"And did you see how Shimizu-san took Suga-san hands?
"I did"
The air is getting colder in the first days of September, and the sky is already turning dark when Tadashi and Kei walk back to the Tsukishima house, a bag full of snacks and Tadashi's external hard drive, ready to spend a night watching movies, the welcome rest after the last match of the Spring High.
"He's so lucky!" Tadashi muses aloud, eyes turned up to the first stars in the night sky. "It must be so nice, to get the attention of someone so cool and pretty like her, right Tsukki?"
The words escape his mouth before thinking them. "Yeah, it's nice."
It took Kei a couple of steps to realize that Tadashi was standing in the middle of the street, a surprised look on his face.
"Yamaguchi?"
"Y-you have?"
He tilted his head a bit, a slight frown on his face. "Have what?"
"Been like this?" As he speaks, Tadashi takes Kei's hands with both of his, brown eyes fixed in amber ones. "With Shimizu-san?"
Tadashi's eyes are bright, Kei isn't sure if it's for admiration or something else.
"What? No."
A bit of the light dims, voice quieter now. "Then… with someone else?"
This time Kei doesn't answer, evading Tadashi's eyes.
"Tsukki…" The hold he has on Kei's hand relaxes a bit, the moment starting to slip away as they both realize the position they are in.
And he knows that Tadashi will get the wrong idea, and that idea will be around in his friend's head for who knows how long, and he has to do something—
"It wasn't like this." he says quickly.
"Huh?"
He can feel his face starting to heat up, but now that he has started, he has to finish this.
"It wasn't like this that I got the attention of someone cool and pretty." Slowly, Kei lifts their joined hands up, resting both of Tadashi's hands in the middle of his chest.
"It was more like this, actually."
"Tsukki, who grabbed you–" his eyes go wide with realization, a blush spreading quick under his freckles. And the heat in his body multiplies when he spots a mirroring blush in Kei's face.
Is just too much to process, and Tadashi's hands flies to cover his face. "But I– you can't be serious."
Kei feels his ears burn, but keeps talking, the bag in his hands crinkling with the fidgeting of his fingers. "I am."
"But… I'm not cool. And pretty? Please… don't joke with something like this." Tadashi's pleading voice is almost a whisper behind his hands, still hiding.
You are. To me at least. he thinks.
"No joke. Just facts." He says instead.
Tadashi mutters under his hands, the blush reaching the tip of his ears now. Kei just catches the end of the mumbled words "Such a sap. So embarrassing!"
But is worth it, he thinks, while looking at the wide smile peeking under Tadashi's hands.