Variable

by mew-tsubaki

Progress with Tsukishima is something of a multi-layered behemoth. Then Yamaguchi learns of something Tsukki forgot to tell him. *An AU oneshot set in my Birds of a Feather AU, but may be read on its own; set during "Opportunity" in the BoaF collection; slash.

Variable

A Haikyuu! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. Back to Tsukkiyama in the Birds of a Feather AU. BUT! This fic stands on its own so you don't have to read the fics in the BoaF collection to enjoy this. And, now, what fans of "Constant" have been waiting for: Forward movement with Yams and Tsukki. ;P Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: Though you don't have to read the BoaF fics to enjoy this, things will be clearer if you do; this is set during the 6th story, "Opportunity," occurs at the same time as the Narikino oneshot "The Long Distance Not Between Us," and counts as a direct sequel to the 1st Tsukkiyama oneshot "Constant" (links at bottom of my FFN profile).

- ^-^3

Yamaguchi was a stranger to sleeping in. The last time he'd done it was…hmm. Freshman year of high school, at a training camp, actually. He'd lost that leisure in his second year, being vice-captain of the volleyball club, and he'd had to set an example as captain in his third and final year, but, man, it felt so nice waking up of his own volition and not to the trill of an alarm Sunday morning.

He sat up and yawned, able to appreciate the birds' chirping outside his window. He listened while he slumped against the wall on one side of his bed, and he didn't bother knocking as he spoke through the thin barrier. "'Morning, Tsukki."

"Good morning," Tsukishima said on the other side. He sounded wide awake, which piqued Yamaguchi's curiosity.

"Were you awake already?"

"Working," Tsukishima replied.

Ah. That made sense. Professor Matoh was always in a different time zone when he contacted Tsukishima, so that forced Tsukishima to keep odd hours at home. Still, Yamaguchi would've been happy if Tsukishima had lied and said he'd been waiting for Yamaguchi to get up. Oh, well.

"Saeko-san's party is at one-ish," his friend reminded him.

"I know! I thought I'd make something for breakfast, and we can take our time getting ready before we head out. So give me a few minutes—"

"…are you making French toast again?"

Yamaguchi stifled his snicker. Nothing quite compared to Tsukishima's sweet tooth, so it was a good thing he'd learned to make a few flames guaranteed to attract his moth of a friend. "I can, if you want," the freckled man stated as he got out of bed.

Silence answered him, but that was as good as a confirmation from Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi went straight to his kitchenette and took some eggs from the fridge. He cracked and whisked them into a shallow pan, and then he took three slices of bread and left them to soak. He ducked back to the bathroom, washed his hands, and grabbed the blue elastic headband hanging on his towel ring.

"Yamaguchi?" Tsukishima called into the apartment, and he closed the front door after him.

"In here!" the freckled man replied, pushing his hair back with the headband and rubbing cleanser on his cheeks.

Tsukishima appeared at the doorway to the bathroom, and Yamaguchi saw him raise one cream-colored eyebrow in the mirror. "What are you doing?"

"Washing my face," Yamaguchi mumbled as he used a power brush to scrub. A moment later, he rinsed his face and used the hand towel from the towel ring to dry, but he caught Tsukishima's bemused smirk, and he turned to his friend. "What?"

"Nothing," the blond lied, and he took a step closer and playfully flicked Yamaguchi's forehead—a wide, open target with his hair pushed back from his face.

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes and internally huffed while his friend scrutinized him. Sometimes knowing Tsukishima—as well as his older brother, Akiteru-san—was annoying, because the brothers were good-looking and had nothing to worry about. But Yamaguchi had always been conscious of his complexion because of his freckles. He'd learned to accept his freckles on his own after high school, but he'd found a kind of beauty routine that worked for him and, really, made him feel good. He'd also cut his hair short for work the past few years, but he was starting to grow it out again since he and Tsukishima were heading in the same direction now, so the longer hair, the nice skin—they added up to a Yamaguchi who felt more comfortable with himself.

His light brown eyes flicked back to Tsukishima when he realized the blond was still staring, and his heart thudded happily in his chest. He thought Tsukishima had come to make fun, but that soft, half-lidded gaze coupled with an imperceptible smile told another story: Tsukishima thought the sight before him was cute.

Yamaguchi snatched the headband from his hair and ran a hand through his tresses, breaking the trance. "Uh, um, I left the bread to soak for too long," he bumbled, shoving his way past the taller man.

Tsukishima said nothing and let him by, and he trudged quietly after him.

Good gods, Tsukishima was too much for his heart to handle, Yamaguchi fretted as he set another three slices in the egg bath and got to frying up the first three. He, Yamaguchi, had been on his best behavior since Tsukishima had accepted his best friend's feelings for him almost two months ago. He did hug the tall blond nearly whenever he wanted these days, and, sure, Yamaguchi was known to play dirty and remind Tsukishima verbally that he loved him. But all of that was so—so tame compared to what Yamaguchi really wanted to do. After all, he'd been sitting on these feelings for most of his life.

"Are you making them like last time?" Tsukishima asked right behind him, spooking the shorter man. Yamaguchi even put a hand over his heart and shot him a little glare.

"Of course. Once they're golden brown, I'll flip them, wait for golden brown again, then it's plate, butter, and powdered sugar." He turned, surprised to find he had Tsukishima's attention again. "Tsukki?"

Tsukishima blinked and shoved his hands in his sleep pants' pockets, but he kept his eyes glued to Yamaguchi's forehead, as if something troubled him.

"Oh, no. Is something sticking up?" Yamaguchi smacked the top of his hair down, flattening it.

But Tsukishima caught his wrist and stopped him. He flicked Yamaguchi's forehead again, gently, and then he leaned down slightly, brushed the other man's fringe back, and pressed a tiny kiss right there.

Yamaguchi knew better than to overreact. If he did that, he'd get a "Shut up, Yamaguchi" and scare the bashful blond away. So he took a breath to calm down and smiled up at Tsukishima instead, despite his elation.

That did the trick. Tsukishima was rooted to the spot, his fair skin reddening as he averted his eyes and waited.

Yamaguchi turned Tsukishima's chin towards him. He pulled gently on the blond's forearms, as well, steering Tsukishima down towards him. Then he finally, finally, after years and years of waiting, pressed his lips to his best friend's.

It was sweet. And it was supposed to be short, but Tsukishima went slack at his touch and stayed there, content to place his hands on Yamaguchi's waist as Yamaguchi held his face and continued the kiss. A demanding Tsukishima that turned docile once he properly had Yamaguchi's attention—

—this was a very good thing to learn, indeed.

Unfortunately, the giant child chickened out before Yamaguchi could stick his tongue in, and he sniffed the air. "I think something's burning," he stated, his eyes sliding to the stovetop.

Yamaguchi turned in his arms and plated the food before it was beyond redemption. "Dammit…! I was going to serve you the first batch, too…"

Stunningly, Tsukishima took the plate out of his hands and cut a forkful off before Yamaguchi could protest. "I'll make do," he said after he swallowed, and he turned for the living room, pointedly not catching Yamaguchi's grateful smile.

"I wonder what the others would do if they knew how much of a softie you are," the freckled man teased as he made up his plate and joined the other male on the couch.

Tsukishima shot him a withering look.

"I'm not saying I'll blab, Tsukki. Besides, Hinata and Kageyama and the rest know you're friendly. It's not that big a jump from 'friendly' to 'softie.' Though," he continued quietly, "I kind of like keeping some of you to myself."

Tsukishima said nothing in response, so they ate in silence, facing the blank screen of the television. Eventually Yamaguchi peeked at him, and he saw healthy color climbing up his neck again. Sometimes Tsukishima's gruff attitude spoke volumes, belied his otherwise happy mood.

They finished eating, and Yamaguchi put the dishes in the sink. Tsukishima stayed put, his eyes following his friend, so Yamaguchi humored him and returned to his seat beside Tsukishima, though he faced the blond now. "Something up?"

The spectacled man pursed his lips and leaned on his knee, cupping his cheek in his palm in a thoughtful pose. His golden eyes moved behind his lenses, roving over Yamaguchi and never stopping. "Just thinking," he said at last.

"Not overthinking, I hope," the freckled man joked, and he leaned forward, closer to Tsukishima, believing they might continue where they left off.

Tsukishima clearly understood his line of thought, as his blush deepened and he looked away, sitting up straight before Yamaguchi could do anything. "I need to shower," he stated a bit loudly, and he got up and left Yamaguchi's apartment.

Yamaguchi groaned once the door shut behind Tsukishima. "You and me both," he grumbled to himself. So much for continuing what Tsukishima had started….

- ^-^3

A cool shower did the trick, even if this May was off to a slightly chilly start and Yamaguchi couldn't completely shake the idea that Tsukishima was being too much of a virgin around him.

The freckled man groaned again as he made sure he had a gift receipt for Saeko-san's presents in the gift bag before he headed out. He knew patience. He had patience. There was no being a pediatric nurse, no leading Karasuno's volleyball club, no befriending Tsukishima Kei without patience, and Yamaguchi Tadashi had it in spades.

Or did he? Tsukishima accepting Yamaguchi's love for him at last had been a gigantic step in the direction for which Yamaguchi had always wished. But Tsukishima had not said he, too, loved Yamaguchi, and he had yet to demonstrate it, really. All he'd told Yamaguchi before The Roost's grand reopening was that he didn't want to live without Yamaguchi. And that wasn't love.

Was it? It was hard to tell with Tsukishima, even if Yamaguchi did know him best.

"Yamaguchi, you ready?" Tsukishima called through the other thin part of their shared wall, that by their doors.

"Yeah. Don't forget her present!"

He could hear that stinker roll his eyes.

They met outside on the balcony and locked up. Tsukishima turned to go, but the sunlight glinted in an odd way off his glasses, so Yamaguchi caught his arm. "Hold on a sec—are your glasses broken?"

Tsukishima made a faced and removed them, but he squinted. "I dropped them in the bathroom, but they looked fine."

"You didn't check yourself in the mirror? There's a crack on the left lens, right near the nose piece."

The blond huffed. "Damn. I have a spare in my desk. I'll be right back."

"How could you not notice?" Yamaguchi asked with a chuckle as his fellow crow ducked back inside.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi!"

But Yamaguchi was snickering too hard to bother with "Sorry, Tsukki!"

A minute and a short walk later, Tsukishima had his spares on and he and Yamaguchi were on the train to a further part of the city. He sighed. "I don't even see why she insists on a birthday party."

"So her birthday was really yesterday. She's allowed to party when she can gather all the people she wants," Yamaguchi said. "I'm happy she gave me a week's notice so I could get today off from the clinic."

"I meant she's in her thirties and still having birthday parties."

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes and lightly bumped Tsukishima's leg with the gift bag. "There's nothing wrong with that. You and she had a small party for your brother back in March for his birthday. I'll still make you shortcake for your birthday even when we're sixty." He punctuated his promise by beaming at Tsukishima…and he dismissed the hint of discomfort in the taller man's bashful expression that followed.

With Saeko-san and Akiteru-san's house being just over half an over away, Yamaguchi refused to let their ride lapse into an uncomfortable silence. But he also knew asking his best friend about that kiss this morning would only cement this perceived awkwardness, so he instead cajoled Tsukishima to catch him up on A Uni's men's volleyball team, which Tsukishima helped coach fulltime now.

"Nothing much is happening right now," the blond answered. "The season's ended, and we're in the top ten, but there's definitely room for improvement. Sana-san and I will be putting together a regimen once their short resting period is over," he added, mentioning the head coach who'd worn him down to get Tsukishima to be assistant coach in the first place. "What?" he asked when Yamaguchi smiled.

"You seem happy there."

Tsukishima cocked his head to one side. "I guess."

"No, really. I couldn't stick with volleyball during university because of switching to the nursing program, and I wondered if you would after you got your snake degree—"

"It's called 'herpetology.'"

"—whatever, it's one step removed from dinosaurs, Tsukki—but then you started your master's and did keep with volleyball, just in a different capacity. It's nice."

"It's one way of life," the blond remarked, rolling his shoulders and leaning against the pole in front of Yamaguchi's seat. "I wasn't going to play professionally like King—"

Yamaguchi gave him a dry look at the childish, casual use of Kageyama's nickname.

"—but the money's not bad. Add in what Matoh-sensei pays me to transcribe his work, and it's nothing shabby. Although I could do with having finished my master's a year or two ago instead of later this year."

"He's an eccentric paleontologist who adores having you as his teaching assistant. Things could be worse. Such as your spare glasses breaking, too."

Tsukishima's mouth was a flat, unimpressed line. "Them breaking before we left was a bad omen. You want to kill me with the bad luck of my spares breaking, too?"

"Sorry, Tsukki." But Yamaguchi said it and stuck his tongue out at his friend, not buying into the idea of bad luck whatsoever.

The train pulled in a bit after the party presumably had started, but the two didn't rush to the house. It was barely a hop and a step to the newlyweds' home from the station, and it wasn't as though things couldn't start without them. In fact, music suddenly blared from the house as they walked up to the door, and the friends shared an apprehensive glance as the volume was lowered and Nishinoya threw open the door.

"Tsukishima! Yamaguchi!" he nearly shouted at them. He threw a green plastic lei over Yamaguchi's head and attempted to throw a pink one over Tsukishima's, but the blond intercepted it. "Fine," the tiny many said happily, "more for me!" And he promptly donned it, even though he already wore a purple one.

