Chapter 2

The way ‘private’ sounded rolling off of Suga’s tongue, high and teasing, rings in Tsukishima’s

ears as he pulls open his bag with too much force. Unthinkingly, he tugs his shirt off over his head

and begins to untangle the spare he’d shoved into his bag this morning.

“Woah!” Hinata’s absurdly loud voice stalls Tsukishima’s distracted motions. “Tsukki’s got his

mark! Look, Bakageyama!”

Shit, he really didn’t think this through.

Before he can recover (i.e. put on his shirt), Kageyama is pushing his way past Hinata to stare

openly at Tsukishima’s chest. He lifts a finger to his chin as his eyes squint in concentration. He

hums contemplatively. “Summer? That’s… vague.”

Tsukishima brushes off any embarrassment threatening to crawl up his spine and nearly rips a new

arm hole in his shirt in his haste to pull it over his body. “It’s better than Hinata’s. His could be

anybody at Karasuno, past, present, or future.”

“Hey!” Hinata shouts defensively, his hand reflexively covering the word fly scrawled across his

kneecap. “They’ll show up someday! Yours is way worse. You’ve already lived through fifteensummers! It could be anybody you met during them — ”

“Sixteen summers, actually,” Tsukishima corrects, smirking.

Kageyama lifts his fingers and begins counting them down. Hinata looks in his direction, letting

the silence stretch on for a moment. When Kageyama nods solemnly, Hinata lifts his hands to his

head in exasperation. “Fine, sixteen! Whatever, I’m still right! You see so many people during the

summer. Plus, that’s my little sister’s name, so if it’s her I’m gonna punch you.”

Tsukishima delivers his best glare in the shorty’s direction as he replaces his glasses on the bridge

of his nose. “I highly doubt my soulmate is your six year old sister.”

Because it’s a 6’2” guy whose only obvious goal is to annoy me to death, goes unsaid.

In his periphery, Tsukishima sees Tadashi staring at their little gathering from where he changes

into his own regular, non sweat-stained clothes. Tsukishima doesn’t have to face him fully to feel

the grin stretched across his stupid, freckled face.

When Tsukishima finally manages to crawl into his futon, freshly showered and removed from the

day’s activities, he’s surprised to find Tadashi’s too-wide eyes focused on him. They’re barely

visible, merely more than glowing whites against stark irises, with what little moonlight seeps

through the high windows in the night’s makeshift sleeping quarters for the Karasuno volleyball

team

“What do you want,” Tuskishima whispers harshly, not a question. Beside him, Hinata lets out a

staccato snore and rolls over.

Tadashi is still looking at Tsukishima, but waits until Hinata stills once more to speak. “What

happened?”

“Extra practice.” He lays back, breaking eye contact and hoping the short answer is enough for

Tadashi to let it go, at least for now.

He should know better, all things considered.

“I saw those Fukurodani guys head back over an hour ago.” Tadashi’s voice is barely audible,

Tsukishima knows, but the accusation might as well be at 100 decibels.

He tugs his thin blanket up to his chin even though the chugging of the air conditioning unit tucked

into the window is no match for the muggy heat of a Tokyo summer. “So I took a long shower.”

A hand grabs his ankle and tugs. “I didn’t see that Nekoma guy with them.”

Tsukishima yanks his leg from Tadashi’s grasp. “So? I don’t keep track of other people. Now shut

up and go to sleep.”

“C’mon, you said he was hot, right? So your eyes are definitely on him!” Tadashi’s hand reaches

under the blanket and wraps around Tsukishima’s ankle.

Tsukishima shoots up in his futon to glare down at Tadashi. His friend’s hair is mussed from the

pillow, but his eyes seem alert like he was never actually asleep. “Shut up, Tadashi. The whole

team can hear you."

“Ugh, fine.” Tadashi lets go of Tsukishima’s leg with an exaggerated sigh.

Naively thinking this whole mess is over — for now, anyway; surely Tadashi will bring it up again

later — Tsukishima settles in his futon and shuts his eyes, willing away the tingling sensation of

phantom touches along his arms. Just as he enters the blissfully dark limbo between consciousness

and sleep, his phone vibrates from its hiding place under his pillow. Once, twice, three times, four.

It stops buzzing for a moment, long enough for him to almost push his brain back into a half-sleep

state, when it buzzes again. Five times.

Hinata groans from his spot next to Tsukishima. “Tsukki, ya gotta answer your phone,” he slurs

sleepily.

He wants to scold Hinata for using that god forsaken nickname, but before he can, the shorty is

back to snoring obnoxiously. Tsukishima reaches under his pillow and pulls out his phone, wincing

at the brightness of the screen as he unlocks it. The default messenger app happily informs him 9

new messages from Tadashi. It would be so easy to stick his leg out and kick Tadashi’s foot across

from his own, but the last thing he wants is for anyone else to wake up because his best friend is

too nosy for his own good.

\[23:45\] \>\> Tsukki

\[23:45\] \>\> Tsukkiiiii

\[23:45\] \>\> Tsukki answer me

\[23:46\] \>\> Something happened with that Nekoma guy didn’t it?

\[23:47\] \>\> Tsukki

\[23:47\] \>\> Tsukki

\[23:47\] \>\> Tsukki

\[23:48\] \>\> I saw you making eyes at him

\[23:48\] \>\> Tsukki did you \*\*\*\* Nekoma’s captain

Tsukishima swallows his own spit and somehow manages to keep the choking feeling in his throat

at bay.

\[23:50\] << it’s none of your business

\[23:50\] << now go to sleep, we have to wake up early

Before he can even hit the lock button, his phone is vibrating in his palm.

\[23:50\] \>\> !!!!

\[23:51\] \>\> So there is ~business~

Tsukishima curses his sleep-addled brain, heavy with the events of the day and jumbled with the

whirlwind of emotions he’d visited that evening, for saying anything remotely suspicious. It really

isn’t fair how easily Tadashi picks up on any slip-up Tsukishima makes.

\[23:53\] << if i say i’ll tell you tomorrow will you go to sleep

\[23:54\] \>\> You have to promise

\[23:54\] << i promise

\[23:55\] \>\> No, you have to say it all together.

\[23:56\] \>\> Say, “Tadashi, I promise to give you all the juicy details about my tryst with the hot

Nekoma captain tomorrow morning before our first game.

”\[23:57\] << don’t ever say the word tryst again

Tsukishima powers his phone off and shoves it under his pillow.

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