"Nishinoya-saaan," Asahi whined quietly as his boyfriend unlocked the gym doors, "We shouldn't be doing this."
It was late at night, probably around ten, and the team was sneaking into the gym for a party. They had decided to do something special to celebrate the third-years graduating. Nishinoya had snatched the keys from Sugawara, even though he was coming as well, just for the purpose of being able to say he was the ring leader of it all. They all talked excitedly in hushed whispers, not wanting to be caught. They were dead if Ukai and Takeda found out.
Sugawara put a hand on Asahi's shoulder, "Come on Asahi, live a little bit!"
Asahi didn't relax at all though, and he continued fiddling with his fingers nervously.
Nishinoya found the right key finally and unlocked the doors. He pushed them open dramatically, and stood facing the team in the doorway, and spoke in a hushed voice, "Welcome boys, to the best night of your life."
A quiet cheer rose from the crowd of players gathered at the bottom of the steps.
Nishinoya stepped aside and they walked into the dark gym. It had an eerie feel to it when it was dark like this, and the familiar surroundings suddenly felt much less so.
Someone then closed the doors, shutting out the little light that came from the moon, enveloping them in complete and total darkness.
Pinpricks of light began to appear as people turned the flashlights on their phones on.
"Turn off your flashlights," Nishinoya yelled at them in a whisper, "Turn them off."
The pinpricks disappeared, and the darkness began to suffocate them again, nervous chatter was exchanged at first, but people grew silent as their nervousness became worse.
There was nothing but silence for a few moments, and Daichi was the one who broke it, "Wait, where did Nishinoya go?"
All eyes turned to where they assumed Asahi was.
"Why would I know where he is?"
Asahi felt the eyes on him, and it made him nervous.
Suddenly the gym was bathed in light, "Let's get this party started!"
Nishinoya stood next to the light switch on the wall by the door, grinning.
Everybody flinched at the bright light and sudden loud noise of Nishinoya's voice, but after a moment they shook off the shock and cheered.
"So! First off, we've gotta congratulate these three," Nishinoya stepped forward and pointed at the third-years, who all stood together.
He walked up to Daichi and Sugawara, and put an arm around each of them, "Let's give the old people a round of applause, they made it through high school and all have places to go!"
Another cheer came from the group, accompanied by loud applause.
"So! Now that that's out of the way, who wants to play some volleyball?"
More cheering came from the team, and Hinata jumped into the air, almost above all of their heads, "Let's go!"
Two hours had passed, and Tsukishima laid sprawled out on the floor next to Yamaguchi with the rest of the team, breathing heavily. They had played for two hours, and all of them were hot, sweaty, and exhausted.
Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata seemed to be the only ones who weren't exhausted.
He wondered it any of them ever shut up.
Tsukishima heard Hinata annoying Kageyama somewhere to his left, trying to get
him to get up, and Tanaka and Nishinoya were whispering to each other somewhere over to his right.
Finally, they all stopped talking for a minute, and the only sound in the gym was the sound of breathing as everybody caught their breath.
Then Nishinoya's voice broke the silence again, much to Tsukishima's dismay, "Alright, everybody sit up, and circle up."
Tsukishima sighed as he sat up, and he moved so he was sitting in the circle that began to form. He sat with Yamaguchi on one side and Daichi on the other, so he was thankfully next to some actually sane people.
Nishinoya stood in his spot holding a camping lantern, and Tanaka stood next to him.
He whispered something in Tanaka's ear, and he nodded and ran off somewhere.
A few moments later the lights shut off again, and Nishinoya sat down and turned on the lantern, which dimly illuminated their circle.
"Listen up, because I'm going to tell you all a story," Nishinoya spoke quietly for once, and it honestly made Tsukishima kind of nervous, "The story, of the storage closet."
"W-what happened in the s-storage closet?" Hinata's voice shook as he spoke, somehow he was scared already.
Tsukishima rolled his eyes, this was probably going to be one of those 'anyone who stayed back on their own was killed' stories. Nothing about those was scary.
Nishinoya began the story in a hushed whisper, "Our story begins back before the time of the Little Giant, back when the volleyball club was only a few years old."
As Nishinoya started talking, Tsukishima felt Yamaguchi move closer to him, unlike Tsukishima, he was scared by this kind of stuff.