"Hello, Nishinoya-san," Yamaguchi managed once he recovered from the surprise. As he heard the songs change in the living room, he ventured, "Are we late? Sounds as if we've missed the fun."

Nishinoya motioned for them to follow him, and he shook his head as well as his hips as he attempted to dance and walk at the same time. "Nah. I got here first 'cause I did most of the food. And I brought the karaoke system!" He grinned broadly as he gave a dramatic wave to the scene in front of them.

Saeko-san, looking more and more pregnant every day, was at the system set up in the corner, to the right of the TV. She had a death grip on the microphone, a sign she had dibs on the first song…if not on all of them. Meanwhile, her husband arranged a small stockpile of gifts on the desk behind the couch, and Akiteru-san brightened when he spied his younger brother and his brother's best friend. "Kei, Tadashi."

Yamaguchi waved, but Saeko-san's head snapped up, hearing their names. She paused in her task and hopped over to meet them with hugs. "Heya, you two. You're tardy for once."

"But not last," Tsukishima reminded her, and the doorbell rang then, so Nishinoya zoomed by to let others in. The grumpy blond huffed when he heard Hinata's cheery voice, and he took up an unobtrusive post by some of the finger food in the kitchen.

The freckled crow let him be and passed their gifts to Akiteru-san. "Expecting a big crowd?" he asked the father-to-be.

Akiteru-san chuckled, a sound very different from the breathy sound his brother made, Yamaguchi noted. "Not really. Yuu arrived first to whip up the food, insisting we not lift a finger today." Despite that, he paused to straighten Yamaguchi's gift bag behind the other presents on the desk. "Then you and Kei came, and we invited Shouyou, Tobio, Yui, and Hayato, and of course Ryuunosuke and Chikara."

So far, everyone had turned up. Hinata made a face at Tsukishima, which the giant child returned, and lit up when he saw the karaoke system. Kageyama salivated over the food spread, and Michimiya and Ikejiri grabbed a seat in the tiny house before the place filled up.

"No Daisuke today?" Saeko-san asked the other married couple.

Ikejiri shook his head, and Michimiya answered. "Not today, Saeko-san. My boss was kind enough to offer to babysit, so I took him up on it, as he grew up with several younger sisters. So it's just us adults today."

Saeko-san pouted for half a second. Then she agreed that was for the best and gave her friend a giant hug, nearly smothering Michimiya as the blonde woman tended to do when she became a tad overzealous.

"Hey, Saeko-san!" Hinata piped up by the karaoke system. "How about we start off with a duet!"

"Whoa! I like your thinking, Shouyou!"

And so the party officially began.

Yamaguchi enjoyed himself. Even if he and Tsukishima did see many of these faces often because they ate at Saeko-san's bar a few times a week, they didn't often cut loose like this. Usually they came together for birthdays, but that tended to be at The Roost so Tanaka could make drinks and Nishinoya could stay in the kitchen, otherwise birthdays were private affairs if celebrated at all. That was why Yamaguchi appreciated today. No work. No being left alone with Tsukishima to make things even more awkward. Just fun with a makeshift family they'd all chosen years ago.

Tsukishima gravitated to Yamaguchi after his sister-in-law's opening duet, and he passed his friend a cookie that…sort of resembled a motorcycle, if one squinted at it. The blond eyed the freckled man surreptitiously. "It's…not bad," he admitted of the party, "just loud." He pursed his lips. "Can we go if it gets too noisy? Or worse—if my brother joins her for a couple's duet."

Yamaguchi chuckled, but he was pleased by the effort his grumpy friend was making, had been making since growing closer recently. Before, Tsukishima would be more demanding or do as he pleased. Now, he was slightly more courteous, such as now, making a plan with Yamaguchi instead of on his own. "Yes, if it gets to be too much," he agreed, and Tsukishima heaved a small sigh of relief.

Then Saeko-san cranked up the volume and jumped up and down with the music. "Woo, woo!" she almost yelled into the microphone.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yamaguchi saw Tsukishima's shoulders droop, and the blond stomped back to the kitchen. They wouldn't leave yet…but they might soon, the freckled crow mused.

Akiteru-san motioned for Yamaguchi to join him on the couch, and they and the Ikejiri couple cheered Saeko-san on as she sang. They laughed as Hinata took to dancing along with the music, though perhaps half a beat behind, and the redhead even swung his blue lei around. If he wasn't careful, he was going to crash into something.

And he did, right after Ikejiri and Michimiya went to greet Ennoshita and Tanaka, who had just arrived. Hinata banged his knee on the coffee table right as his audience dwindled, and the poor guy's eyes watered as he dropped to the floor on his butt.

"Good grief. Are you all right, Hinata?" Yamaguchi asked.

"I'll be fine…! Saeko-san, sing me one final song…!"

"Shouyou…!"

Yamaguchi shook his head and offered a hand so he could yank Hinata onto the couch in his place. "You need ice, but you're not dying."

"Thank you, Yamaguchi-sensei…!" Hinata called after him as he went to the kitchen.

"Doctor, nurse—there doesn't seem to be much of a distinction when I'm around all of you," he thought aloud with both Tsukishima's and Kageyama's eyes on him. He pulled an ice pack from the freezer, wrapped it in a tea towel, and pushed it on Kageyama. "Give this to your boyfriend over there and keep him from dancing in cluttered, enclosed spaces." There. With a guard dog like Kageyama around, Hinata would have only one injury today.

And Kageyama, with his cheeks full, nodded and scurried over. He bickered with Hinata for half a minute before the redhead sulked but caved, and Yamaguchi breathed easy.

"You'd think Hinata would be more mindful of his bad knees."

Tsukishima scoffed. "Those two are always over the top, though, horsing around even if it means someone gets hurt."

Yamaguchi began to nod…but he paused, considering his friend's phrasing. It said a lot, but he could detect no double meaning when he flicked his eyes to that pale face beside him.

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, like "What?"

But Yamaguchi shook his head and smiled, leaning for a moment against the taller man's nearer arm.

He didn't stay in the kitchen long, since Saeko-san told her guests that everyone had to get up and sing at least once. Tsukishima avoided it by staring his sister-in-law down until she grew bored of bugging him, and Michimiya's stage fright was so bad that she turned into an incoherent mess. Kageyama knew no popular songs, so the funniest thing that day was his rendition of the Doraemon theme. Yamaguchi and Ikejiri called themselves Team Freckles and sang together, but even that and Hinata's enka couldn't hold a candle to Kageyama.

The birthday girl opened her gifts after her brother, Nishinoya, and Ennoshita joined them again after peeking at the nursery upstairs, and she loved everything. Some things were more like baby gifts, such as the onesies Yamaguchi had picked and the stuffed bear from the Ikejiris. Others had Saeko-san only in mind, like the glam gold cuff from Ennoshita and the punk-style hairclips from Tsukishima. But the distinction didn't bother her. She gathered her hair up in one of the clips and hugged the bear to her, enjoying them equally.

Nishinoya brought out a vanilla cake with orange crème next, and they dug right in, sung out for the evening. Good thing, too, because the day was winding down, and the Ikejiri couple were the first to leave.

Tsukishima wore a "thank gods" expression now that things wrapped up, but Yamaguchi poked his cheek.

"Hey," he told the grump, "we're not out yet. Best behavior, okay?"

The blond snorted at that.

Hinata and Kageyama were one step closer to heading home than they were, already at the door, but Saeko-san bemoaned everyone disappearing. "No…!" she whined, hugging the redhead. "Everyone, stay…!"

"I would," Hinata assured her as he used his old decoy skills and vanished from her grip, "but I have to get to the kindergarten early in the morning, Saeko-san, and Kageyama has morning practice."

She sighed while her husband added, "Besides, we don't exactly have the room, Saeko." So she conceded and let Hinata go from another, quick hug, and the talented duo left. Then she pouted at her brother, but Tanaka knew better. He shook his head and grabbed Ennoshita's hand, and they were gone before she even uttered a word.

She groaned while the rest found it amusing. "At least Kei's not abandoning us…!"

Yamaguchi yelped in surprise at the news. She couldn't mean…

But Tsukishima was glaring daggers at her, Akiteru-san was saying "He hasn't even accepted yet," and Nishinoya either had left or made himself scarce. So Yamaguchi looked from the couple to his best friend and back. "Um, you just mean he drops by a lot, right…?" he prompted.

Unfortunately, Saeko-san missed his discomfort and delivered the worst possible news: "No, we asked Kei to come live with us."

- ^-^3

He was a good, faithful friend. He was the first to defend Tsukishima and the first to call him on his nonsense. He loved Tsukishima more than anyone in the world.

He also felt like the biggest idiot right now.

At least Saeko-san had read his hurt expression after her announcement and gasped, apologizing. But why apologize? It hadn't been mean of her and Akiteru-san to offer—they had the guestroom on the first floor, after all, beside the bathroom—and it wasn't her fault nor Akiteru-san's that the glasses-wearing…meanie walking beside him had failed to bring it up!

The walk to the station and the ride home had been dead silent, and the walk to their apartments threatened to be the same. Yamaguchi pounded the pavement ahead of Tsukishima, but it was a rather futile action. With his long legs and strides, Tsukishima was never far behind.

So Yamaguchi came to an abrupt stop and whirled around, focusing on keeping his voice even. "When?"

Tsukishima stuffed his hands in his pockets, his tone too easily calm. "When what?"

"When did they ask you?"

He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. "At the end of February. During that family dinner you missed."

Yamaguchi flinched. That wasn't fair, saying that. That was back when he'd been taking extra shifts at the clinic in order to put some distance between him and Tsukishima, because he'd been trying to put to rest feelings which he figured would never be returned, even though, unbeknownst to him, Tsukishima had been coming around to the idea of them as more than friends. So he ignored the snipe and narrowed his eyes at the taller man. "Why?"

"Be specific," Tsukishima chided.

"Why did they ask you?" This question made him the most nervous. Had Akiteru-san and Saeko-san guessed they were growing apart then, and for those reasons? Tsukishima had requested discretion until he felt ready to share them with the others, which Yamaguchi was fine giving, because he didn't necessarily want to put his feelings on display.

"They asked because the baby's due this summer and both Tanaka-san and I live away. You know her parents are gone, and mine are all the way in Miyagi. They say they want the company, but really they're looking for a live-in nanny." He sneered at the menial idea.

But Yamaguchi was able to breathe again, to slow his pulse. Oh. So…that was all. "Then," he started as they reached their complex and climbed the stairs to the second floor, "when were you going to tell me about their invitation? I mean, you and I made up. We more than made up." He halted Tsukishima with a hand on the other man's arm, and he slid his fingers over Tsukishima's wrist to hold his hand.

Tsukishima observed their linked hands. He opened his mouth…and closed it.

"You weren't planning on telling me." Yamaguchi dropped his hand.

Tsukishima made no effort to pick it back up.

"Why?"

"Wh—"

"Don't 'Why what?' me. You know exactly what I'm asking, Tsukki."

The blond shifted his weight on his feet, left to right to left again. "…I just haven't had the chance to turn them down yet."

"But you are going to turn them down."

Again, he kept his mouth closed.

Yamaguchi grimaced and shook his head at him. "Unbelievable," he muttered. "Goodnight, Tsukki," he grumbled as he unlocked his door. He felt broken and relieved all at once when he closed the door behind him. What a difference from this morning…

Ah, this morning with the broken glasses. Yamaguchi really had jinxed someone—himself—hadn't he?

- ^-^3

"Thank gods for Monday mornings," Yamaguchi mumbled to himself at work the next day. He sat in the staffroom, updating some charts from last week. It was a nice task on which he could focus. That way he would put last night out of his mind.

Honestly. That Tsukishima…! Yamaguchi thought that his friend had outgrown his pussyfooting. The last time he'd seen that much hesitation from Tsukishima, the blond had been Karasuno's star middle blocker, fearing facing Shiratorizawa's Ushijima at the Spring High prelims. But they were adults now. They'd grown up…hadn't they? He sighed.

"Uh-oh. That's a pretty big sigh," said the man in the swivel chair behind him.

Yamaguchi glanced over his shoulder. "Hashimoto-sensei…sorry for disturbing your work."

The doctor waved him off, dismissing the apology. "Don't fret about it. I'm just thinking of the right words for a report." He went "oops" and covered his mouth when a few of the other nurses raised an eyebrow at him for sounding lazy. He rolled over to Yamaguchi. "But it did catch my attention. Need an ear?"

Yamaguchi smiled his thanks. "Thank you, but no. I'd rather work."

Hashimoto heaved a sigh himself, but it was clearly meant to be an exaggeration. "Very well, Yamaguchi-kun. Speaking of which"—he rolled back to his desk and returned to pass Yamaguchi another chart—"Yanagiwa-san should be here shortly, so have her sling off in Exam Room Three, please."

"Yes, Sensei."

Though he was a pediatric nurse, Yamaguchi met with many of the neighborhood's inhabitants at the clinic. Children were his specialty, since he had a way with them—a skill he attributed to being around Tsukishima, Hinata, and Kageyama, truthfully—but he saw to nearly as many elderly as he saw children. At least the various characters kept him on his toes and kept him from being bored.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day…the day ended. And that meant going home. But, on a Monday, that didn't mean Yamaguchi had any obligations.

He bought takeout on his way home, and it occurred to him that, to an extent, he and Tsukishima were repeating their fight from February. He didn't want that or mean for it to happen. But he also wanted one day to be angry.

