was due, and both of you got the highest grade in the class. You both smiled each other and talked non-stop at lunch. You offered him to come over to your house, and he accepted. You guided him through your house and letting him into your room, filled with multiple posters from famous bands and a Playstation in the corner of your room. "Wow." He said in awe. He pointed out some of his favorite bands from your posters. You put on some music as you handed him a controller to play something on your PS3. You loaded (any 2P game but i'm using Sonic The Hedgehog 2 bc that's my fav game) up and started playing. "Um (y/n), I.. I don't know how to play this game." "Don't worry, I can teach you!" You can the Tails to my Sonic!" You laughed at each other when you fell off the moving platforms in Chemical Plant Zone, or when you fell into the hole that led into Hidden Palace Zone. You both congratulated each other when you each passed an act together, or when you both defeated Robotnik and set the animals free. He almost jumped a little when you put your head on his shoulder. "I wish time could freeze right here in this moment." You mumbled softly. "Hm?" Your eyes widen as you realized what you said. "Uh- nothing! I didn't say anything!" He chuckled. "Whatever you say." You both fell asleep leaning against each other.

"Ooo, does Akaashi have a crush?!" "Bokuto, not so loud! And no, I don't. I just want to be friends with her, well for now at least." "Oh, okay then!" He didn't bother telling Bokuto about last night, knowing he would get the wrong idea. He didn't have a crush on you, at least that's what he wanted him to think. If he told Bokuto now, he would accidently let it slip and tell you. Besides, he didn't think you would like him back anyways. It was like unintentionally friendzoning each other. But he didn't think he had a crush on you, he never really thought about it. He saw you as a person he could easily relate to and get along with and share a close bond. The last thing that would cross his mind is being in a relationship with someone. But after some deep thinking, he realized he might've actually caught feelings for you, but not wanting to act on them just in case you didn't feel the same way, remembering what you said last night about him being the Tails to your Sonic, assuming you just wanted to stay friends and nothing more. Sighing in defeat, he looked through his phone and even though he wouldn't be the best person to ask for advice, it was better than risking word getting out. He called Tsukishima, knowing he was together with Yamaguchi. "Hello?" "Hey um, it's Akaashi." "What did you want, and why are you calling me out of all people?" "Listen, I need some advice." Tsukki paused. "With what?" "Um- I don't know you to say this but-" "Just spit it out already, I don't have all day." "Um- how do you know if someone likes you, and how do you confess to someone?" "I don't know, I'm not Google, just look it up or something. I have to go now. Bye." He hung up on him while he sat in confusion. He opened his laptop and began to find the answers to his questions. After searching through the internet, he finally gathered enough info to put something together. Now he just needed the courage to actually ask you.

Two months went by, and he still hasn't confessed yet. You two would still facetime each other, except it was almost every night now. You would go over to each other's houses and even walk home together. It was when one breezy day when you two were walking home together when everything changed. You had everything set up for what you were going to do. You had your note in hand, and you checked to see the wind was blowing at a wind speed not too gusty, but not too light either. You had your note in hand and everything was set. "Ah, my note!" You exclaimed as your note flew away from your hands. Using his quick setter reflexes. He successfully caught it with the right side facing up. "Perfect" You thought to yourself. As he was about to give it back to you, he noticed his name on the front of the note. "Oh? Why is my name on hee?" "It's for you actually." You chuckled. He opened the note and his eyes widened. Inside was a handwritten confession in your handwriting to him. He blushed as he wrote the last sentence. "Wow (y/n) I- I didn't know you felt the same way." Now it was your turn to blush. "What? I didn't think you would like a girl like me back.." "I've liked you for a while (Y/n) It's been what, two almost three months now? I wanted to tell you sooner but I was just a stupid coward and I was just too scared to-" You silenced his rambling with a kiss on his cheek. "It's okay, I understand where you're coming from. But now, you can be the Sonic to my Amy." You both walk home together flushed.

It was when Bokuto noticed you holding Akaashi's hand for a brief second. He asked you two about it. Neither of you knowing what to say, you both were a stuttering mess. He finally put two and two together and realized you two were in fact dating. In response you both nodded your heads. He jumped out of excitement, with Akaashi asking him to keep your relationship private. He asked if he could tell the team. Knowing Bokuto would have a hard time keeping a secret like this He allowed it with your consent. Just between you three and the team. The team was super supportive of your relationship, vowing to keep it a secret. You took more notes on the sidelines and even stood next to Yukie, the third year manager of the team and talked to her, asking some questions. After practice, he asked you what your notes were for, but you never answered him, you always told him it was a secret.

~ timeskip one year later ~

You both were in your third year together, still in your relationship with him. It was a lot quieter without Bokuto around, but after hanging around Bokuto a lot, you finally came out of your shell and let your louder and more mischievous side come out more. You cheered on the team from the sidelines, waiting to tell him about some good news. He was overjoyed when you told him on the walk home that you would become the team's manager. He was so excited he kissed your lips out of excitement. When he realized what he did. He bowed his head and apologized. "I'M SO SORRY- I SHOULD'VE ASKED FIRST-" You lifted his chin up and you kissed him on the lips this time. "No, don't apologize. I really liked it actually." His face was painted with shades of red as you kissed him. Your soft lips meeting his just as soft and perfect lips. You teased each other as you both walked into your bedroom, with him taking your glasses as you ruffled and played with his soft hair. Everything about him was perfect, not a single flaw. You stood in front of your PS3, unsure of what game you both wanted to play. "Sonic?" You asked. He nodded his head in response. You walked back over to your bed, planting a quick kiss on his forehead. You both shared another kiss as the loading screen popped up. You laid your head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around you as you both played.

#akaashi keiji #akaashi x y/n #keiji akaashi #first post #birthday #happy birthday

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