Tsukishima hates Valentine's Day.
Overhearing his classmates obsess about things like love or soulmates is annoying enough on regular days but, when Valentine's day comes around, it's the only thing people are talking about. It's enough to make him want to skip a week of school. Or do something more dramatic like take up black magic.
And it's not like he doesn't understand why this happens every year, why even people who normally don't care about crushes and relationships perk their ears up and join in on those conversations around this time of year. Objectively and from a purely scientific point of view, even he can appreciate that the Cupid Effect is interesting.
Because it is interesting, the way, somehow, magical energies resonate just so on this one day, every year, to cause a bizarre love-magic amplification phenomenon. It's interesting. But it's annoying as Hell.
The romance spells are bad enough. And okay, a lot of the spells and magical artefacts that benefit from the Cupid Effect focus on the romantic — compatibility testers, rose-coloured glasses, love potions … the list goes on. But what really drives him crazy is the focus on soulmate magic.
It's not that soulmate magic is all bad, not in general anyway. It's not just about romance and even he can admit a soulmate would be nice, in theory.
The problem is that the spell that gets the most attention around Valentine's Day — Cupid's Arrow — is a soulmate-finder spell that can only be cast on this one day of the year.
And people treat Cupid's Arrow like a game, like fortune cookies or wishbones — magic that sometimes yields something but more often doesn't and, either way, it's all in good fun to give it a try. Which means every year, on the day before Valentine's day, Tsukishima suffers through classmates talking about tying a red thread around their fingers that night and making bets on who's going to wake up with a soulmark.
Tsukishima hates Valentine's Day because it's annoying. But also because he's seen first hand that Cupid's Arrow — romanticized in way too many films and novels — is actually a curse.
He knows sometimes people find their romantic soulmates thanks to Cupid's Arrow. He knows many would never find their soulmates otherwise.
But people get so obsessed with this idea of meant-to-be romance, they forget that, even if they are lucky enough to find their soulmate with the spell, you get at most one soulmate and there may be nothing romantic about your relationship. He's actually seen people find their soulmate and be upset — it happened to two girls in his elementary school.
And how ridiculous is that? Being upset!
Finding your soulmate should be a good thing. Yet there his two classmates were, finding out their soulmate was the platonic kind and so distressed about it they didn't talk to each other for a month. Sure, it had worked out in the end. Once they'd stopped being upset that they weren't getting a fairy-tale romance out of the deal, they were still left with someone who would stand by them for the rest of their life. Yet still, every Valentine's Day, he'd watched the two of them get mopey all over again.
And that was the curse at its mildest.
The thing about soulmate magic is that it's complicated magic. And soulmate-finder magic is the most complicated of all.
To start, it's an imprecise thing. If the spell does take, it's not like you get a road map to your soulmate. Instead, you get a soulmark on your wrist — which looks a little like a wonky star inside a wonkier pentagon — that will last five days. That means you have five days to confirm who your soulmate is using a soul-compatibility spell, or you'll have to try again the next year.
And there are a million reasons for Cupid's Arrow not to take in the first place. Which means getting a null result year after year doesn't mean you don't have a soulmate and getting a soulmark one year doesn't mean you'll get one the next.
Cupid's Arrow, in Tsukishima's opinion, is just asking for trouble. It's a spell to make you obsess about the uncertainty of a soulmate and it just leads to disappointment. Disappointment when you don't find your soulmates within the prescribed five days. Disappointment when a soulmark doesn't show up at all. And disappointment when your soulmate isn't what you expected.
So people can get excited about Valentine's Day all they want. They can treat Cupid's Arrow like a harmless game and tie as many red threads to their fingers as they like.
But Tsukishima hates Valentine's Day and he's staying as far away from Cupid's Arrow as he can.
Day 1 - Valentine's Day
Tsukishima wakes up that morning and there's an odd sort of tingle on his wrist.
He scratches at it idly, eyes still closed and still mostly asleep as he pats around his nightstand for his glasses. He slips them on as he sits up and his eyes are drawn to his wrist like the tingle is a silent alarm demanding his attention.
It takes a few seconds for him to realize what he's seeing. A soulmark.
He curses and his eyes flit to the band-aid on his pointer finger, which is the only reasonable explanation for this, even if it's barely that.
For such powerful magic, Cupid's Arrow is a stupidly simple spell. All it takes is a red thread and a drop of blood.
He knows Cupid's Arrow is notoriously willful magic. He's heard all the stories — has heard it said more than once it's like the spell has a mind of its own. Unlike other complicated magic whose success rides entirely on the caster's focus and on precise adherence to rituals, Cupid's Arrow, it seems, succeeds based on the spell's own whims, occasionally even in cases where the ritual is barely upheld.
Tsukishima knows this. And he's usually so, so careful. He's heard of cases where red sheets or red pyjamas have somehow managed to trigger the spell, so he stays well away from any red-coloured fabrics on the night before Valentine's Day.