That was why he was more receptive the following evening to reading Tsukishima's text. His phone buzzed an hour before his shift finished, and it was a short message:

-The usual?

Yamaguchi would play hard to get…er, hard to make up with, he decided. But that could still be done face to face, and he missed that pout. So he agreed:

-Sure. Order the filet and steak fries for me if you beat me there, thx.

It put a skip in his step as he waved to the other doctors and nurses as he left. But thinking of his best friend usually did. If Yamaguchi were truly honest with himself, he believed he could still love Tsukishima in spite of any cruelty the taciturn guy doled out. …it was an idea that both frightened him a little and made him sigh.

The trains were running fine tonight, so Yamaguchi got to The Roost in good time. He descended the stairs, music meeting his ears as he neared the final step. He had yet to get used to the bar having music now—it hadn't for years, and the quiet had been part of the bar's charm—but he didn't mind it. He and Tsukishima sometimes sat on the same side of the booth when they wanted to chat and hear each other, and it meant Yamaguchi had more chances to nod off on Tsukishima's shoulder, a favorite pillow of his.

He spotted his assistant coach friend in their usual spot, the booth in the back corner of the restaurant. Though some of their other friends were present, too, tonight, Yamaguchi went straight for the booth. If he and Tsukishima could make up sooner, the better, and Yamaguchi knew he stood a better chance of doing so if no one else interfered. But, as he neared and saw Tsukishima, his hope dwindled.

Tsukishima looked…fine. As if nothing were the matter. As if nothing bothered him.

Did that mean only Yamaguchi was in this fight?

Yamaguchi frowned and slid in across from the blond. "Hey, Tsukki."

Tsukishima was busy texting, but he nodded to his friend.

"Did you order yet?"

"Yes."

Yamaguchi put his bag beside him and waited for Tsukishima to put the phone away. But another minute passed, and another, with those slender fingers flying over the touchscreen.

Though Yamaguchi was mostly immune to Tsukishima's idiosyncrasies, this was a bit much. "Something work-related?" the freckled man asked, hoping to give him an excuse.

"No."

Now Yamaguchi huffed. He settled Tsukishima with a reproachful look while the blond's attention was on his phone, and Yamaguchi didn't look away even when Yamamoto brought their food and, reading the atmosphere, backed away hastily.

It wasn't until Yamaguchi began to cut into his steak that Tsukishima came up for air, and Yamaguchi focused on his food before Tsukishima made eye contact. But he did try to resume conversation. "Good day at work?"

Yamaguchi ignored him and ate. Childish, yes, but Tsukishima was often riled by childish behavior.

…except now. When Yamaguchi ate silently, Tsukishima shrugged and ate his sandwich. When they finished silently, Tsukishima paid the bill, and they went home in silence. At their apartment doors, Tsukishima bid him goodnight and went in first, so the nurse stood outside alone, utterly baffled.

What had just happened? Had Tsukishima really just ignored the bait? Did he really not care about how upset Yamaguchi was over Akiteru-san and Saeko-san's invitation?

Over the next few days, dinner played out like that, like a CD stuck on a track, repeating just a little and never advancing past its aural hiccup, past the scar on the disc. They didn't eat the same dishes at The Roost, no, but their interaction was the same. Their walks home were the same. And Tsukishima never deviated from the script, telling him "Goodnight" before entering his own apartment.

This was… Things were too calm, Yamaguchi thought at work while they dealt with a minor emergency and gave a teenager some stitches after a skateboarding accident right outside the clinic. The nurse's mind drummed up a thousand possibilities while he steadily sewed up the girl's shin, and he took a moment to himself after he told the girl's mother to take her to a fully outfitted hospital which could give her the attention she needed.

There were certain allowances in friendship, like being honest when other weren't or—and this part only now bugged Yamaguchi—letting some things slide. So Tsukishima might view this fight as Yamaguchi overreacting, but he might be willing to let it slide and possibly blow over because they'd been friends for so long. Yamaguchi would've smiled at this idea of special privilege if only he could make it past one possibility:

Tsukishima, in spite of recent actions, saw theirs as a relationship only between friends.

Fuck.

Yamaguchi let his forehead softly thud on the rounded edge of his desk in the staffroom, and he rubbed a knot of anxiety from his neck that Saturday evening. What Tsukishima had said at Saeko-san's party—"horsing around even if it means someone gets hurt"—had to have been a hint. Kissing was harmless so long as no feelings were involved, and it was disastrous when only one person's were involved…

A foreign hand landed on his neck and took over working the knot out. "Yamaguchi-kun?"

He swallowed his yelp of surprise and turned to the speaker, a fellow nurse who was his age. "H-Hanamura-san?"

But she wasn't touching him. She pointed behind him, and a lab coat sleeve ending in a waving hand appeared in his vision.

"Oh. Hashimoto-sensei." To be honest, that was a relief. Hanamura was pleasant and very kind to all the patients, but she often eyed Hashimoto's antics as the other, older nurses did: disdainfully. She was very prim and proper, so the idea of her rubbing anyone's shoulders was odd and weirded Yamaguchi out.

"You're moping again, Yamaguchi-kun," the doctor pointed out above him.

Hanamura nodded. "But your concentration is off the charts in the exam rooms, I've noticed. You've been taking blood pressure readings and pulses and doing the mental math in a snap, faster than everyone else. Like a human calculator," she finished appreciatively. She swapped a chart for one under his elbow and brushed a stray hair behind her ear. "I'm envious."

Yamaguchi gave her a wan smile. "I'm just doing my job."

"Not at the cost of your own health," Hashimoto scolded gently. He leaned down, obstructing Yamaguchi's view of the other nurse. "We're healthcare professionals. We know better than anyone not to push ourselves."

"But you do it anyway," Hanamura quipped nonchalantly. She biffed Hashimoto on the head with the chart and walked away, but he chuckled at her reprimand.

"Only a little," he corrected, though Yamaguchi knew that was a fib. Hashimoto tended to stay later than any of them. It was one reason why Hashimoto could get away with that air of airheaded-ness.

Yamaguchi politely batted his hand away, insisting he was fine. "Thank you, but I should get back to work."

Hashimoto stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "All right. But take a break when your mind wanders, okay? I did mean what I said. A friend of mine sprained his wrist when we were in uni, but he kept coming to practice and doing backflips and somersaults and everything you shouldn't do when healing."

"Wait—you did gymnastics, Hashimoto-sensei?" Yamaguchi couldn't picture that. His demeanor, his unkempt hair, his comfortable clothes under his lab coat, his quick smile—frankly, they reminded Yamaguchi of Hinata, so Hashimoto seemed more like that athletic type.

But the older man didn't understand his surprise. "No, not gymnastics. Cheerleading."

"Cheer—?!"

"Anyway, take a real break. Doctor's orders." He raised his dark eyebrows, and his tone veered more on the edge of a leader's than just a simple neighborhood physician's. "The last thing you need is to have that superhuman focus snap when you least expect it, Yamaguchi-kun." He grinned then, making the tension fly away, and he briefly ruffled the younger man's hair, as Sugawara had with the first years in high school. It did little to put Yamaguchi at ease, but…it was comforting, nevertheless.

- ^-^3

Work kept him busy. He ate a few more times with Tsukishima, with every meal silent as the last, but he refused to be the one to cave first. At the clinic, he took micro-breaks so he could zone out and purge his worries from his mind for a few hours, as Hashimoto suggested, and that helped. He could do this. He could hold on until he had the chance to ask the dino-loving assistant coach and researcher point-blank where they stood. Tsukishima was not going to have his way and win this war, friendly allowances be damned.

A part of Yamaguchi wished he could run this plan by someone else. He'd like to talk to Kinoshita and Narita the most, as Ennoshita's friends had taken a shine to the freckled crow when they'd begun to frequent The Roost, and their relationship most closely resembled his with Tsukishima, longtime friends to something more. They were great for chatting and, he'd bet, advice, but they hadn't been by the bar in a while. In lieu of them, Ennoshita would be another good ear when not absorbed in Tanaka at the counter, but Yamaguchi noted that the businessman, too, had not come around much lately, either. How strange. Kinoshita and Narita not being around was reasonable; the trio of friends were fellow crows but hadn't played volleyball for Karasuno, so only Ennoshita had a solid excuse for dropping by most nights now that he and Tanaka were dating. But for Ennoshita not to be around… Well, Yamaguchi hoped he and Tsukishima were the only ones fighting around here.

He considered opening up to Hanamura. He liked her and liked her frankness when one asked for it. They'd started at Kawakami Clinic at the same time and had helped each other a lot during training—she'd even cracked a joke once about getting him a rose barrette to match hers since his hair had been longer at the start, but he'd cut it not long after so he wouldn't have to fuss with it at work—so he considered her his closest work friend. Hashimoto was nice, too, but the doctor remained one of his bosses, first and foremost. It was likely safer to disclose to a friendly coworker that he was in love with another man than it was to out himself to his boss.

But he didn't get the chance to speak with her. With May halfway over and various Golden Week training camps a few weeks behind them, the clinic saw an uptick in sports-related injuries that only reared their ugly heads now. In addition, pollen counts were high since there'd been no rain to wash the golden dust away, so people came in for every allergy treatment and remedy under the sun. With no shared breaks or lunches, it was easy to miss even saying "hello" to Hanamura.

Still, he was glad when his shift ended Wednesday night. He changed out of his scrubs and into jeans and a three-quarter-sleeve shirt since it felt more like spring than summer today, and he put his things in his bag, figuring he'd do laundry when he first got home.

Hashimoto spied him leaving the men's lockers. "Good work today, Yamaguchi-kun."

"Thank you."

"Heading home? I'll walk you out."

Yamaguchi shook his head. "You don't have to, Hashimoto-sensei."

But the doctor held up a Pocari Sweat. "I can clean up crumbs in the staffroom, but I'm banned from having liquids in there, remember?"

He did. Hashimoto had a penchant for spilling drinks even though he could handle a saline solution just fine. Yamaguchi and Hanamura had been the ones to ban even water in the staffroom.

Hashimoto held the door open for him, and they stepped outside. The doctor took a grateful gulp, exclaimed he was no longer parched, and turned to Yamaguchi. The nurse sensed his smile. "Reluctant to go home, Yamaguchi-kun?"

Yamaguchi frowned, tugging his backpack's straps on his right shoulder. He rolled his foot on its side. "Not really," he fibbed, but he knew otherwise. There'd been no dinner text tonight. Tsukishima was probably letting him stew tonight.

"Then do you want to talk about what's on your mind?"

The freckled man glanced at him, unsure. He disliked that Hashimoto was so good at reading people.

Hashimoto smiled again, as if he knew exactly what Yamaguchi thought. "Do you know why I became a doctor, Yamaguchi-kun?"

Yamaguchi shook his head.

"Simple, really. My grandmother, who'd raised me for most of my life, died when I was in university."

"I'm so sorry."

Hashimoto gave him a "Don't worry about it" look. "It's an average story. I think plenty of others share it. But, before I became a general physician, I studied sports medicine."

Yamaguchi gaped at him. "So did I!"

"And, before that, I studied psychology. Before that, sociology."

Okay, now he was lost. "…um, I…did not…"

Hashimoto laughed and clapped him on the back. "It's all right. I didn't tell you to get you down. I'm just saying I was all over the place. Well, sociology was like judo, I did it because Haru did, but—" He stopped his train of thought there, not bothering to explain the anecdote, if it could be called that. His brown eyes softened. "What I'm trying to say is that I've studied people my whole life. So you can tell me what's going on, if you need an ear. Or I can study you until I figure it out."

The last part was said jokingly, but it still made Yamaguchi's cheeks warm with embarrassment. "No, please don't."

Before Hashimoto could nudge him more, the clinic door popped open, and Hanamura stuck her head out. "Ah! Found you." She passed the doctor something. "Don't leave your bottle cap in the office. All beverages must be capped when leaving and entering the clinic, Hashimoto-sensei." Her blue–green eyes flicked to Yamaguchi. "Yamaguchi-kun? What are—" She stopped short and looked past him, making Hashimoto and then Yamaguchi turn, as well.

Tsukishima had stopped a few feet up the road from them. And the hard edge of his jaw told Yamaguchi he was anything but emotionless tonight.

"Tsukki?"

The blond's eyes darted from Hanamura to Hashimoto to Yamaguchi, but he didn't stomp around and leave; he might've guessed Yamaguchi wasn't in the following mood these days. So he strode up to his best friend, took his bag from him, and slinked off home.

Yamaguchi's eyes widened in surprise, but then he recalled his setting. "Oh, uh, guess my friend came to pick me up," he spluttered to the nurse and doctor, and he waved to the bewildered pair as he hustled after the unannounced arrival.

Tsukishima's lips were sealed, even all the way up the stairs at their complex, but he froze outside their doors.

"Tsukki?" the freckled crow tried again.

"…you don't stop and hang out with your coworkers after work."

"Well, I haven't, no. But Hashimoto-sensei was asking if I'm okay. My colleagues can sense I'm upset, something which I wasn't sure you could still be, until now." He sighed. "But, unless you have something to say, we're still fighting, and I'm going inside."

"Look—"

Yamaguchi raised one eyebrow, his key in the door.

"I hadn't had the chance to turn my brother and Saeko-san down."

He noted the tense, but he wouldn't allow himself to get excited until Tsukishima said it. "And?"

