Tsukishima had a scrutinizing stare locked on you. You had been acting odd all week, and he just couldn't figure out why. He tried to think out any rational scenario that could explain the reason you were acting the way you were, but the only logical conclusion he came to simply stressed him out more. Every explanation he thought of was cynical and distrustful and it all led to the same conclusion—you were losing interest in him. The thought upset him way more than he liked—and the fact that it upset him so much upset him even more…And so began the cycle of stress.
Today you showed up at the gym as you normally would. You would come to watch practice so that the two of you could walk home together after, but what was weird was that you showed up way earlier than Tsukishima. Usually you walked there together, or you even showed up a bit late. To add on, instead of chatting with Yachi as you normally would, the middle-blocker noticed you chummily conversing with the third-year setter, Sugawara—as you have been for the last couple of days.
Now, Tsukishima wasn't usually the type to get jealous…But he felt like he had reason to be now. With how you've been acting lately, the fact that you seemed so keen to speak with the silver-haired setter bugged the hell out of him. Especially since you've been nothing but closed off with him. Simply put—he was pissed off.
A part of him wanted to storm over to where you stood and pull you away from Sugawara. He wanted to yell at the both of you and demand an answer for why the hell you've been acting so weird. A part of him also just wanted to throw himself out there and admit to you how upset he was. A part of him wanted to do a lot of things—get mad, throw a tantrum, be direct…But Tsukishima did none of these, because that wasn't how he dealt with his problems.
The sound of a ringing whistle echoed throughout the gymnasium, pulling all members to the middle of the court. Tsukishima saw that you finally noticed his presence as you send him a small wave in his direction. Your wave faltered as he met you with a deadpan stare.
From there, Tsukishima noticed for the rest of practice that you looked nervous. Like you had just been caught in the act of doing something you shouldn't have. So what exactly did that mean for him?
Tsukishima simply tried to ignore any more thought of you until the end of practice, but this seemed to make it drag on even longer than usual. The middle-blocker's blunders had become so notable that it even had Kageyama concerned for him—and he was on the opposing team. He was jumping to block too late, misreading attacks, serving sloppy, and his own attacks were just as chaotic.
He even clumsily ran into Hinata, who right away snapped, "Watch where you're going Shitty-shima! What's with you!?" But he had said this in hopes of snapping Tsukishima back into his usual patronizing self. For the first time, the short ginger actually wanted to hear some smart-ass remark from the lofty blonde. But instead, the team saw something amazing. Tsukishima simply looked down at the short middle-blocker as if he hadn't even realized they collided at all.
"Oh, sorry."Uncomfortable gazes were exchanged but no one was sure what to do, so they simply continued the match.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the matches finally came to an end—Tsukishima's team having only won one of them, thanks to his mind not having been one-hundred percent there. But he had something else he was more concerned over.
Sugawara was rubbing his face with a towel as Tsukishima approached him. "Suga-san!" the tall blonde practically sang out.
Sugawara sent him a confused glance after hearing the unfamiliar term leave the blonde's mouth, because he was not used to hearing that nickname from him. Tsukishima also didn't miss the nervous glance the setter sent back to you.
Sugawara placed his used towel into the hamper beside him before answering. "What's up, Tsukishima?" he asked.
"You and (y/n) have gotten on well, lately," he commented in his exaggeratedly cheery tone.
Sugawara rubbed at the back of his head, obviously feeling awkward from the statement. "Erm, yeah…I guess," he replied.
"It's funny," Tsukishima laughed. "(Y/n)'s been acting so weird lately, yet she seems perfectly normal when she's with you."
"Well—"
"But it makes sense," Tsukishima cut him off. "You do give off that 'motherly' vibe. I bet girls comfortably talk to you all the time. You practically are one, after all. Right, Suga-chan?" he taunted.
The setter's eyes narrowed at this, obviously becoming impatient with Tsukishima's immature behavior. "You've got the wrong idea, Tsukishima."
"I don't think I do," he countered with a hardened stare.
Sugawara shook his head with a sigh. "If that's how highly you think of (y/n), then you don't deserve her." With that, the third-year strode off, leaving Tsukishima staring blankly after him. What did he mean by that?