It just hadn't occurred to him, when he'd cut his finger helping his mother make dinner last night, that a band-aid might be close enough to a red thread to trigger the spell. He's never heard of anything like it. Band-aids are closer to brown than red, for crying out loud! And, sure the company who makes them calls the material 'fabric', but does it really count as a thread?
He grumbles to himself as he gets ready to leave for morning practice. He thinks about whether he should try to cover the mark up but he abandons the idea with a sigh. He'd just sweat off anything makeup-like during practice, and both Yamaguchi and Sugawara would notice if he tried to hide it with something like a band-aid, so the volleyball team is bound to find out either way and there'd be little point in trying to hide it after that.
By the time he gets to the gym, Hinata is already bouncing around and yelling something about 'destiny' and 'nationals' while Kageyama screams at him about being a 'useless idiot' who 'still needs to practice because you still suck'. It doesn't take long for Tsukishima to figure out the two have just found out they are soulmates.
"They didn't bother to check what kind," Yamaguchi informs him, even though he didn't ask.
Not that he would ever admit it but, as he watches them out of the corner of his eye, Tsukishima thinks it's kind of nice. They're acting, more or less, how they normally do. And, privately, Tsukishima believes that's how Cupid's Arrow should always be — just a simple confirmation of something you already know. Sure, it's a big deal in a way, but it definitely shouldn't change anything.
With Hinata drawing even more attention than usual, Tsukishima actually manages to conceal his own soulmark for longer than he'd expected. Invariably, though, practice starts and, since it's awfully hard to hide your wrist while practising receives, it only takes a few minutes before Yamaguchi squeaks in a way that has every head in the gym turning toward them.
"Do you have any idea who?" Yamaguchi asks with mild excitement.
His teammates are also curious and he sees them paying attention to their conversation now but, for the most part, they seem to sense Tsukishima doesn't want to make a big deal of this and no one starts making a fuss.
"Not unless you have one, too," he tells Yamaguchi quietly, almost daring to sound hopeful.
He knows, from years of putting up with his schoolmates, that most people in this situation immediately think of whoever it is they're crushing on when they see a soulmark. But he, as much as he tries not to think about soulmates, has always kind of preferred the idea of a platonic soulmate. There's something nice to be said about having a friend who is that important to you.
"Sorry," Yamaguchi, says with a little shrug as he shows Tsukishima both his wrists are blank. "I'm surprised, though. I never would have thought you'd do the spell."
"I didn't mean to. It was a stupid band-aid," he grumbles. "Believe me, I wouldn't have chosen this."
And he definitely means that. He's still contemplating ways of exacting revenge on band-aids as a species.
"Wait. you mean you don't want to find your soulmate?" Hinata butts in then.
"Why would I want to do that? I might just end up stuck with someone annoying, like you and his majesty over there," he tells the red-head, his classic smug smirk stretching into place. He's deflecting but it's doubtful the shorty will notice.
Sure enough, his classmate just huffs and storms away across the gym, calling him 'Suckyshima' as he goes.
Sugawara comes over to join their practice, then. They start getting into a rhythm as they volley the ball back and forth a few times before he nods towards Tsukishima's wrist. "I can Read it for you," he offers. "Only if you want me to, obviously."
He'd forgotten the upperclassman was a Reader. Bizarrely, a lot of setters were, because it was a position that required a good awareness of the space around you, which was a quality Readers tended to possess.
"I don't want to trouble you," Tsukishima mutters.
"It's no trouble. It only takes a second," Sugawara says with an easy shrug. "Besides, as one of the stronger Readers in school, it won't be the last time I'm asked to do it today."
Tsukishima hesitates. He knows this is what people do — they ask Readers to interpret their marks for clues and they Test for soul-compatibility with anyone who remotely matches what they're told. He hasn't really thought about it much, though. He's still wishing the mark weren't there at all and he doesn't really intend to go looking for whoever it is that caused it to appear.
"It won't hurt anything," Yamaguchi says, watching him with a knowing look.
Tsukishima bites his lip and, after a moment, holds his arm out toward Sugawara. The upperclassman offers him a small smile before taking a step closer and pressing gentle fingers to the mark.
Tsukishima flinches a little at the touch, the contact suddenly amplifying his awareness of Sugawara's emotions. As an Empath, physical contact has never been easy for him. It's one of the reasons he likes to keep people at arm's length. If people are wary about getting too close to him, that just makes it less likely that their emotions will overwhelm him.
Sugawara's emotions nudge something apologetic at him before he feels the upperclassman make an effort to flatten them out and, since Readers have a similar ability to Empaths, the setter is better at it than most. There's some warmth and a bit of pressure as the setter focuses his magic to probe at the soulmark.
"I'm not getting much," Sugawara says with a slight frown. "The number one. And athletic, maybe?" He drops his hand. "Sorry, it's not always very clear."