Tsukishima wrinkled his nose as if he were allergic to the word "sorry." "I did turn them down."

Nearly a week and a half's worth of anxiety flew away, and Yamaguchi jumped on him, hugging him tight. "Tsukki! You mean it?"

Tsukishima scoffed. "I do. I told them last week, but you weren't talking to me, so I came up with a sort of option since I'm not going to be a live-in nanny."

Yamaguchi could forgive the delayed news since his silent treatment had worked a little too well. "Then what?"

The blond nodded to Yamaguchi's key still in the door, which the latter grabbed, and he had the other man come over instead. He dropped Yamaguchi's bag inside the door, and they toed off their shoes. "On days she or they need a break, I'll do some of my research at their place or do Matoh-sensei's work there. If it comes up, I've already cleared it with Sana-san that I can bring the kid to practice on occasion, though I'll be strictly observational from the window in the coaches' office until the kid's old enough to walk and dodge balls."

Yamaguchi's heart swelled, and he leaped on his friend a second time, not minding that Tsukishima staggered back some. "Oh, my…! Tsukki! Look at you, being the responsible uncle! And the baby hasn't even arrived yet."

"Yes, well, I don't want to move." He clasped his hands at the small of Yamaguchi's back, holding the shorter man in place.

Yamaguchi gazed up at him, reading those eyes, hearing an echo of Tsukishima's "Maybe I can live without you, but I don't want to" in his head. With their chests pressed together, he could feel Tsukishima's heartbeat, too. But the blond's was pounding in his chest. "Tsukki…I believe you."

The pounding didn't cease.

"So why were you angry tonight?"

Yamaguchi gave a tiny gasp of surprise as Tsukishima tightened his long arms around the nurse. "It's…stupid," he muttered.

"How about I be the judge of that?"

"I thought…you were flirting with that doctor."

Say what now? "Come again?"

Tsukishima gave him a glare normally reserved for Hinata or Kageyama. "I thought you were flirting with him. He was, with you. And then I remembered you'd put in extra shifts a few months ago—"

"Okay. Stop there. I already told you that was to put distance between you and me. I didn't start seeing someone. I never have," Yamaguchi stated…though that last bit was a little white lie. But he immediately shoved those memories aside and put his palms on Tsukishima's chest, staring at him. "And I was not flirting. Neither was Hashimoto-sensei. I've never seen him flirt with any of the nurses."

"…but you're the only male nurse."

"And, of the four doctors on staff, there's only one female one. So what?"

Tsukishima grumbled at that.

But Yamaguchi was smiling, very widely. He tilted his head up and leaned in more, forcing Tsukishima to stagger again. "You were jealous, Tsukki."

"No, I wasn't."

Yamaguchi snickered. "It's all right. That and you not moving out mean you care. You chose me, just as I chose you."

Tsukishima began to growl, but Yamaguchi shut him up with a kiss. Tsukishima's irritation cooled, and his breath transformed into a breathy little pant when Yamaguchi backed off before he could deepen the kiss. The blond furrowed his brow, on the verge of pouting, but he stayed put when Yamaguchi kissed him again, his cheeks pinking with Yamaguchi's tongue in his mouth this time and hands pushing his thin, gray hoodie off.

Somehow, the next thing Yamaguchi knew, Tsukishima sat on the floor with Yamaguchi in his lap, his hands in place still at the small of the freckled man's back. Yamaguchi's knees were on either side of him, and Yamaguchi's excitement pricked up the longer they kissed, the more Yamaguchi tugged up on Tsukishima's shirt. His dark, freckled hands were on that smooth, pale skin… He thought about unbuttoning and unzipping Tsukishima's jeans one second, and his fingers deftly followed through the next…

"Yama…guchi…," the blond breathed as Yamaguchi began to kiss and suck the hollow at his neck.

The waistband of Tsukishima's boxers was right there, just below his fingertips…

"Yamaguchi…"

Ah, Tsukishima lying down beneath him, his t-shirt wrinkled and pushed up partway, his fair skin reddening too easily…what a sight…

"Yamaguchi!"

Hearing his name in that sharp tone, Yamaguchi snapped out of his delirium and looked down. His best friend was completely disheveled, shirt and hair a mess, glasses pushed up and askew. The freckled crow froze. "Oh, gods. I'm so sorry, Tsukki! I swear I wasn't gonna put it in!"

Tsukishima turned Nekoma red and flicked Yamaguchi's forehead. "For crying out loud—you better not have thought of that." He got to his elbows, leaning on them, propped up so they could be eye to eye. He fixed Yamaguchi with a disgruntled half glare and straightened his glasses. "This," he said with a gesture to his unruly state, "is too much."

Yamaguchi's face fell. "But…you chose me."

Tsukishima pecked his cheek. "I did," he confirmed.

"And you know I love you."

"I do."

Yamaguchi got to his feet. "People who care for each other show it," he continued, his voice wavering. "So you're fine with hugs and kisses, like children?"

"I would hope kids don't kiss like that—"

"But touching each other is out of the question?"

Tsukishima fidgeted under his gaze, his cheeks rosy. "I've never given it any thought," he mumbled.

"But I have. I've thought about it often, for a very long time. Since university. Since high school. Shit, maybe even the end of middle school," Yamaguchi confessed, knowing how bad it sounded. "Is sex the problem? Is it our friendship? Or," he rasped, "is it that I'm a guy, too?"

Tsukishima tugged his shirt down, stretching it to cover his crotch so he could fix his pants. "Yamaguchi…"

"Don't." Yamaguchi crammed his feet into his sneakers and reached for the doorknob. "Until you figure out the answers to those questions, leave me be." He yanked the door shut behind him.

And that was how Yamaguchi and Tsukishima landed themselves in Round Two.

- ^-^3

Yamaguchi considered various reasons.

Had he gone too fast? Perhaps, but he truly hadn't planned to deflower the poor guy by the front door. Making out and getting handsy—that was all Yamaguchi had prepared for, honest.

Maybe Tsukishima didn't like him? No, Yamaguchi could tell if he'd been lying. Tsukishima did like him back.

Then…maybe Tsukishima was asexual or had some sex aversion? While perfectly reasonable, Yamaguchi found this farfetched. Why would Tsukishima have initiated their first kiss, then? Why had he been all too happy to have been kissed the most adult way possible tonight?

So…it had to be that Yamaguchi was male. Kissing was the same, wasn't it? Regardless of gender. But everything below the belt was different territory…or, rather, the same territory. So maybe that bothered—no, disturbed Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi, on the other hand, wasn't disturbed at all. They weren't much more than teenagers when Yamaguchi knew he liked Tsukishima more than girls and boys. He'd had his time to feel shame and guilt for thinking of his best friend in this way. He'd stolen peeks in the bath during overnight trips in high school. He'd had his fair share of awkward sleepovers and amazingly imaginative dreams.

He'd tried to give Tsukishima up, once.

Those memories were bound to surface, Yamaguchi figured a couple days later after being scooted out of the clinic to take a "mental break," as Hashimoto called them. He walked outside the clinic's front but, feeling the need for more activity, hooked the corner and went up the block to see the river for which the clinic had been named.

Yamaguchi wondered what it would've been like, if he'd put more effort into that…relationship, he guessed it was. If he'd been more interested, if neither of them had seen it as symbiotic compensation, Yamaguchi thinking he was the next best bet after Tsukishima, him thinking Yamaguchi was the next best bet after his school friend…

They'd never had the chance to walk along the water like this; they hadn't lasted long enough to get this far. Then again, Yamaguchi thought with a smile, everything had been very in the moment with them. Yamaguchi had gone shopping after morning lectures, and he just happened to cross paths twice with a fair-haired stranger. By the third time it happened before he headed home that day, the stranger had walked up to him and introduced himself as "Kisumi" and only "Kisumi." So Yamaguchi had given his first name, too, and they'd been just Kisumi and Tadashi for several weeks.

It hadn't been all that hard, not telling his friends about his boyfriend. Kisumi didn't introduce him to any friends, either. It was as if they knew right off the bat that they'd picked up someone completely not their type, and that was okay.

Yamaguchi shaded his eyes as the water glinted with the afternoon sun hitting it, and he frowned when he thought the deep, purple hue of the waves shadowed under the nearby bridge looked like Kisumi's violet eyes. In truth, Kisumi had been his type. Fair-haired, fair-skinned, such a sly personality. So unlike Tsukishima and yet close enough, good enough.

But it'd been nice to have someone smile back at him for a change.

Yamaguchi twisted the ball of his foot in the grass along the riverside, wishing he weren't dressed in scrubs so he could have a seat. As that wasn't the case, he slowly made his way back, dragging his feet as this "mental break" dragged on.

He didn't miss Kisumi. Or maybe he did. Maybe missing the random fun—cutting class to walk all over the city, going to the arcade so Kisumi could shoot hoops and win him a prize, dancing in an empty playground after sundown—was a sign that he and Kisumi had only gotten a taste of each other. Still…it wasn't fair to either of them, to give a fraction of their heart to each other while Tsukishima occupied Yamaguchi's brain and a man named Sousuke occupied Kisumi's.

In love with Kisumi…but not.

Tsukishima in love with him…but not.

"I'm a sucker for a pretty face and karmic retribution," he grumbled to himself as he entered the clinic.

Hanamura lifted her head up from the reception desk as he passed. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, nothing… Just talking to myself."

- ^-^3

"Another day over," Hanamura said to him the following day as he passed her a chart to file for the morning.

Yamaguchi mustered a smile and stretched his arms behind his head. "Yep. Good thing we don't live in these," he quipped with a tug on the short collar of his shirt, "otherwise the sea of aqua and white would make us go colorblind."

She chuckled at that and playfully quirked an eyebrow. "But the aqua brings out the green in my eyes."

He laughed with her at the feigned vanity.

"Do you have plans, Yamaguchi-kun?" Hanamura asked as she helped him tidy his desk area.

He blinked. He knew Hashimoto hadn't flirted with him…but was Hanamura really this forward? "Um, no…," he replied slowly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

She shook her head, sending a dark blonde flyaway into her eyes, so she pushed the hair aside. "I'm not asking you out, don't worry. I was wondering what happened with your friend." She raised her eyebrows and waited for him to speak.

"…Hanamura-san, you like gossip?"

She smiled. "Just a bit. But who doesn't? I'm curious, honest. I won't tell the others if it really bothers you, but Hashimoto-sensei's been wondering, too."

He scoffed. "Good grief. My patients are mostly children, my friends mostly act like children—now my coworkers, too?"

"It's not the first time he's been here, you know."

"Yeah, I know. He's picked me up a—wait. How do you know?"

She shrugged casually. "A few months ago, he stopped in twice. Around the end of February? Again near the start of March."

"He picked me up for the first time that night in March."

"I know. But he came in to make sure you were in and when you'd be off." Hanamura tapped her finger to her chin. "He didn't want me to fetch you then, but he didn't say anything at all the first time he dropped by." She made an apologetic gesture with her hand. "I felt bad I couldn't do more for him, and sorry I didn't tell you sooner. It slipped my mind until I saw him again this week. …Yamaguchi-kun?"

The freckled man snapped out of his stupor. "Oh. Uh. Sorry, sorry… I'm just…stunned."

Hanamura cocked her head to one side. "I was when he first appeared. I thought he might be strange for visiting the clinic when he seemed totally fine, but then he eased up when he saw you in your element. So I decided he wasn't a bad guy."

Yamaguchi hoped he didn't look as flustered as he felt, but the revelation flew in the face of his most recent stalemate with the grumpy assistant coach, so his elation dampened. "Yeah, no. Tsukki—I mean, Tsukishima wouldn't hurt a fly. He'd glare at and maybe shoo it away, but he wouldn't hurt it."

Hanamura nodded as they left the staffroom. "…'Tsukki,' huh?"

He groaned. "It's a nickname, one I didn't outgrow using. Just don't call him that, please, if you see him again."

"'If'? Yamaguchi-kun, if you're the only one allowed to call him that still, then I have a feeling he'll drop by again to pick you up from work." There was a knowing twinkle in her eye, and it seemed to gloat about her being right.

Yamaguchi wanted to refute her words, but nothing good came to mind, and his phone vibrated with a text then. It was from the other Tsukishima brother:

-tadashi? you coming to the roost tonight? :s

He rolled his eyes at Akiteru-san's message. Well, hell. Were he and Saeko-san involved now, too? No doubt the others had taken note of his and Tsukishima's chilly atmosphere, but Yamaguchi really wished they'd patched things up before word got 'round to the newlyweds. So he was as honest as he could be without really saying anything:

-Wasn't planning on it.

Akiteru-san's next message appeared just as he pulled a t-shirt over his head:

-well, come! all crows reporting for duty tonight, no buts.

Yamaguchi grimaced. Sheesh. One Tsukishima pulling him this way, the other pulling him that way—he rather regretted that Saeko-san hadn't kept her name and that the baby would be a Tsukishima, too. There were a lot of Tsukishimas in his life.

He caught the train and arrived at The Roost. Weird—there was a "CLOSED – Private party" sign on the door…but he went down anyway since Akiteru-san had summoned him.

Tanaka was behind the bar as usual, and Hinata and Kageyama were here still, though it looked as though they'd long since finished supper. Shimizu and Yachi were present, also, at the table beside the ace duo, and Yamaguchi nodded to them as he joined Akiteru-san in the corner booth.