"He's right, Tsukki."
Tsukishima turned to his freckled friend who had walked up behind him. He had a towel wrapped around his neck and another in his right hand. He held the towel out towards Tsukishima, who simply stared at it and then directed his gaze back to his friend.
Yamaguchi's eyes suddenly widened in realization, and he hastily began to wave his hands in front of him as the words rushed out of his mouth, "Ah—well, that is—he's right that you probably have the completely wrong idea about why (y/n) is acting weird. Not that you don't deserve her or anything," he laughed sheepishly.
"Yamaguchi, what do you know?" Tsukishima simply asked in response.
The brunette's waving hands stopped and he blinked at the blonde before nervously biting his lip. Whatever it was he knew, it was obvious that it was a secret. "I know that you should just trust her, Tsukki," he finally answered. Tsukishima let out a small laugh at this, because it was such a simple statement yet something that could be difficult to follow given the right circumstance. And he felt like he fit the criteria.
"Tsukki,"
The tall blonde turned to see you standing with your bag in hand. You stared expectedly at him and Yamaguchi, looking unsure as to if you were interrupting something serious.
"Are you ready to go?" you finally asked.
He stared down at you with unreadable eyes. They were neither angry nor judging—he almost looked as if he was staring right through you. And maybe he was, because the blonde was trapped in his own thoughts at the moment.
"Go on without me," he finally spoke while passing you and walking to the entrance. "I've got something I need to work on." Tsukishima exited the building without sparing a single glance back towards the confused pair he left behind, and missing the obvious hurt that had sprung into your gaze.
Tsukishima didn't really have anything he had to do besides change back into his school uniform, but he made sure to take his time doing so. He wasn't necessarily mad anymore, but he was confused. He didn't think walking back with you would really help with his cluttered thoughts.
Everyone made it seem like they knew why you were acting weird. If it's something so obvious to everyone else, why isn't obvious to him? Why were you keeping this from your own boyfriend—didn't he have the right to know more than his teammates? It frustrated him that there could be something going on with you and you didn't trust him enough to tell him.
Tsukishima sighed as he grabbed his bag from the floor, stuffing his clothes into it. He made sure to wait at least ten minutes before he gathered the rest of his things to leave, putting his headphones over his head before exiting the room.
The surly blonde made it to the school's front gate, almost so spaced out that he just barely missed you. He was surprised to see you standing there, leaning against the gate column and staring down at your feet. He stopped in his tracks and stared at you until you finally looked up to meet his searching gaze.
"Talk to me, Kei," you started. Tsukishima almost snorted at this. You only used his first name when you deemed a situation to be serious enough. Was this really that serious?
"I told you to go ahead," he simply stated in reply.
You let out an annoyed puff of air before rolling your eyes. "Yeah, right. Leave after what happened at practice?" You shook your head as if the thought alone was that baffling. You then send him another hard stare—sharp and questioning. "Talk to me, Kei," you repeated. "What's going through your head?"
He continued to stare at you with that blazing golden gaze of his, and it wasn't awhile until he finally opened his mouth again. "You're hiding something from me."
There was a silence.
Your expression was blank for a moment longer before realization lit your face, and then you laughed—laughed. Pretty much snorted in the blonde's face at the announcement. Tsukishima wasn't so amused, though. He was even more confused now, and he wanted answers.
"That's what this is about?" you exclaimed.
"You've been acting weird," he defended himself. "You've practically been avoiding me. And you've been acting secretive with everyone too, especially—" he faltered at this. As much as he hated to admit it, he had already started so he chose to finish, but with a much lower tone. "…Especially with…Sugawara-san…" His brow twitched uncomfortably with the confession.
"Tsukki," you started with an obvious smile playing on your lips. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault," you finally laughed again while shaking your head." Tsukishima simply stared expectantly at you until you continued. "I wanted to surprise you for your birthday," you finally declared.
My birthday? Tsukishima's brows furrowed together in confusion. "Do you even know when my birthday is?" he asked.
"September 27nd," you answered immediately.
His eyes then narrowed judgingly at you. "You do realize it's still the beginning of August, right?"