"That's okay. I don't really care, anyway," Tsukishima says, the mark feeling prickly at the removal of Sugawara's fingers. Sugawara continues to eye him, his lips pinched together as though he's hesitating to say something. "Is there something else?"
"I probably shouldn't tell you this," Sugawara says with a sheepish look, rubbing the back of his neck. "Reading isn't an accurate science, you know? But it's you, so you'll probably know to take this with a grain of salt…"
He doesn't continue. "What is it?" Tsukishima prods, a little impatient.
"Well, it felt sort of romantic," Sugawara breathes out. "But it's impossible to know for sure without Testing for the type. I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up or anything," he adds in a bit of a rush.
Tsukishima blinks, the thought of bed hair and a Cheshire grin briefly surfacing at Sugawara's words, but he quickly pushes those out of his mind. This is exactly what he was trying to avoid. He doesn't need this stupid soulmark fueling any kind of hope because there's just no way that would end well.
"Oh," he says, not really sure how else to respond. "Don't worry. I won't go jumping to any conclusions."
Sugawara looks at him with something like concern but, before he can add anything else, Hinata is back in his face with a smile Tsukishima doesn't like the look of.
"I changed my mind," Hinata says. And Tsukishima notices that Nishinoya and Tanaka are behind him, wearing looks similar to the one Hinata's sporting. This spells trouble. "Valentine's Day is all about love and friendship, isn't it? And since we're your friends, we can't just let you ignore your soulmark. So we're gonna help you find your soulmate. Right guys?"
Tsukishima scowls and clicks his tongue as they erupt into cheers.
"Yet another reason to hate Valentine's Day," he says, before pointedly turning his attention away from the grinning trio and back to practice.
Behind him, he hears Sawamura tell his teammates something about how they should mind their own business. The Captain is ultimately ignored, however, and Tsukishima scowls through the rest of practice. By the time it ends, his idiot teammates are still shouting about 'Operation Find Lonelyshima's Soulmate' and, somehow, even Kageyama has been roped into their nonsense.
Day 2 - - Mission: Year 1 vs. Class 1
When his teammates had failed to bother him for the rest of the day, Tsukishima had almost started to believe that they'd let the whole matter drop.
This morning, however, ten minutes before class is meant to start, a classmate tells him there are people from the volleyball team asking for him. He reluctantly heads out to the hallway and finds Tanaka and Nishinoya waiting for him with wide smiles.
"Recognizance complete!" Tanaka tells him, handing him a list.
"Woah, that's a big word for you," he sneers at the older boy. Tanaka ignores him and he runs his eyes down the page he's been handed. "What is this?"
"It's a list, genius," Nishinoya says and Tsukishima just narrows his eyes at him. "Shimizu and Yachi helped us make it yesterday. It's people who got soulmarks yesterday but haven't found their soulmate. Suga Read the number one, right? So this is everyone from Year 1, as well as second and third years from Class 1."
"What are the asterisks?" Tsukishima asks, curious despite himself. They have gone to quite a bit of trouble after all.
"People we've heard are athletic in some way," he's told.
Tsukishima blinks. "Well thanks or whatever, but what makes you think I'm going to do anything with this?" he says when Tanaka just keeps staring at him expectantly.
"That's the beauty part," Tanaka says, clapping him on the shoulder like he's telling him great news. "You don't have to do a thing. Your bros have got you covered. We divided the list up and, at lunch, we're all set to go gather intel on the potentials. Just stick around after school and you can Test against whichever few names are left."
Tanaka's running away down the hall before Tsukishima can object. Then Nishinoya gives him a thumbs up before leaving Tsukishima standing there open-mouthed and already trying to plan his escape for the end of the day.
At lunch, he hides out with Yamaguchi on the roof and scowls when the shorter boy keeps staring at him.
"Say whatever it is you want to say," he snaps.
"Why don't you just meet whoever they find?" his friend says after a beat.
"You know why," he says, picking at his sandwich and refusing to meet the other's eyes.
"No, I don't actually," Yamaguchi says. Tsukishima opens his mouth to argue but Yamaguchi forstalls him with a raised hand. "It's true. Look, I know what happened with Akiteru is hard on you. And I know you think it's better to go through life assuming you don't have a soulmate. So yes, I know why you didn't want to do Cupid's Arrow in the first place. But isn't the damage already done now?"
Tsukishima puts his sandwich down and curls his arms around his legs, looking away from his friend.
"It's not just that," he says after a pause.
"Then what is it?" Yamaguchi asks in earnest. "Help me understand and maybe I'll help call off the dogs but… You know you have a soulmate now. You really don't want to try and figure out who it is?"
"Cupid's Arrow isn't the only way to reveal your soulmate, you know," he mutters. He chances a glance at his friend who just frowns a little. Tsukishima sighs, now picking at a thread in his pants. "Soul Resonance, for example, can occur without being invoked."
"Natural Resonance, yeah," Yamaguchi says, his frown deepening. "But isn't that rare?"