Except the blond salesman wasn't alone. He was just blocking the sight of Tsukishima, whom he joined on one side of the booth as Yamaguchi sat down. The freckled man gave the brothers an extremely dry look.

"Why do I get a look?" the older brother whined. "Sure, Kei's probably done something to deserve it"—Tsukishima sent him a scathing glare—"but I'm innocent!" Akiteru-san nodded to Tanaka. "Ryuunosuke got a call from Koushi, saying crows-only tonight. Apparently Koushi sounded off, but he and Daichi and Chikara will be over after work. Saeko wanted to come, but she's too tired tonight, so I told her to stay home."

Well, that certainly was mysterious. Something ominous from Sugawara and the sign on the door…none of it could be good.

"How have you been, though, Tadashi?" Akiteru-san asked, drawing the nurse's attention back to him. "We've missed you at family dinners. Oh, and Kei told you, right? He's not coming to live with us."

"Yes, I know," Yamaguchi responded, though his eyes were narrowed at Tsukishima as if to remind him what had happened the last time this subject had come up.

Luckily, Tanaka sent Yamamoto over with drinks, giving the trio something to keep their mouths occupied.

Others joined the gathering. Azumane sat with Hinata and Kageyama, and Nishinoya left the kitchen to sit across from his boyfriend, too. Kinoshita and Narita turned up a little after that, but Yamaguchi didn't leave the brothers to join them. They sat at the counter where Ennoshita usually sat—but Narita left a seat between him and the blond. There was no way Yamaguchi was going to insert himself in someone else's fight when he couldn't handle his own.

Tsukishima also scanned the pool of familiar faces. "If Sugawara-san asked for everyone, then it might have something to do with Ukai Corp.," he thought aloud, but it was directed at his brother, who shrugged but agreed with a furrowed brow.

Though they also worked for the sporting goods company, Azumane and Shimizu said nothing about the reason for the private party, but the rest would find out shortly. After another several minutes, Ennoshita, Sugawara, and Sawamura arrived, with Ennoshita speeding to his best friends and Tanaka at the bar and the couple joining the others at the tables towards the middle of the floor.

After greetings were exchanged and more drinks made up, Sugawara stood up and cleared his throat. He even tapped on his glass to quiet the room and guarantee he had everyone's attention, though that meant Yamaguchi had to turn sideways in the booth to see. Then his beauty-marked senpai spoke. "Hey, everyone. I just wanted to say that…it's nice to enjoy time spent with friends from the past, especially when the future looks so unclear. Also, we might lose our jobs, so drinks are on Daichi and me," he finished abruptly, after which he plopped down in his seat between his better half and Shimizu.

Reactions were a mix of exclamations and sprayed drinks. Nishinoya spat out his drink on Azumane in his surprise, Hinata did as much on Kageyama, and Akiteru-san on Yamaguchi. Luckily, Tanaka had served his brother-in-law only water since the older Tsukishima would be driving home, so Yamaguchi's mess was not as sticky as the others'.

But, goddamn, he really hated the Tsukishima brothers right now.

Yamamoto fetched spare napkins, and Tanaka stared at Ennoshita in open disbelief. "What the hell?!"

The brunet fidgeted under that intense stare as he explained. "Yeah… We were hacked, and that's led to other issues."

"What kind of hack?" Narita questioned. "Trojan horse? Worm? Remote access?"

Ennoshita shrugged and looked to the senpai for an answer. Sawamura eyed Narita. "Narita, you're a computer guy?"

Narita reddened some with everyone's eyes on him, but he nodded. "Yes… I work on the servers at a tech start-up, but my boss is more interested in cyber security…"

Yamaguchi knew he was being modest. Narita had told him he worked as a systems administrator for Nine Lives Net, and Yamaguchi had understood enough of Narita's explanation of his job to know that was nothing to sneeze at.

"I can't make any promises," Sawamura resumed, "but I'd be willing to bet out I.T. section would welcome the extra help right now. Do you have a card?"

Narita dug one out of his bag, and it found its way to Sawamura.

"Are we that understaffed in I.T.?" Ennoshita asked.

Shimizu gestured with her hand. "Not understaffed," she said in her soft tone, "but different areas of expertise." She spied Yachi's uneasy frown and smiled at her girlfriend to reassure her.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kinoshita asked Ennoshita, sounding hurt. Ah. So the friends had been out of touch.

"I…," Ennoshita began lamely, but he sighed.

Sugawara eyed them and covered for his subordinate. "There's still a lot we're figuring out, Kinoshita. It's a lot for us, to absorb, too."

Kinoshita frowned, and Yamaguchi knew the blond didn't like that response. But he nodded his acceptance nevertheless.

In the quiet venue, Nishinoya piped up, "So…what now?"

Azumane ran a hand through his hair, a deflated gesture. "See how the coming weeks play out," he replied.

The quiet returned. Shimizu and Yachi finished their drinks and were the first to leave, and others followed suit in turn. Little else was said, because condolences seemed so insincere in this scenario, and Yamaguchi was grateful that Akiteru-san gave him and Tsukishima a ride before heading home that evening.

- ^-^3

"In business news, CEO and founder of Ukai Corporation, Ukai Ikkei, has stepped down as president of the sporting goods company. His grandson, Ukai Keishin, is stepping into the role. Some were surprised by the announcement, as Ukai has skipped a generation, but investors close to the family confirm that Ukai Takeichi, Ukai's son, is happy in his role as vice-president. All this comes amidst rumors of the company being hacked, but no sources can confirm at this time. Competitor Emperor Industries has conveyed their sympath—"

Yamaguchi clicked the television off then, interrupting the news anchor as he finished his breakfast. The news had been pretty much on repeat since Sugawara's announcement, and most of the stations were talking about the hack even though Ukai Corp. refused to say anything about it.

The topic was hot at the clinic, too. One of the older female nurses had a son who worked as a cashier at one of the U.C. stores, but he was let go, as many of the store workers were.

"Do you think people will be let go from the main branch, too?" Hanamura asked a week later as she joined Yamaguchi and Hashimoto outside for an ice-cream, which was the doctor's treat.

"I'm not sure," Yamaguchi replied, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the clear, blue sky. A piece of hair fell in his eyes, but all he could do was brush it back. In another month or two, it'd be long enough to tie up. "I haven't heard anything else from my friends about their situation," he continued, bringing his eyes back to his companions, "but no news is not necessarily good news."

She frowned. "I know what you mean. I've a friend and an acquaintance who work at headquarters, and one's looking for work elsewhere just in case."

Hashimoto groaned. "It's not only the main branch and the stores who have to worry, though. There are also the subsidiaries to consider, like Kitagawa Safety, which they acquired only last year. One of my good friends works there, and I hope they don't feel the repercussions."

Yamaguchi and Hanamura had no words of comfort to offer. But they exchanged an uneasy glance.

With this disaster unfolding, Yamaguchi felt humbled and guilty that he and Tsukishima had last interacted at the private party. Clearly, there were bigger things to worry about in life…but Sugawara's words about spending time together kept echoing in the pediatric nurse's mind, especially as he came to eat at The Roost by himself more often than not.

May was about to end, but here Yamaguchi found himself, sitting in the black vinyl booth in the corner, facing the exit, watching customers come and go. He watched enviously as Ennoshita and Narita arrived, joining Kinoshita at the bar. The trio chatted with Tanaka, and Nishinoya popped out of the kitchen. The five of them agreed on something and shared a laughed, and Yamaguchi could paint a picture in his mind's eye of what the five's friendship would've been like had Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita donned black-and-orange jerseys at the same time Tanaka and Nishinoya had.

Nishinoya returned to the backroom, and Kinoshita and Narita got up, but the couple didn't leave The Roost. No, they came over to Yamaguchi and slid in across from him.

Yamaguchi observed Ennoshita talking contently with the bartender, and then he looked at the businessman's best friends before him. "You guys really do look out for Ennoshita-san," he remarked. Oops. Was his envy evident in the hard edge of his voice?

"Friends are important," Narita stated, and the casual tone made Yamaguchi wonder if there was a kind of apology in there meant for him as well as Ennoshita since whatever had been going on with the computer tech and Kinoshita had affected their assorted friendships. But he didn't say, instead asking, "Speaking of friends, where's Tsukishima?"

The freckled crow glowered at the table, glad his reflection was a blur in the brushed steel. "Home," he guessed. "I'm fighting with Tsukki right now." Though…now that he'd said those exact words to someone, he felt lighter, as if this burden were getting up off his chest like a lazy cat who'd woken up at last.

Kinoshita leaned across the table and patted Yamaguchi's shoulder, a brotherly gesture the nurse welcomed. "I can tell you one thing, Yamaguchi," the blond man started. "That fight won't last. Whatever's wrong will seem inconsequential someday. Could be tomorrow, could be further out than that." He paused for emphasis as he finished, "The fight won't last, but it'll make you realize the things important to the both of you, so hang on, just for that."

It'd been so long since he'd heard such hopeful words. He picked up his head, greeted by their confident smiles. "You mean that?"

"Yep," Kinoshita answered, chipper. "I'd swear it on my mom's grave."

"Uh, Hisashi," Narita said warily, "your mother's alive and well…"

"It's a saying, Kazu!" the blond huffed, but the amusement was enough to put a small smile on the freckled crow's face, to elicit a tiny chuckle from him.

- ^-^3

At home, he didn't chuckle but sighed.

Yamaguchi stood outside his apartment and caught sight of the light beneath Tsukishima's door. So the teaching assistant was home, as he'd guessed. He was probably working on Professor Matoh's transcriptions, Yamaguchi figured.

On that line of thought, Yamaguchi entered his apartment and left his things inside the door. He switched to his fluffy, yellow slippers and headed for his bed, not hungry since he'd eaten with Kinoshita and Narita. He sank on the padded futon and scooted back until he leaned against the wall. His head thudded against the wall as he inspected his ceiling with tired eyes.

He knew Kinoshita was right…but that didn't mean he knew how to set things straight with his best friend. He was poised to knock on the thin wall to get Tsukishima's attention, but not without having his thoughts sorted first.

For Yamaguchi, it wasn't even about sex. Though he'd be lying if he said that wasn't important, because it was unfair to keep a romance going if they wanted different things out of it. He didn't demand that Tsukishima reciprocate…but this was going to be hard if Yamaguchi weren't allowed to demonstrate how much Tsukishima meant to him, in the ways he wanted to demonstrate.

But, no, it was more than that. It was the romance to start. Yamaguchi was confident that Tsukishima liked him and saw his presence as a necessity in the blond's life, but there were two ways to identify the depth of their relationship: love or interdependency. On his part, Yamaguchi loved Tsukishima, loved how Tsukishima's eyes softened only for him, loved how Tsukishima valued his opinion enough to hear him out instead of ignoring him, loved how only they ate off each other's plate, loved how only he was allowed to fall asleep on Tsukishima's shoulder, loved how they shared this wall and spoke through it like teenagers in love who thought the world had stopped around them.

So was it the same for Tsukishima? That was what Yamaguchi should've asked him before storming off, the freckled man acknowledged as he drew his legs up and stretched his arms out, resting his elbows on his knees. For this to work, Tsukishima needed to reach the same conclusion on his own. Yamaguchi believed it could happen, but, to paraphrase Kinoshita, that could happen today or someday far in the future, meaning Yamaguchi would have to wait, have to be patient.

Again, good thing he had patience in spades, especially where Tsukishima was concerned.

He let his head thud a second time on the wall, his eyelids heavy and drifting close. It wasn't extremely late, and he had the later shift tomorrow, but he fancied getting a couple extra hours of sleep again, as he had towards the start of the month…

Something thudded on the other side of their shared wall.

Yamaguchi's eyes flew open. He turned his head—a silly action since there was no window into Tsukishima's room—and pricked up his ears.

The sound repeated, and it registered a second later with him that it was a knock. Confirming his suspicions, Tsukishima called out to him. "Yamaguchi?"

When their rooms were utterly silent, the thinnest part of their shared wall seemed nonexistent. It was as if Tsukishima were leaning behind him, ready to talk even if he couldn't look Yamaguchi in the eye yet and vice versa.

"Yamaguchi?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm here, Tsukki." His shoulders sagged. "I'm going to bed soon, so—"

"Don't."

Yamaguchi raised his eyebrows. "I'm tired," he pointed out. "Why not?"

"Because I've…been doing some thinking."

Hell. That could mean anything. Yamaguchi's pulse quickened, panicky. Those words were right up there with "We need to talk" on the list of things every person regretted hearing. "Go on," Yamaguchi coughed. His throat had gone dry, hearing that phrase.

Tsukishima took a moment. "You know that chickens are genetically related to the Tyrannosaurus rex, right?"

He wasn't seriously going to make this a lecture, was he? "Yeah," Yamaguchi grumbled.

"And that snakes used to have legs?"

He pinched the annoyed little folds on the bridge of his nose. "What of it?"

"Those are evolutionary changes. So our friendship isn't a problem."

Yamaguchi opened his mouth and closed it. He narrowed his eyes. "You mean to say this is a natural development? Our friendship has…evolved? Into something else?"

"Obviously."

Well, he had to give the guy points for creativity. Plus, he'd answered one of Yamaguchi's questions. "I take it there's more."

Tsukishima went quiet again. "I lied," he mumbled, so quietly, Yamaguchi almost missed the two syllables.

"About what?"

"…I have given it thought."

"Given what thought?"