"Exactly!" you exclaimed, causing Tsukishima to flinch at the outburst. "Tsukishima, if I acted this way in September, even early in the month, what would you have assumed?"
The blonde returned a blank stare to your expectant one. He thought for a minute. Just what would have gone through his mind if time simply fast-forwarded to a month later? It took a little less than a minute and he soon found that he was smirking—rolling his eyes at his own stupidity and your cleverness—not to mention the relief of the unnecessary stress he allowed himself to undergo finally disappearing.
It made sense to him, because you were right. One of the first things he would have assumed was that you were going to try and do something for his birthday. It would have made him even more suspicious if you did it in early September, because he would have been left to think that you were doing so in order to not appear suspicious…But still.
"You know I hate surprises. And parties."
"I know…" you warily started while clasping your hands together and sheepishly kicking at the ground. "I wanted to surprise you with something small…" You then pause before finishing in a soft voice. "I wanted to make you a cake," you admitted.
Tsukishima's eyes widened somewhat at this. "A cake?"
"A strawberry shortcake," you confirmed. "That's why I've been speaking to Sugawara-kun so often. He's actually very good at baking, you know," you finished with an impressed nod.
Tsukishima didn't know what to say. There was a smile fighting to form on his face and he had to bite at his lip to keep it down. He was too embarrassed to show how genuinely happy it made him to hear that you went through all the trouble just to learn how to make his favorite food. He swore he mentioned it once, off the record even. The fact that you remembered it at all was enough.
You had suddenly taken his hand into yours and his attention was drawn back down to your gaze. "I'm sorry for making you worry," you whispered.
He felt two pulls in his chest. One of guilt, for having doubted you, and one of gratitude—because, right now, there really was no one else in this world that he was more grateful for than you.
The tall blonde leaned over to press his lips onto yours. It was soft, gentle, and caring—sending across the message of forgiveness in a way that words simply could not convey. You couldn't help but smile into the kiss, and you move your hands into his hair while pushing yourself onto your toes in order to close the remaining space between the two of you.
For that moment, things seemed perfect again. And Tsukishima was finally feeling content and back to his usual, aloof self.
But then there was a crunching sound.
Next a muffled curse, followed by a loud hush. Tsukishima broke away from you, his hands still holding onto your shoulders as he narrowed his gaze towards the clutter of trees neighboring the gate you stood by.
"Who's there?" Tsukishima called out in the direction the noise had come.
Several familiar faces popped out—Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka, Sugawara, and Yamaguchi. All carried guilty grins as they tentatively made their way to the couple.
"We weren't trying to peep or anything, we just wanted to make sure everything turned out okay with you two," Sugawara confessed as he sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head.
"Yeah! You were acting all weird today. It's creepy when you aren't an asshole," Hinata added with a shiver—Kageyama and Tanaka nodding in agreement. Tsukishima rolled his eyes at this.
"Sorry for the trouble, Tsukki," Yamaguchi finished with an apologetic grin.
Tsukishima snorted and sent the group a sly grin. "Aww, you guys seriously worried over that? How cute," he practically cooed, in an obviously contemptuous tone. "I didn't realize how important I was to you~"
You could almost hear their eyes rolling.
"Well, he's back," Tanaka huffed, slinging his backpack on as he turned to walk away.
"Not sure if we should have hoped for him to return so soon," Hinata chimed in.
"Now that I think about it, the change was kind of nice," Sugawara teasingly added, sending a grin and wave to you and Tsukishima before following after his teammates.
"I don't like him either way," Kageyama pointedly stated.
Yamaguchi was turning to leave but paused, looking as if there was something he still had to say. He turned to Tsukishima and sent him an honest grin. "I'm glad everything worked out," he finally spoke. He then waved goodbye and jogged after his disappearing teammates.
There was a pause of silence that fell between you and Tsukishima before he turned to you with a deadpan stare. "Promise you won't actually make me deal with them on my birthday," he finally stated.
You laughed at this—your eyes squinting in such a way that made Tsukishima's chest tighten. He won't ever admit to anyone just how crippling you were to him—he barely liked to admit that to himself. But he knew.
You finally grabbed his hand into your own and pulled him forward with you, leaving the school gates behind. "Promise," you grinned.