"Yes. But that's how soulmate-reveal magic should be," Tsukishima says, dropping his hand away from the thread and sitting up straighter. "Itshould be about chance encounters, about finding each other without asking for it, like the universe is telling you something important. Cupid's Arrow just… It feels like cheating or something. And soulmarks are like the party trick version of a bondmark."
"Tsukki," Yamaguchi says, mouth gaping. His eyes are full of mirth and Tsukishima scowls anew. "Are you telling me the reason you hate Cupid's Arrow so much is because you're secretly a romantic?"
"Shut up," he says. He picks up his sandwich again, taking a bite, chewing it and swallowing before continuing. "Natural Resonance is only as rare as it is because everyone messes around with stuff like Cupid's Arrow."
They both resume eating their lunch quietly. "I get what you're saying," Yamaguchi says after a moment. "I guess there is something a little fabricated about tying a red string to your finger every year but… Well, especially when it's an accident like it was for you, don't you think that's still kind of a chance encounter in its own way? Maybe this is the universe sending you a message."
"Maybe," Tsukishima says thoughtfully. "But don't you think it's kind of sad that soulmates who Test have no chance for Natural Resonance?"
Yamaguchi shrugs. "A little maybe. Most can still Bond though, right?" Tsukishima grunts in partial acquiescence but doesn't argue the statement. "You don't have to actually Test, you know?" Yamaguchi adds. "Suga already Read your mark so why not meet whoever the gang finds? You can hear what their Readings are and, if you find any serious contenders, then you can decide what you want to do."
In the end, Tsukishima concedes that it probably won't hurt anything to just meet with people and that, really, giving in would be easier than trying to avoid his teammates for the next four days.
After school, he learns that only four people from their list had Readings that might describe Tsukishima. His teammates complain a little when Tsukishima says he won't Test with anyone but they calm down when Sugawara, having been apprised in as little detail as possible of why Tsukishima's not interested in Testing with anyone, steps in and agrees to perform pair Readings. While not as definitive as Testing, pair Readings can serve as a strong indicator as to the likelihood of people being soulmates.
The three girls he's introduced to are nice enough but, after Sugawara Reads them together, it proves unlikely any of them is his soulmate.
The fourth person they've found is a sour-faced first-year boy from Hinata's class. Hinata informs them with a shrug and a "Well, I figured I should bring him just in case" that the kid's Reading revealed his soulmate had 'a poetic soul,' 'an obsession with the colour mauve,' and 'a love of daffodils.'
Tsukishima laughs for a good ten minutes and they don't bother with a pair Reading.
Day 3 - Mission: Sports Teams
Their first attempts unfruitful, Tsukishima is greeted the next morning with a new list that, somehow, is twice as long.
"Do I even want to know?" he asks Hinata, who is bouncing on the spot.
"It's people from all the sports teams," he's told. "Anyone who has a '1' on their jersey. Also, anyone who came first in any events. We also included anyone who is top of their class."
"You guys do realize that there isn't a guarantee my soulmate would even be in this school, right?"
"Well, we have to start somewhere, right?" Hinata beams at him.
Tsukishima just shakes his head at him and tells him he's going to be late for class.
They find another four people that day — the captain of the basketball club, number 11 from the girl's soccer club, a swimmer who placed first at regionals in the 100m freestyle, and the third year who had the highest grades in her year.
Sugawara Reads all four of them and none of them results in anything particularly interesting.
The worst part of the day is when Sawamura comes to find him during practice and, with a pitying look on his face and a warm hand on Tsukishima's shoulder, says, "Sorry kid, but Suga says my soulmate is female, dark-haired, and shorter than me."
Tsukishima stares after him with mouth wide open and Yamaguchi is the one who laughs for ten minutes. Tsukishima wants to bury himself in a hole.
Day 4 - Mission: Oikawa Tooru
On day four, it's unexpectedly Kageyama who comes to find him at lunch.
"We're going to Seijoh after school. Don't be late," the dark-haired setter informs him with a scowl. He walks away without waiting for an answer.
Tsukishima tries not to get distracted wondering why they're going to Seijoh because, seriously, it's not like he cares! Except it turns out that, whether or not he cares, he can't help but be curious and he spends the afternoon scowling at his pencil case, as though it's the one responsible for sticking him with a bunch of meddlesome teammates.
Meddlesome teammates who don't reveal until they've made it all the way to Seijoh that the reason for this field trip is to visit one Oikawa Tooru.
"You guys realize that he's known for messing with people, right?" Tsukishima complains as they head for the gym. "I hear he tells everyone their Reading describes him." He pauses, remembering that's not the main reason this is a dumb idea. "Also, he hates Karasuno. Why is he going to help us?"
"He's the only Reader we know in the prefecture who's significantly stronger than Suga," Nishinoya explains. "We don't have anyone else to ask."
"Why do we have to ask at all?" Tsukishima grumbles.