"The first incident was in October. It was a warm and sunny day, but one of the players volunteered to stay back and clean up the gym. He was putting his broom away in the storage closet when, flick!" Nishinoya's voice got quieter, and he switched off the lantern, "the lights turned off."
Yamaguchi squeaked quietly, and he moved even closer to Tsukishima, and grabbed onto his arm.
"He was scared, the whole gym was dark now. Then BAM!" Nishinoya yelled suddenly and a door slammed somewhere in the gym, the loud noise echoing off the walls, which caused Hinata to scream, and Yamaguchi to cling to Tsukishima even tighter. Nishinoya's voice dropped back to a whisper, "The storage room door slammed shut."
This sent chills down Tsukishima's spine. Even if the story itself wasn't necessarily scary, the atmosphere Nishinoya was creating was unsettling.
Nishinoya paused, and he held the full, undivided attention of everyone in the room. It was silent.
"The lights came back on," Nishinoya turned the lantern back on, "and the door opened, but there was nothing there except the bloody corpse of the player."
"The next day, their captain and vice captain arrived to practice early. The captain goes to unlock the door, but it's already unlocked. He pushes it open, and the lights are still on. He makes a mental note to yell at the player who cleaned the night before about it. The two walk in, and the door swings shut behind them. The vice captain goes into the storage closet to get the net, and screams. He yells for the captain, telling him to 'get over here, quick'. The captain runs into the storage room, and, flick!" Nishinoya turned off the lantern again, "the lights turn off."
Instead of gripping Tsukishima's arm tighter, Tsukishima felt Yamaguchi stand and let go of his arm. He watched as Yamaguchi silently slipped out of the gym, everyone else was too engrossed in the story to notice.
"BAM!" a door slammed again, and Hinata screamed, again, "The door slams shut."
Tsukishima stood up as well, and slipped out of the gym after Yamaguchi before Nishinoya turned the lantern back on.
He gently shut the door, trying to make as little noise as possible, and looked around for Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima stepped outside, and looked around for Yamaguchi.
He spotted him sitting against the wall, so he walked over and stood in front of him.
"You okay?"
"Huh?" Yamaguchi looked up, startled by the sudden noise of Tsukishima's voice, "Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just a little creeped out is all."
Tsukishima nodded, "I was a little uneasy too, believe it or not."
Yamaguchi laughed, "That's definitely a first."
Tsukishima gazed at his friend for a moment. Something about him seemed different. Maybe it was just the moonlight.
No, that wasn't it.
He still stood in front of where Yamaguchi was sitting, and he stared at his face.
"Uh, Tsukki?"
Yamaguchi noticed Tsukishima staring at him, and fidgeted nervously.
Tsukishima blinked a few times, "Sorry, I got distracted."
Then he realized what was different, "Wait, where are your freckles?"
Yamaguchi went slightly red, and he laughed nervously, "O-oh right, I… I covered them up. I'm surprised it stayed after all the sweating I did earlier."
Tsukishima frowned and knelt down on one knee in front of Yamaguchi. The concrete hurt his knee, but he ignored it. He placed one hand on Yamaguchi's cheek, and leaned in close to his face.
He then grabbed the hem of his t-shirt, brought it to Yamaguchi's face, and began to wipe off whatever he had put on to hide the freckles. After a few moments he lowered his hand, and stared into Yamaguchi's eyes.
His friend's face was flushed, and his eyes were wide. His freckles were more visible now, and his lips were parted slightly.
Slowly, he closed his eyes, and brought his face towards Yamaguchi's, hand hovering at chest level, still holding onto the hem of his shirt.
For a moment Tsukishima felt the warmth from Yamaguchi's panicked breathing against his face, and then their lips connected.
It was a gentle kiss. There wasn't much force put behind it, and their lips were pressed together for only a few moments. After those few moments, Tsukishima pulled back, creating a small gap between their faces.
He was quiet for a while, and when he finally spoke he did so softly, "Don't. I like your freckles."
Yamaguchi smiled, and Tsukishima could see tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He squeezed them shut and lunged forward to hug Tsukishima, pulling him down all the way to the ground, and onto his lap.
His knees hit the pavement hard, but he ignored it again, and wrapped his arms around Yamaguchi in return.
Neither of them moved, not until Sugawara came out to check on them, and they quickly scrambled to their feet, faces growing bright red with embarrassment, which was simply met with a knowing grin from Sugawara as he turned around and walked back into the gym.