Yamaguchi could picture his pink-cheeked glare that accompanied the irritation leaking into his tone. "About sex," he hissed, "with a man."

Oh. "Then why—?"

The grumpy man huffed. "I'm going to tell you something that'll show I'm serious about you, about us. But, I swear, Yamaguchi, if you laugh—"

"I won't! Promise."

Tsukishima cleared his throat to regain some composure, and the freckled man sat up a little straighter. "A few weeks ago…the morning of the birthday party…my glasses broke."

"I know. I pointed that out to you. You said you dropped them in the bathroom."

"They slipped off while I took care of things, all right?"

Since he hadn't expected to hear that, it took him a second to comprehend things. "Tsukki…you got carried away while masturbating?"

"Shut up, Yamaguchi. It's your fault, anyway."

"What?! How—?" He stopped short, fighting a giddy grin. Holy crap. "You wanted more than a kiss that morning, didn't you?"

"Shut up, Yamaguchi," he repeated.

"No, no, I'm not making fun. But when did you start to think about doing these things with me?" the nurse asked, facing the wall as if to face his best friend—no.

Boyfriend.

Could he call him that? Should he call him that? Would Tsukishima be okay labelling their relationship as such? It was that and so much more, frankly…

The blond exhaled loudly. "I've wanted to kiss you since March. The other stuff…evolved from that," he added, his voice soft and perhaps bashful.

If he hadn't already been sitting down, Yamaguchi knew he'd drop to the floor after that. He was beyond giddy now, beyond relief as he covered his mouth and nose in surprise, hoping the makeshift finger tent would quiet any squeals that slipped out. Sexual attraction wasn't dependent on romantic attraction and vice versa. Nevertheless, Yamaguchi felt they went hand in hand, and he had both for Tsukishima—

—and Tsukishima had both for him.

"Wait."

"What?" Tsukishima asked, stunningly not exasperated.

"I love you, Tsukki." He held his breath.

"And I don't want to live without you."

Yamaguchi frowned. That sounded more like interdependency than love. "That's all you have to say? You know your life would be the same if I weren't around. The only difference is that you'd have to buy your own damn washing machine because you wouldn't have mine to borrow."

"No, Yamaguchi, I mean—"

"Can't you express yourself clearly to me, if only this one time? It can be the first and last."

"Those words aren't easy for everyone to say," Tsukishima stated coolly.

Yamaguchi deflated, knowing he'd gone too far and pushed too hard.

"…but, if you can live with this, I will tell you honestly: You are special. I've told you before that you're different, that the others are my friends and you're different. You really are special to me, Yamaguchi." There was a tap on the wall then, punctuating his confession.

A happy sob caught in his throat, and Yamaguchi chuckled past it, knowing what the tap meant. Had there been no physical barrier between them, Tsukishima would've playfully flicked his forehead like always…

…and Yamaguchi would see for the first time in those eyes the affection which Tsukishima struggled verbally to convey.

"I believe you, Tsukki," Yamaguchi said, and the words warmed him like a charm. Maybe they were better than "I love yous," his "I believe you" and Tsukishima's "You're special."

"Yeah… Now go to bed, Yamaguchi. You said you're tired, didn't you?" He sounded more like himself now, and yet not. The part of Tsukishima which Yamaguchi had glimpsed a few times since their March reconciliation seemed ready to stay.

"Goodnight, Tsukki."

"Goodnight, Yamaguchi."

- ^-^3

"No more obstacles," Yamaguchi promised his reflection as he rinsed his face and patted his cheeks dry in the morning.

June, he decided, would be a fresh start for them. There wasn't exactly a proper way to romance Tsukishima Kei, because Yamaguchi knew Tsukishima had no interest in any of the even mildly gooey things other couples enjoyed. So there'd be no pet names, as Akiteru-san and Saeko-san used. There'd be no walking around, holding hands, as Narita and Kinoshita did every night. There definitely would be no spontaneous PDA, as Hinata demanded from Kageyama whenever the little decoy pleased, regardless of where they were, be it at The Roost or after Kageyama's team won a game or just outside hanging with friends.

Although…maybe it was okay, catching the other's eye and staring just a tad longer than necessary, as Tanaka and Ennoshita did.

Yamaguchi kept that notion to himself as they moved forward each day, but he did give it a go, sometimes at the bar, sometimes when they were home. Tsukishima was puzzled the first couple of times, but he at least caught on after that Yamaguchi was only enjoying the view, and he'd turn adorably pink after.

His reactions, no matter what, always made Yamaguchi smile and often laugh, as well. Whether he ducked his head and turned away to hide in his shoulder or became suddenly interested in his food or drink or phone or fixed Yamaguchi with a crabby glare that was reminiscent of poor Takeda-sensei trying to be angry and failing, Yamaguchi grinned back at him each time. Sometimes he'd nudge Tsukishima's foot under the table so the blond would look at him again. Other times, he merely ate with the world's dumbest grin on his face and let Tsukishima be.

Then there were other times, times at home, when Tsukishima sat beside him and had the option of hiding behind Yamaguchi's shoulder. He'd pinch Yamaguchi's hand if the freckled man dared to look, but he'd turn docile if Yamaguchi combed his fingers through his short, blond locks or if, as had happened a month ago, Yamaguchi gave in to his demand of a kiss.

Those kisses were dangerous, however. One was never enough, but it wasn't just romantic words Tsukishima found embarrassing but anything that might lead to the bedroom. They didn't get much past how far they'd gotten that one time before, right inside Tsukishima's door. The blond froze one evening when Yamaguchi took off his own shirt, and it took monstrous effort for Yamaguchi to convince him that they'd stop there. Even though Tsukishima wasn't the cuddly type, he did relax when Yamaguchi stretched out on his couch and coaxed the grump to lie down atop him. Yes, the size difference made it awkward, in Yamaguchi's opinion, but it was some kind of magic, the way Tsukishima calmed and even nodded off on that bare, freckled chest.

At some point, though, Yamaguchi knew, just knew that Tsukishima would make a move that would not be easy to back away from, for either of them. And, though Yamaguchi liked seeing the normally cool and collected guy lose that composure because of his touch, the last thing Yamaguchi wanted to do was make him cry or hurt him.

With that in mind, Yamaguchi steeled himself on a rare Wednesday night without Tsukishima and went up to the bar counter at The Roost, where Hinata ate supper alone. He sat beside his friend. "Hey, Hinata."

The redhead glanced at him and slurped a noodle down before grinning. "Yamaguchi!" He narrowed his eyes and scanned behind the taller man. "Tsukishima's not with you?"

"No, he was up late last night, working. And stop acting as if Tsukki's gonna jump-scare you," he added dryly.

Hinata sat up and lightened up, too. "Do you want to eat with me? I mean, I'm almost done, but Kageyama's practice is running on tonight, so you won't be interrupting."

"Um, maybe in a bit… Can I have a word?"

"Sure!"

Yamaguchi internally groaned as they sat there still. "In private?" he specified.

Hinata's mouth popped open in a small "o." "There's not really room for that here. Except for the backroom, but Noya-san's cooking."

Yamaguchi blinked. "Actually…that'd be perfect. I could use both opinions." He got to his feet and waited for Hinata to slurp the broth from his oden before ushering him towards the silver door on the bar's left. Tanaka raised a curious eyebrow at them but left them alone after Nishinoya called through the door that they could join him.

Nishinoya waved but remained at the cooktop. Hinata sat on the stool by the liquor shelf, and Yamaguchi closed the door behind him and leaned on it for support.

"What's up, Yamaguchi?" the former libero asked as he stirred a metal pot that was a foot tall. "I'm glad to have the company back here, but I don't have a chef's table for you, if you're that hungry."

At that, Hinata's eyes lit up. "Ah! Noya-senpai! A chef's table would be so cool!"

"Right, Shouyou? Problem is, the only room in The Roost would be near the restrooms."

"You can't fit a table in here?"

"Nah, probably not—"

"Guys," Yamaguchi interjected. He got both pairs of eyes, brown and khaki, on him. "I need some serious, friendly advice." He froze. "Um, but…be nice, yeah?"

"Of course!" the shrimps agreed in unison.

Shit. Now that he had their undivided attention on him, he felt as if he were standing in front of the entire country in nothing but his birthday suit… He dragged a hang across his face, momentarily hiding his eyes as he asked, "…got any tips about…being the bottom…?" When they kept quiet, he peeked between his fingers.

They wore identical expressions, that blank look only these two would ever get on the volleyball court. Then Nishinoya snapped his fingers and muttered, "Shoot!" and Hinata donned a shit-eating grin.

"If only Daichi-san had let us draw up the lottery with interest, the pot would've been huge by now…!" Nishinoya grumbled regrettably.

"You and Tsukishima are totally gonna do it…!" Hinata chuckled. "Oh, wow. You actually got him to come around! Good job, Yamaguchi. One-sided loves are tough."

Yamaguchi scoffed. "Don't sound the expert. You and Kageyama had each other from the start."

At that, Hinata lost his smugness and babbled incoherently.

"You came to the right place, though," Nishinoya said, bringing Yamaguchi's focus back to him. Nishinoya pointed to himself and Hinata. "Ask us anything, Yamaguchi. We definitely won't laugh." For his part, Hinata nodded, though that likely had more to do with getting some out of his system already.

"All right. Well…" Yamaguchi pursed his lips. "What do you guys think about the partners' difference in size?"

Hinata exchanged a look with Nishinoya. "Hmm… I guess," the decoy began, "it's probably the one area in which I'm glad to be small? Like, it's easier to be held and stuff. I don't have to worry about Kageyama straining his back or anything if we sleep together the night before a game."

"Ah, Asahi-san's immune to that stuff," Nishinoya stated. "He's always been burly, but working in Distribution at Ukai Corp. trained all the right muscles."

…dammit. Yamaguchi had not started this topic just for them to brag. And his shoulders sank, because their responses were not encouraging for him.

"Ah, but!" Hinata exclaimed, leaning over and nudging Yamaguchi's shoulder. "I mean, I'm sure you'll be fine, Yamaguchi. Sure, you guys are closer in height and size, but that beanpole's arms are stronger than they look, so… I'm sure. Yeah." His grin didn't match his conviction, but Nishinoya nodded along vigorously.

Yamaguchi sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, not correcting their assumptions about his role and Tsukishima's on purpose. "You guys are lucky. You have it all figured out, don't you?"

Nishinoya shrugged. "You make do with what you're given. Asahi-san and I learned things by trial-and-error. I tried to get him to warm porn with me once, but he acted like a grade-schooler caught red-handed." He rolled his eyes.

"Really? That's so cool of you, Noya-senpai… I surprised my mom one day by asking for her help, so we researched it together."

Yamaguchi gawked at his bold friend. "You asked your mother?!" No way could he ask his own!

Hinata nodded as if it were nothing, though the apples of his cheeks darkened even in the kitchen's iffy lighting. "I gave it a go after Kageyama asked his own mom. They're really close, but she was surprised, too. But our moms were really supportive and wanted us to be safe."

"Yeah, I understand… Not everything you see in porn is real," the freckled crow quipped with raised eyebrows in the libero's direction, and Nishinoya whistled and stirred the pot a little faster.

"But there are some things that aren't exaggerated," Hinata said. "Like being mindful of your hips and lower back."

"No, I get that. Nursing degree, remember?"

But Nishinoya ignored him and picked up from there. "Not just your back but your butt!" He pointed at Yamaguchi with the ladle. "You gotta ease into stretching your hole, otherwise you could tear."

Okay, now he regretted asking anything in the first place. "Yeah, no…that's…that's pretty practical…"

"Condoms and lube, too, Yamaguchi! For everyone's health, trust me."

Hinata nodded again. "But, Noya-senpai, what about ene—"

"I'm going home now," Yamaguchi interrupted, drawing the conclusion that the last thing he wanted to hear from his friends' mouths was the word "enema."

The other two dropped the subject, but Nishinoya shook his head. "Hey! No going home without dinner! So plant yourself at your booth or at the counter, and I'll whip up a burger and fries in a moment." He kept Yamaguchi rooted with a stern look until the dark-haired younger man nodded.

Hinata slipped out of the kitchen with him, and they returned to their seats at the bar. As Tanaka gave no indication that he'd overheard, Hinata leaned to his right and shoved his face in Yamaguchi's. "Yamaguchi?"

The nurse signaled Tanaka for a drink, and he cupped his cheek in his palm after. "What?"

Hinata waited until after the bartender gave Yamaguchi a rare martini and walked away. Then the decoy peered up at his friend. "I'm sure you guys will be fine, when the time comes. And there's no need to rush. You held on this long just for him, after all."

He knew Hinata meant well, but Yamaguchi disliked how it sounded as if he and Tsukishima would take another ten years or so to do anything. "Speaking of not rushing…" He peeked at the kindergarten teacher. "Can you and Nishinoya-san…keep it to yourselves?"

"Of course. That's private."

"No, I mean—" Yamaguchi pursed his lips and lowered his voice. "About me and Tsukki. I wouldn't be surprised if the others guess as time passes, but we'd rather wait to tell ourselves."

"Ohh." Hinata held on to the edge of the black-upholstered stool between his legs and swiveled some. "I'll remind Noya-senpai, and I'll do my best."