"Because we need more clues," Hinata informs him.
"You're Reading from Suga was pretty vague," Yamaguchi agrees. It rings like betrayal in his ears.
Minutes later, they're standing in front of the smug setter.
"Ohoho, what do we have here~?" he asks them, tilting his head with a sweet grin that doesn't match the mischief in his eyes.
Kageyama growls an explanation of the situation to him and Oikawa looks at the lot of them consideringly for a moment before his eyes land on Sugawara.
"Okay, I'll Read Glasses on one condition~," he says at last. "I need Mr. Refreshing to Read my soulmark. No one here is strong enough to get anything useful and, obviously, I can't Read myself."
Sugawara agrees with a resigned grunt and Oikawa's grin somehow stretches even further.
"Okay~," he says clapping his hands together and stepping up to Tsukishima. When he touches his fingers to the soulmark, it's a lot more intense than it had been with Sugawara. It's not just warm as the setter's magic seeks out his mark, it burns. From the underlying thrum of playful mischief he feels rolling off of him, Tsukishima is pretty sure the older boy is doing it on purpose. He grits his teeth and stays still, making Oikawa snicker.
"Let's see," he starts. "This certainly is a tricky one. I'm getting… Hair?"
"What's that even mean?" Hinata asks, crossing his arms with a frown.
Oikawa rolls his eyes. "I don't always know what it means, that's not my job," he says before turning his attention back to Tsukishima. "Volleyball. Ohoho, and Captain even. My, my, Glasses, someone has good taste~. What else?... A tricky personality, likes to press people's buttons."
"Are you just describing yourself again," Iwaizumi interrupts at this point.
"It does rather sound like me, doesn't it," Oikawa cackles and drops Tsukishima's arm.
"I knew this idiot wasn't going to take this seriously," Tsukishima scowls. He doesn't look at his team as he leaves to wait for them outside, though he hears them getting mad at Oikawa from trying to trick them.
A few minutes later, someone is running towards him. He turns, expecting to find Yamaguchi but, instead, it's Oikawa who comes to a stop a couple feet away, looking a little remorseful. He looks around the older boy and sees his teammates standing a little farther back, as if they are giving them some space.
"Look," Oikawa starts with a hand on the back of his neck. Contrition is a weird look on him. "I know I'm known for giving people false Readings, acting like I'm their soulmate and all that, but I swear your Reading was serious."
"And you needed to run out here and tell me that?" Tsukishima asks. "You don't seem the type to care enough, one way or the other."
"I'm not," Oikawa agrees with a smirk. "Thing is, that Reading was serious. And it does sound like me, doesn't it? Well, except that my personality is positively delightful~"
Tsukishima snickers. "If you really believed that, you wouldn't be out here," he says. "You can't possibly think you're actually my soulmate, though. Right?"
"Well, thing is Mr. Refreshing Read my mark after you left," Oikawa says. "What he got was: Volleyball. Smart. Scowling. Driven. Your teammates seem to think that sounds like you."
"I'll admit the coincidence is a little startling," Tsukishima says, shaking his head.
"But?" Oikawa asks. His eyes are still twinkling and his grin is still firmly in place, but Tsukishima sees the vulnerability the older player is trying to hide.
"I'm not your soulmate, Oikawa," he says. He looks away then, scuffing his shoe on the ground. "Truth is, I knew you weren't messing with me and I know someone else who matches the description you gave. And I think I've known since Sugawara's first reading, maybe even before that, that they're probably my soulmate."
"So why are you going through all this trouble then?" Oikawa asks, his expression softening into something more genuine. "Why not just ask this other person right away?"
Tsukishima watches the setter consideringly, wondering why talking to him about this feels easy when he can barely admit this stuff to himself. Probably, he thinks, because he sees the way he's feeling mirrored in Oikawa's eyes. "Because I don't want to be wrong," he admits at last. "And I think you know all about that, don't you?"
Oikawa glances back toward the school where Iwaizumi is watching them.
Oikawa hums thoughtfully. "Good luck, Glasses," he says after a couple seconds, offering him a small smile before running back towards the school.
When his teammates join him, he finds out Oikawa had run off earlier, only saying he'd wanted to apologise and give Tsukishima a proper reading.
He doesn't tell them about his exchange with Oikawa. Instead, he tells them the setter hadn't been able to reveal anything more than Sugawara had.
He also tells them he wants them to stop looking for his soulmate. There must be something serious in his expression because no one fights him on it and the group is rather sedated as they head away from Seijoh.
Day 5 - Operation Status: failure
He half-expects that the group will renew their efforts the next morning, but no one approaches him about soulmates.
At practice, Sugawara gives him a consoling pat on the shoulder, but that's it. Everything goes back to normal.
Yamaguchi invites himself over for a sleepover though. He knows his friend senses his lingering distress about this, even though he doesn't push him.
At 11:55 that evening, Yamaguchi catches him staring at the clock.
"I'm sorry, Tsukki," he whispers in the dark, briefly curling a hand around his arm and squeezing, gentle affection enveloping him like a hug at the touch, though the undercurrent of pity is hard to ignore.
Tsukishima doesn't answer.
Five minutes later, the mark disappears and Tsukishima feels relieved.
Day 6 - Mission: Tokyo?
That Saturday, on the first morning since the soulmarks have disappeared, the Karasuno volleyball team gets on a bus and heads to Tokyo for a practice with Nekoma.
The timing of this, thinks Tsukishima, is really funny. But it is what it is.
Every time their teams get together, Tsukishima is reminded of how different their rivalry with Nekoma is compared to their rivalry with schools like Seijoh or Shiratorizawa. This rivalry is friendly. Like siblings, ribbing each other and poking where it hurts but wanting the best for each other in the end.
Practice starts up much like it usually does. Except it soon becomes clear that Nekoma is not having a good day.
To be more precise, it's their Captain, Kuroo Tetsurou, that seems shaken up. He's not really paying attention and he's making more mistakes than usual. Block after block is seconds later than it should be and he's reacting slowly, just missing receives that shouldn't have been a problem for him.
As a result, Karasuno takes the first set too easily.
"He had a bad go of it with Cupid's Arrow, this year," he hears Kozume, their setter, say quietly to Hinata between sets. "He usually never does the spell. He ignored his soulmark all week but I think it's still messing with his head."
Things get even worse in the second set. So much so that Kuroo gets pulled out of the game. He's visibly upset with himself and, after pacing back and forth along the sidelines a couple times, there's a bit of a commotion as he exits the gym entirely to cool off.
The players in both teams stare after him for a couple seconds before Nekoma's libero says, "Should someone go after him?"
Some quiet conversation ensues on the other side of the net before Tsukishima, without really thinking about it, says, "I'll go."
He doesn't wait for permission, just heads off the court. He hears some confusion behind him and something from Sugawara that sounds like "had a bad Valentine's Day too" but he's not really listening.
He finds Kuroo sitting slumped against a wall just outside the gym and Tsukishima slides down to sit next to him. Kuroo stares straight ahead, not even acknowledging his presence.
After a tense moment, Tsukishima takes a deep breath. "I wore a bandaid to bed," he says, lifting the treasonous finger to explain even though the offending bit of fabric is long gone. "In what world is a bandaid anywhere close to a red thread."
He sees Kuroo's eyes shift to his finger.
"Who told you?" he says after a minute.
"I heard Kozume tell Hinata," Tsukishima says, lowering his hand and wrapping his arms around his legs.
"I scraped my arm after practice," Kuroo says with a sigh. "Fell asleep still wearing the team jacket. I've never had a problem with our team colours until now," he continues, staring down at his red shorts in disgust.
"I was angry," Tsukishima says, fingers drumming lightly against his shins. "Sixteen years of avoiding Cupid's Arrow foiled by a bandaid. Ridiculous."
They lapse into silence again and Tsukishima hears Kuroo shifting beside him. When he looks, he finds the older teen leaning forward with his head in his hands.
"Did you know that more than half of people who Test each other can't Bond?" Kuroo says. The words are slightly muffled by his hands but they're still clear. "Not just don't, can't. I mean, barely anyone even bothers to attempt Soul Resonance these days and most people know Natural Resonance is clear out if you've Tested but… Reckless Testing can make it impossible to Bond, even if you're soulmates. Did you know that?"
Tsukishima doesn't answer right away. "I had read that, yes," he says. "In theory, it's some kind of wearing that happens to the soul connection point. The prevailing opinion, however, seems to be that Bonding doesn't matter much anyway."
"Do you think it matters?" Kuroo asks him.
"I think that I've only ever heard unBonded people say that it doesn't," Tsukishima answers, and maybe that's a little evasive. "I tend not to put much stock in that kind of biased opinion."
Kuroo chuckles. "It matters," he says, voice firm. "Believe me."
Tsukishima doesn't push for answers. Kuroo uncurls and stretches before watching him for a minute.
"My dad," he says at last. "He was a musician and his soulmate was one of his bandmates. When I was five years old, he… well, they got Soul Sickness. They say a Bond would have saved them but they just… couldn't." Kuroo takes a deep breath and shakes it off. "When he died, I promised I'd never mess around with Cupid's Arrow. And, I dunno, I miss him but mostly that feels like ancient history. But then this year happened and…"
"It brought up feelings you thought you were passed," Tsukishima says with a little nod. "I know how that goes."
Kuroo eyes him. "What's your story then?" he asks, and the catches himself. "Ah, I mean, if you want to share. You don't have to."
"It's fine," Tsukishima says waving him off. "Have you ever heard of Forced Resonance?"
"When you try to force a Bond without knowing who your soulmate is," Kuroo says, turning toward Tsukishima properly for the first time with a questioning frown. "It's supposed to be really dangerous. You'd have to be desperate to find your soulmate to do it that way."