Yamaguchi thanked him, knowing he'd probably doomed his and Tsukishima's secrecy by going to the two loudmouths in their social circle…but he felt a sliver of relief. He could get aggravated with Tsukishima at times, but there wasn't any need to rush anything. Each day at Tsukishima's side was progress to him, and Hinata was only partly right: Yamaguchi had spent all these years with Tsukishima…but Yamaguchi did more than wait each day. He savored each day. And he'd continue to do so, whether Tsukishima fell asleep on his chest at home or Tsukishima simply knocked "hello" through the wall.

- ^-^3

Yamaguchi could get used to sleeping in. He was happy to have swapped days off with Hanamura as June continued, even if it meant he had just this one Sunday off. Working at the clinic was demanding at seven days a week most of the time, even if the place did not open too early and most of the staff went home at a reasonable hour for dinner.

He rolled over in bed, the sunlight pouring in from his window to warm the top of his head as he stared at the wall. The paint job in his apartment was the same as Tsukishima's and as the rest of the complex: a flat yellow somewhat close to the color of his friend's hair. Really, though, on closer inspection, Yamaguchi discovered the soft yellow paint was cool in hue, had some green in it. Tsukishima's fluffy hair was warmer than that, had a smidge of orange, was the color of light, clarified honey.

The food relation made his stomach involuntarily growl, and he muffled the sound by balling up his blanket by his middle.

Tsukishima's amused snort preceded his greeting. "Good morning, Yamaguchi's stomach."

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes. "'Morning, Tsukki."

"Good morning, Yamaguchi. Your stomach's being rude and ignoring me, you know."

"Yes, yes… I'll discipline it shortly." He sat up slowly, rolling his spine as he stretched. "I've today off, by the way. I'd make something for breakfast, but actually I need to go shopping. We can hang out when I return, if you like."

Tsukishima took a moment to answer. "…movie?"

"Sure, we can watch a movie. Even if it's The Land Before Time," Yamaguchi added with a snicker. It didn't matter that he'd watched it loads of times before; he'd still watch it with his dino dork so long as he got to tease him about it.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi."

It was hard to get a "Sorry, Tsukki!" out when he was shaking with silent laughter at how childish and not ferocious the blond sounded.

Yamaguchi went through his beauty routine and dressed in jeans and his favorite "TACOS" shirt, feeling great today. He scanned his fridge's shelves and his cupboards on his way out, making up a grocery list on his phone. Then he locked up and felt the sun's rays licking his calves between the bars on the balcony's railing. Hmm… Maybe it was shorts weather…

"You all set?"

Yamaguchi jolted at the sound of Tsukishima's voice. "Tsukki! You scared me!" he told the blond as the latter stood up straight from leaning on the railing. Tsukishima even moved his headphones so they rested on his neck. "What, did you need to buy food, too?"

"I thought I'd join you," Tsukishima stated as he headed for the stairs, Yamaguchi trotting behind him.

The freckled man eyed his friend from behind and even from the side once they could walk two abreast on the sidewalk. He was…surprised. They'd gone shopping together before, but it'd always been Yamaguchi tagging along, to the supermarket, to the sports store, to the convenience store, wherever. This almost felt like Tsukishima tagging along—odd, because Tsukishima was the cool one between the two of them. He didn't tag along.

Tsukishima spied Yamaguchi's scrutiny and quirked an eyebrow. He faced forward, hands in pockets and keeping a nice pace, but a tiny smile toyed with the corner of his mouth that faced Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi also smiled, to himself. These little instances still felt like too much for his heart sometimes…but he'd be fine with never getting used to Tsukishima's version of affectionate surprises.

The duo lived a few blocks and two main drags over from the local supermarket, and Tsukishima's fair skin looked badly red by the time they entered the air-conditioned building.

"You should've just told me what you needed so I could've picked it up for you," Yamaguchi chided as he grabbed a basket. "Or we take the bus when it's this hot out."

"I'm fine," Tsukishima retorted irritably, carrying his headphones in his hands. He winced when he removed them from his neck, which probably stung the most.

Yamaguchi shook his head at the grumpy man, and he made sure to put a new bottle of sunscreen in the basket, even if he rarely used it himself.

They got through Yamaguchi's list pretty quickly. Yamaguchi even grabbed a comedy DVD from the discount bin because he didn't want to spend the entire day watching cartoon dinosaurs, but Tsukishima didn't object. They got a pair of popsicles, too, which they ate on the way home after Yamaguchi finalized his purchases.

It wasn't until they were halfway home and the popsicles were long gone that Yamaguchi yelped. "AH!"

"You're too loud, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima remarked with a wince.

"Sorry, Tsukki. But—" He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Was he imagining things? But— "You didn't buy anything at the store."

"Nope," the assistant coach confirmed.

"Did you need to hit anywhere else? You should've said—"

"I didn't," Tsukishima stated.

Yamaguchi furrowed his brow, confused. Sure, it was nice Tsukishima was along. Yamaguchi enjoyed his company, and Tsukishima carried one of his three bags. "So…you were tagging along?"

"No," he answered.

Confused, Yamaguchi stopped pestering him, even though his brain kept trying to make sense of the scenario. They were back at the complex not long after, and Tsukishima followed him inside his apartment and helped him unpack the bags.

It clicked.

"Oh," Yamaguchi exclaimed.

Tsukishima caught the eggs and small rice sack the nurse dropped, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he set things on the counter. "Can you not do that?" the blond growled.

Yamaguchi blinked, taking it all in. Frankly, if he were annoyed, he'd pretend-drop something just for the hell of it. But he wasn't annoyed. Anything but.

"What?" Tsukishima insisted when Yamaguchi kept observing him.

"You simply wanted to go together."

"So?" But the blond's smug face and averted eyes gave him away. He was like his grade-school self who indulged in humbly bragging about his volleyball player big brother, except now he seemed to take pride in his feelings towards Yamaguchi, as if they'd always been there and were something he appreciated, embraced, and enjoyed.

Yamaguchi tried not to, but he beamed at Tsukishima anyway. He drew the giant child to him and hugged him. "We didn't have to go to the supermarket, Tsukki."

Tsukishima did what Yamaguchi suspected was his favorite move and clasped his hands at the small of Yamaguchi's back. "You said you needed to."

"No, I know. But—" He looked up, light brown eyes meeting honey-gold ones. "The next time we have a day off like this, a lazy morning…we can make real plans to go somewhere or do something."

"This is fine," the taller man asserted, nudging the top of Yamaguchi's head with his chin so he could rest his cheek there.

Yamaguchi chuckled and gave him a brief squeeze.

Tsukishima was reluctant to break the contact after, but Yamaguchi had to put the cold stuff away. He heated up the ready-made barbeque skewers he'd gotten in the frozen section and made some rice to go with, and they ate a very late brunch while watching the comedy DVD.

"I promise not to lock you out while you fetch your children's movie," Yamaguchi teased him at the door afterwards.

"A movie's a movie," Tsukishima groused as he slipped on his sandals. "My brother doesn't berate me about the franchise."

"Because he's to blame for your dinosaur infatuation. I'm sure that figurine on his desk at his and Saeko-san's house is there because Saeko-san doesn't want the rest cropping up elsewhere."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and huffed, a tiny little sigh that meant "I'll be right back" in the language of Tsukishima Kei.

Yamaguchi grinned in response.

But, though his plans were outlined, Tsukishima stood there, half turned and unable to leave. He was expressionless as he returned the favor from earlier and scrutinized his best friend now.

"Um, Tsukki…?"

The assistant coach cocked his head slightly to the right. He reached up and pushed a hunk of hair behind Yamaguchi's left ear, his fingers lingering by Yamaguchi's ear.

"Tsukki…," Yamaguchi intoned. He took a step closer to the inch-high lip before the vestibule, which brought him closer to being eye to eye with the tall blond.

But Tsukishima stayed put. He let his hand drop gracefully from Yamaguchi's ear to Yamaguchi's collarbone, coming to rest on his friend's chest. Then he waited with half-lidded, somewhat large, expectant eyes.

It was akin to rewarding a kid with candy for good behavior. But Yamaguchi didn't begrudge him it. He'd prefer these signals, anyway, that way his chances of fucking things up took a nosedive. Besides, the docile Tsukishima that followed was such a sweet sight…

…if only Tsukishima would let Yamaguchi end the requested kiss and view that sight. Today, however, someone was being very greedy, and Tsukishima merely tilted his head the other way every time Yamaguchi tried to break away. He scooted back, too, his fingers curling in Yamaguchi's t-shirt as he ended up with the wall at his back. With his free hand, he tugged on Yamaguchi's right arm until the smaller man relented and pinned him there. He slid down and sat on the floor, forcing Yamaguchi to his knees to keep their mouths connected.

But Yamaguchi was smarter this time. He pushed his tongue in deeper, receiving a jumpy moan in response, and he took the break in Tsukishima's concentration to pull away. He didn't back off completely, no; he rested his forearms on the wall on either side of Tsukishima's head, their faces close. He furrowed his brow. "Tsukki," he warned, "it's mean to tease me like this."

Tsukishima averted his eyes again, slyly. "Only a little," he murmured.

"Um, no, a lo—" He couldn't even finish the word, drawing out the syllable as Tsukishima drew his knee up to press it against the growing tightness in the freckled crow's jeans. Yamaguchi's hands curled into fists on the wall as he took a calming breath, but that hitched when Tsukishima nudged him a second time with his knee.

"Only a little," the bespectacled man repeated, resting his fingers on Yamaguchi's upper arm. He rubbed his friend's arm until the latter calmed, and then Yamaguchi let him lower that arm until his hand rested on Tsukishima's lap.

Yamaguchi met his eyes and eased up, offering the tiniest and briefest of smiles. "Only a little," he obliged, and he ran his other hand through those blond curls and over the warm, reddened skin of his friend's neck. He cupped Tsukishima's head and gave him another deep kiss while he unbuttoned and Tsukishima unzipped.

"No looking, though," Tsukishima piped up at the last second, and he rested his chin on Yamaguchi's shoulder, pulling on the other man's shirt so they were in an awkward embrace.

"Fine, fine," Yamaguchi acquiesced, and he stuck his tongue out as he finally breached the waistband and took a hold of Tsukishima. It was rather satisfying to make this stinker jolt so often, though Tsukishima's fingernails were sharp as the blond dug into his chest once Yamaguchi started up slow, easy strokes.

Eventually Tsukishima let go of Yamaguchi's shirt and hooked that hand around Yamaguchi's neck. He turned his face in towards the hollow at Yamaguchi's neck, his breath warm and moist as he struggled to take breaths that weren't shallow. With his other hand, he tentatively reached for his friend's erection, lightly touching it as if he'd never done that sort of thing himself.

Yamaguchi felt a happy groan in the back of his throat as Tsukishima tried to replicate the freckled crow's ministrations. He shivered when Tsukishima kept hold but reached around with his unoccupied hand to the small of Yamaguchi's back. The nurse chuckled. "You really like my back, don't you?"

"…freckles."

"Hmm?" He tried to glimpse what he was certain was a content expression on the blond's fair face.

"You really have freckles everywhere. But there are five in a perfect pentagon right"—he traced them, connecting the dots on his friend's backside, right above his buttocks—"here. I can trace a star with them," he added softly, somewhat like a pleasant sigh.

Ahh, no fair. How was Tsukishima allowed to be this adorable? Yamaguchi leaned back, nuzzling Tsukishima's ear until the latter turned for a proper kiss. The blond was rather dazzled as they kept going, judging by the glassiness of his eyes. "Ah, Tsukki… What am I going to do with you?"

A trio of tiny, vertical wrinkles formed between his eyebrows as his pout dared to become a scowl. "Nothing, if you call me that. If you plan to call me 'Tsukki' even during sex, I swear to—"

But Yamaguchi interrupted him with the faintest of strokes to the underside of his penis, catching the edge of what hung below with the back of his middle finger, all the while pressing his lips to Tsukishima's right ear to whisper in a husky voice "Kei."

Tsukishima sat up a little straighter. He also came a bit in Yamaguchi's hand.

It was so innocent, Yamaguchi had to force down a laugh. Making sure his amusement was quashed, he kissed the blond's neck, a minor distraction while he picked up speed to help Tsukishima fully release.

After, Tsukishima rested his head on Yamaguchi's shoulder again, taking steadier breaths. "That…"

Oh, no. Please don't say it was "too much" again.

"…was nice." He turned his face to press his forehead against Yamaguchi's neck.

Thank gods. Yamaguchi breathed an internal sigh of relief. "Guess 'Kei' will be used only at home, then."

Tsukishima snickered. "Probably." He rubbed Yamaguchi a bit harder. When nothing happened, he tried imitating Yamaguchi again, and then he massaged the tip. "…dammit. How are you only getting harder?!"

"I'm, erm, an old hand at this, I guess…"

Tsukishima gave him an unimpressed look, like "That's a lot of jerking off."

Yamaguchi scrunched his nose up at him and smooched him. "Don't worry about me." He insisted, and he even grasped Tsukishima a second time.

He was extremely sensitive to Yamaguchi's touch, especially at the base of the hilt, on the underside. He was fully hard again, and Yamaguchi sincerely believed they might climax together.

Then Tsukishima's phone rang in his back pocket, scaring both of them. The blond came a second time, and he was not happy about that as he reached with his clean hand to silence the device. "Goddammit."

"It's okay, Tsukki," the nurse assured him. "And calling on a Sunday afternoon? It was probably important."

"They can call back," he snarled, gathering a handful of Yamaguchi's shirt in his fist again so they could resume making out.