"Extremely desperate," Tsukishima agrees, stretching his legs out and tugging at his fingers. "The year I was born," he starts, "when my brother was six years old, he got a soulmark on Valentine's Day. No one was really surprised that five days came and went without revealing a soulmate but, in the following years, the soulmark never came back." Tsukishima pauses, trying to work out the best way to tell this story. He's never really had to tell it because Yamaguchi, the only person close to him outside his family who knows, witnessed most of it for himself.
"Your brother tried a Forced Resonance when he was a kid?" Kuroo guesses when the silence stretches on a little too long.
Tsukishima shakes his head 'no.' "He kept trying Cupid's Arrow. Before I ever had a chance, he came into my room one night and told me not to do it. He broke down crying and his pain-," Tsukishima cuts himself off and swallows. "My brother and I are both Empaths and I felt all of it, you know? So I told myself I'd never do Cupid's Arrow. But then over the years… I think he got better at hiding how much it still hurt him, but I slowly started to forget how hard his sadness had hit me back then."
"What happened then?"
"Two years ago," Tsukishima says, stopping to take a deep breath. "He was beyond desperate. 14 years of a missing soulmark. Cupid's Arrow is known to be a mischievous spell, but it's not usually that cruel."
"So he tried a Forced Resonance."
"Everyone told him it was stupid," Tsukishima says, his eyes going flat behind his glasses. "Turns out his soulmate had died in a car crash more than a decade earlier. "
Talking about this is always hard. It was two years ago and his brother is okay most days but Akiteru has never truly recovered. Their whole family has never really recovered.
He hears more than sees Kuroo moving around beside him and, before he's really aware of what's going on, he's enveloped in a hug. It's warm and Kuroo smells nice and Tsukishima lets himself relax into the older boy's hold. Kuroo's hand is on his neck, pushing comfort and calm at him, controlled in a way only another Empath can manage.
"When you force a Bond with someone who has died," Tsukishima says into Kuroo's shoulder, needing to finish this story more than Kuroo needs to hear it, "a part of you dies too. My brother is lucky he survived at all. Sometimes, I see an emptiness in his eyes and I catch myself wondering if soulmates are even worth it."
Tsukishima lets Kuroo hold him for a few more minutes as he reels himself back into the present, but then he pulls away.
"I think they probably are," Kuroo says, breaking the heavy silence with a little smile. "Did you ever have your mark read?" he says, switching the topic to something lighter, his fingers brushing against the spot where the soulmark had been on Tsukishima's wrist.
"Yes," Tsukishima answers. "Sugawara, our setter? He's a pretty strong Reader."
He leaves it at that, doesn't bother mentioning Oikawa.
Kuroo hums an acknowledgement. "Kenma Read mine, too," he says. "All he got out of it was 'Firefly.' In a way, I'm glad it wasn't anything more descriptive."
Tsukishima scoffs. That's pretty damn descriptive if you ask him. If he wasn't sure Kuroo was his soulmate before, he has little doubt of it now.
Kuroo misinterprets the scoff and nudges him lightly. "I think I've mostly been out of sorts because I've been feeling a little guilty," Kuroo admits. "Like… I never wanted to find out I had a soulmate with Cupid's Arrow. But when I did, I was torn between wanting to find them and wanting to pretend it had never happened. And I'm not sure that was fair to them, whoever they are."
"I'm pretty sure they would be okay with it," Tsukishima says.
"You can't know that," Kuroo says lightly, nudging him again. Tsukishima watches him, wondering if he should just tell him. And Kuroo watches him right back. "What?" he finally asks.
Tsukishima lets out a quick breath through his nose and decides to just say it. "It's my name."
"What is?" Kuroo asks, brows furrowing and clearly not following.
"'Firefly,'" he clarifies, and he's the one rolling his eyes now. "The Kanji for Kei? It's a different pronunciation, obviously, but it's the Kanji for firefly."
Kuroo is still and staring at him wide-eyed. "You're kidding me?" he says after a moment, his usual Cheshire grin sliding slowly into place.
"That," Tsukishima says with raised eyebrows, "would be in poor taste. Don't you think?"
"What was yours, then? Your Reading?" Kuroo asks, eyes alight with curiosity and looking much happier than they had when he first found him. Happier than they have all day, really.
"Basically, captain of a volleyball team with a rotten personality," Tsukishima says with a smirk. "Also, hair."
"Hair?" Kuroo snorts, before shaking his head. "Fair enough," he concedes. Kuroo looks away in thought for a moment before turning back toward Tsukishima, a question in his eyes.
"Are you disappointed?" Tsukishima asks, unease curling in the pit of his stomach. "That I'm probably your soulmate, I mean? People say I have a bad personality."