Yamaguchi was impressed. Tsukishima's lips and tongue moved somewhat desperately this time around, and his hunger drew Yamaguchi closer and closer to—

"Fuck!" Tsukishima hissed as Yamaguchi's phone rang this time.

"I can just ignore it long enough for us to wrap up, promise."

Tsukishima sighed, a pitched noise like a timid whimper. But he plucked Yamaguchi's phone from the dark-haired man's pocket to quiet it, as well. He paused. "…you have Caller I.D., don't you?"

"Of course." Yamaguchi sat back on his heels and glanced at the screen as Tsukishima held up his phone. "An unknown number? Must be a wrong number."

But they exchanged a look when Tsukishima's phone rang again. "Damn," he cursed. "It's Nishinoya-san."

Yamaguchi's phone also rang a second time, so he pecked Tsukishima's cheek while the latter ignore their senpai and waited for the nurse to solve the issue. So Yamaguchi answered his own phone. "Hello?"

"Ah! Yamaguchi, good!"

"Ennoshita-san?" He blinked in surprise.

"Tanaka gave me your number. Are you with Tsukishima right now?" the businessman asked. His cadence was quite fast.

"Uh… I'm hanging out with Tsukki, yeah. Why?"

"Come to the hospital. Saeko-san's in labor."

Tsukishima's eyes widened, just as Yamaguchi's did. No doubt he overheard that part. "We'll be right there," the freckled crow promised, and he hung up. "What?" he groaned when he was met with a disgruntled glare.

"…do we have to?"

"Tsukki! Your niece or nephew is being born right now! Yes. We're going." Yamaguchi got to his feet and pulled up his pants, shuffling uncomfortably to his kitchenette behind him to wash his sticky hand.

"You can't go anywhere like that," Tsukishima pointed out.

Yamaguchi frowned. "I know. I'll…finish in the bathroom." He glanced up at the taller man. "You want to change and meet me outside?"

Tsukishima pulled a face. But he knew when to give his friend privacy, so he did as suggested.

Five minutes later, they were outside and ready to go. Yamaguchi eyed that grumpy face. "Don't blame me. You said only a little to begin with, Tsukki."

"I know…! Just…" He rubbed the back of his neck, still red from earlier—though either from sunburn or from their amorous activities, Yamaguchi didn't know. "…maybe a little more next time," he mumbled, making Yamaguchi almost trip on the bottom step.

Ah, Tsukishima really was too much for his heart to handle…!

- ^-^3

The train ride out to the hospital was slightly shorter than if they'd gone to Tsukishima's brother's house. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima sat together, the nurse a bundle of excitement from the surprise announcement as well as from the sudden turn of events today with the assistant coach. But the one who was all nerves sat beside him. "Tsukki, what are you, fifteen? Every single time your leg bumps mine…"

"Shut up, Yamaguchi," he hissed, confirming he was only partially sunburned, as his skin flushed with deeper color whenever something innocuous like their limbs brushing transpired.

Yamaguchi snorted. "Sorry, Tsukki." But he hoped Tsukishima would calm before they met up with the gang. All it would take was one good, long look at Tsukishima to figure out the two of them.

It was a good thing Tsukishima had Yamaguchi with him. Getting lost in a hospital was easy to do, but Yamaguchi could navigate easily because of his background. Past the main lobby and up two floors were the delivery rooms, and they located their fellow crows in the waiting room. Nishinoya was half jumping around, half warming up as if a game were about to start, and Yachi tried joining in. Shimizu stood off to the side, chatting quietly with Tanaka and Ennoshita.

"You guys made it," Tanaka said, relieved, and Yamaguchi was certain Tanaka had never looked so happy to see Tsukishima.

As the blond grump was too bashful to do anything but shrug, Yamaguchi spoke up. "Of course we'd be here. How's Saeko-san doing?"

Tanaka's face fell, and he shook his head. "Dunno. Akiteru-san's with her, but she's been in there for…what, forty-five minutes?" He looked to his boyfriend for confirmation.

Ennoshita glanced at his watch. "More like an hour," he corrected.

The rest fell silent, but Yamaguchi refused to be as grim as they were. Things like this…they could take as short as half an hour or as long as over a dozen hours. But modern medicine, even in Japan, was good, strong medicine. He both believed and knew Saeko-san and the baby would be okay.

But he kept his opinion to himself and suggested Tsukishima have a seat as Ennoshita insisted with Tanaka. He waited quietly with his best friend, giving his knee a surreptitious squeeze of comfort as the hands on the clock above them on the wall ticked slowly, tauntingly.

Yamaguchi's joints and muscles grew stiff, keeping with Tsukishima's rigid posture. He debated a quick catnap since Tsukishima's shoulder was invitingly within reach, but then a doctor emerged from the personnel-only doors, and everyone stood at attention.

The doctor whistled, impressed, as he counted them. "Blood relatives only, please," he said. So he knew they were the Tsukishima party.

Tanaka frowned, but Ennoshita smiled and pushed him gently to join the doctor. On the other hand, Tsukishima slid a reluctant peek at Yamaguchi—the blond's "I don't wanna" face.

Yamaguchi wasn't a pediatric nurse for nothing. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and settled him with a reproving look. It worked when he began tapping his foot impatiently, and the new uncles left together.

As soon as the double-doors swung shut, Yamaguchi heaved a sigh of relief.

"Did he really not want to be here?" Ennoshita asked, walking over to join him.

"No. He's just sulking."

Ennoshita smiled that friendly, sleepy smile of his. "Oh? Did something good happen?"

Yamaguchi opened his mouth—and promptly shut it. Occasionally that sleepy smile was hard to read…but maybe Ennoshita, at a glance, could take in a lot more than any of them guessed.

So much for worrying that Hinata and Nishinoya might blab.

Several minutes after Tanaka and Tsukishima had left, the elder Tsukishima brother joined his friends in the waiting room. He beamed, happy in a way Yamaguchi had never seen him before, and he said one thing: "She's perfect."

Yamaguchi gasped, relieved and delighted all at once. To the side, Yachi trilled and hugged Shimizu tightly.

Akiteru-san's phone buzzed then, snapping him out of his happy delirium. "Ah," he said as he checked the message. "Kei says Saeko's asking for you guys."

"Uh," Yamaguchi piped up, knowing how tired a new mother would be, "I don't think we'll all fit… It's probably not a good idea…"

Not one to take "no" for an answer, Nishinoya smacked Yamaguchi's arm with a laugh. "Nonsense, Yamaguchi! Let's go!" he nearly shouted, marching after the new father.

Of course Yamaguchi was right to be concerned; Saeko-san's room was small, meaning they had to take turns visiting, though Tanaka kept Ennoshita glued to his hip once the brunet businessman was inside.

The brand-new baby looked…honestly, like any other baby. But Yamaguchi was charmed just as the others were to see and hold Tsukishima Chieko. She was wrinkly and red and, if Yamaguchi had a death wish, had her uncle's easily flushed complexion. But of course he kept his mouth shut.

Tanaka's practice with the baby doll at his sister's house had paid off. He held Chieko exactly as he should, and Yamaguchi gave him a nod of approval when the bartender kept glancing at the nurse.

"You're good with her, too," he told Tsukishima as they and Nishinoya stepped out to let Yachi and Shimizu see her.

"I'm not an idiot. I know how to hold a baby," Tsukishima retorted. He pushed his black frames up his nose.

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes at his friend's haughtiness.

Shimizu, Yachi, and Nishinoya headed home when the doctor returned and had the nurse with him say visiting hours were over, with Nishinoya bumming a ride from the girlfriends. Tanaka and Tsukishima, despite his quiet complaints, were reluctant to leave, though ultimately Yamaguchi tugged Tsukishima back out to the waiting room. They sat in an unobtrusive corner of the room, and Yamaguchi waited for him to speak.

"…that kid's half Tanaka," he groaned after a silent minute. He scowled. "If she's got their lungs, I'm never watching the kid."

Yamaguchi laughed, hard, to the point where he slumped on Tsukishima's arm. "Oh, Tsukki…! It's nature and nurture, not 'or.' There are a lot of good qualities she could pick up from you. All the more reason to take care of her." He knew his words were sly, since Tsukishima was pleased with them and ducked his head, but Yamaguchi meant it.

"Same goes for you."

"Mm?"

Tsukishima eyed him, cream-colored eyebrows raised. "There are good qualities to pick up from Uncle Tadashi, as well," he said smoothly.

Yamaguchi's heart couldn't help skipping a beat, and he was at a loss for words…almost. But he bemoaned a happy "Tsukki…!" as he launched himself at the other man, wrapping his arms around Tsukishima's middle and not letting go, not even to peek at what he knew was Tsukishima's gentle smile when his best friend chuckled and stroked his hair, his own sign of happiness, of contentment.

- ^-^3

…finally. Somehow this took longer to type up than "Opportunity"? *lol* SO MUCH happened in this fic, but I knew a lot of what I wanted to do, actually, almost since the day I finished writing "Constant" (for instance, the titles go together, mathematically ;P). Honestly, a lot of this AU is just years in the works… ;w; Anyway, some thoughts/remarks about the story:

-When it comes to the layout of their apartments, I actually drew the floorplans with notes, so please visit the BoaF page on my le-amewzing tumblr to see. I think it helps give a better idea of what their place looks like. To me, their apartments, Tanaka's loft, and Akisae's house are what are painted mostly clearly in my head. :3 Not to mention things like the washing machine Yams mentioned are tiny in Japanese apartments…but Tsukkiyama fit everything quite well in their homes.

-There are actually quite a few nods to "Constant," for fans who read that fic. -w-

-Tsukki…was all over the place in this fic, but mostly he was still trying to work out the feelings he recognized at the end of "Constant."

-When it comes to the university VB schedule, I had to rely on my imagination for that one, as I've no reference. XD Ah, well.

-About Kagehina: If you're curious about Hinata's injury, please read "Conscious of You." :]

-Music at the party: The Doraemon theme Kags sang is "Doraemon no Uta." Doraemon is a famous, old, kids' anime from forever ago and, wow, that makes me a grandma, doesn't it? ._. The enka Hinata sings was nothing specific I had in mind, but I wanted to explain that enka is a type of traditional Japanese ballad.

-Supporting cast: Yes, that is Hashimoto Kazuma from Cheer Danshi! and that is Hanamura Chigusa from Free! I love them both, and they fit rly well at the clinic with Yams. (And if you haven't watched CD! I strongly recommend it!) I think we'll be seeing at least Hana-chan again in a future story. -w- I love that she turned out to be the nurse who kept finding Tsukki at the clinic in "Constant." XD Also, friends Hashimoto and Hana-chan mention as being tied to Ukai Corp. are also from their respective series, some of whom you know already if you follow Birds of a Feather, and others you'll come to know in future stories.

-…on that note, yes, Yams' Kisumi is that Kisumi. It was an odd idea that struck me as I wrote it, but I quite like the idea of them together, and now I'm thinking I'll revisit their story and write about it sometime in the future. Kisumi's a good guy, after all…

-Kawakami Clinic: It's named so because it's right near a river (the "kawa" means river, for anyone who doesn't know; "Kawakami" literally being "river god/river divine").

-Can I just say, all the images of Tsukki beneath Yams are asdfghjkl? :3c

-B-Team feels: Since this AU hinges on the idea that Enno/Kino/Nari didn't play for Karasuno, I still like to include that they befriend Yams, esp Narikino, because those four plus Suga really are a great B Team in canon. (As for the stiff atmosphere around Narikino, please read "The Long Distance Not Between Us.")

-Tsukkiyama & saying those 3 little words: I actually understand where Tsukki comes from, being uncomfortable with verbal affection let alone physical affection, but that's as someone who knows someone like Tsukki. So I knew it was important for Tsukki to express himself properly to Yams since Yams has a different opinion. It doesn't mean they love each other less. Loving someone is accepting someone, and I think they reach that point and understand each other well in this regard. I think, too, this is where their long-standing friendship comes into play and helps.

-I actually almost cut that scene with Yams & Hinata & Noya. But part of it was comedic relief, part of it was support Yams needed, and part of it was some serious talk since sex is serious business. Even though Yams had a medical background, it was still a good idea for him to get a sense of how comfy he'll need to make Tsukki in the future. XD

-Kageyama is a mama's boy. You can't convince me otherwise (even in "Complicated," I just. ASDFGHJKL.). Yeah.

-There are also a few nods to the manga-only crowd. You guys get the importance of the "TACOS" shirt. XD

-I developed a headcanon about that freckle pentagon after drawing a nice pic of Yams' back. -w- Ahhh, freckles~

-Chieko-chan: Yes! Tsukki's an uncle! Tanaka's an uncle! Yams was told he's also an uncle! XD So smooth, Tsukki. We'll be seeing more of her in the future, for sure. :3

-Lastly, the songs for this fic are "LOVE BELT" by Jonghyun feat. Younha, "美しい仕打ち" ("Utsukushii Shiuchi") by DADARAY, and "Moonstruck" by Rai Knight. V sweet songs, v perfect for these two dorks. :')

Thank you very much for reading, and please review/comment/leave an ask! The next fic in the BoaF collection, "Personal Day," will take a while since it has its own fair share of side stories, but I hope you can enjoy the other side stories while you wait, and please visit the BoaF tumblr page (on my tumblr, le-amewzing) for lotsa stuff~! Show your support for this AU, and share your excitement for it, too!

-mew-tsubaki :D