Kuroo chuckles. "I don't think that's true. I think that's just your way of being guarded. There's nothing wrong with being a little guarded," he says. Then he runs a hand through his hair, looking a little sheepish. "Actually, when I first saw the mark, you were kind of the first person I thought of. I know we've only seen each other a couple times and I treat you like a bratty kid, but…"
"Well, I suppose sometimes I am a bratty kid," Tsukishima says with a small shrug.
Kuroo's expression shift into something determined then. "Hey, look. I know soulmates aren't always a romance thing, but do you think I could kiss you?" he says.
"You want to kiss me?" Tsukishima asks, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. He'd been rather hoping, what with Sugawara's hint and the growing attraction to Kuroo he hadn't been able to quash since he'd met him. But it still caught him a little off guard.
"Yeah," Kuroo admits easily, sliding closer as he does. He brings his face within inches of Tsukishima's but doesn't close the gap. "Is that okay?"
For an answer, Tsukishima presses his lips against Kuroo's. Kuroo chuckles against him and pulls Tsukishima in closer with a fistful of his Jersey. They're sitting on a floor outside a gym so things don't get all that heated, but one kiss does turn into two and turn into three so that, by the time they pull away from each other, they're both out of breath.
Tsukishima's attention is brought back to his wrist as he feels a sudden warmth there. When he glances at Kuroo, he finds the other boy looking at his own wrist.
"Would you look at that," Kuroo says with a chuckle, bringing a finger to his wrist. A spark of heat jolts through Tsukishima as Kuroo touches the new mark there. It's a bondmark and, unlike a soulmark, this one is unique to the pair of them and permanent. "Natural Resonance."
Kuroo pulls Tsukishima's arm toward himself until their wrists are lined up, bondmarks side by side. When he traces along Tsukishima's mark, Tsukishima feels another lick of pleasant heat crawl through his veins from the spot Kuroo is touching right down to his toes.
"Wow, this is going to suck ," Kuroo says.
"Excuse you ," Tsukishima says, swatting his soulmate. God. His soulmate. "Wait until we're Bonded at least five minutes before you say something like that!"
"I just meant that you live far away and I'm going to miss you," Kuroo says, his fingers tracing along Tsukishima's jaw before he presses another gentle kiss to his lips.
"Don't be sweet to me, it's gross," Tsukishima says, his face scrunching up in distaste. He leans into the touch regardless.
"I know you're not really annoyed," Kuroo chuckles. "I can feel it."
And Tsukishima knows what he means. He feels Kuroo's fond amusement, and not only the faint echo he'd normally sense with his empathic magic. This is more tangible than that, pouring in through the Bond, warm and familiar like an old friend. He feels it, too, when Kuroo's demeanour turns mischievous and he doesn't have to ask to know the other boy is already contemplating how to use their Bond to tease him.
"You know, I think you're right after all," Tsukishima tells him as they both stand and dust of their clothes. "This is going to suck."
"Hey," Kuroo says with a laugh. He launches himself at Tsukishima who just twists out of his reach and heads for the gym doors.
When they get back to their teams, the current set is almost over. There's quick and quiet deliberation with both their coaches and then Nekoma takes the set by two points a few minutes later. Soon, they're both back on the court, facing off against each other at the front of the net.
"Hey, Four-Eyes," Kuroo says, eyes half-lidded and grin wide. "I can teach you more about blocking after this, if you want. One-on-one."
Tsukishima knows the innuendo isn't obvious in the tone. But he can feel it, Kuroo clearly playing up his muted arousal so it slips into their Bond, luxurious and sweet like honey poured right into his veins. They are, after all, both Empaths and it's not so surprising Kuroo is already manipulating their Bond with such ease.
"That's hardly playing fair," Tsukishima says, narrowing his eyes at Kuroo, who just grins wider. The heat doesn't go away, it just sits in the pit of his stomach, a gentle distraction that refuses to abate. "This is going to take some getting used to," he says, gritting his teeth.
He lifts his wrist and presses his fingers to his bondmark, thinking of the way he'd felt it zing through him when Kuroo had done it earlier. He reaches for his own empathic magic, concentrating it into the bond and thinking of all manners of uncomfortable things. He smirks triumphantly when Kuroo jerks, his eyes flicking to his own wrist before they meet Tsukishima's again.
"And that's playing dirty," Kuroo says, still smirking.
"I'm playing dirty?" Tsukishima says, and then he's hit with a wave of arousal so strong he almost lets out a moan. "Goddammit, where's the off button on this thing?" he scowls across the net. "I want a refund."
"Sorry, all sales are final," Kuroo says, and then the heat dissipates, replaced with the same fond amusement from before.
That's about the time when Yamaguchi squeaks and Kozume lets out a surprised but quiet 'Oh." The rest of their teammates catch on within a minute. The pair then have to endure what seems an endless amount of congratulations and gentle ribbing until finally, finally , they can get back to the game.
With that, Operation Find Lonelyshima's Soulmate officially comes to a close and Tsukishima thinks that maybe, just maybe, it might okay to forgive the bandaids of the world after all.