Hello, I am back.

At least for now because I have so much stuff to do. Updates will be rarer from now on but they be there. Since this is so popular, I will continue this.

But first...20'000 VIEWS GUYS!

Thank you all. And I reached my record of 50'000 words!

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Check out my Art to this fanfic and EXTRAS to this fanfic on my tumblr kageyama-tamiko

LilweenGalatrass: Tobio and Ushijima are bound to bump into each other more often xD And I'm glad you liked it. And with the gift, you will just have to wait and see.

midorima-shintaro07: Thank and I'm glad that he is authentic because I have to admit, he is difficult to write. And that writing style comes from years of writing xD And thank you for liking my OC. I was always afraid of her being a mary-sue. But on my tumblr you can see more of her and extras too.

curlystruggle: Oh yes he worries. She is all he has, the rock in the stormy sea.

PandaHee: Yeah, she is stuborn and blunt to the fact that she can't see him liking her. And yeah, those too are adorable volleyball idiots. Poor Tamiko xD

Kalmaegi: Yeah, insecurities are normal. We will face around 6 walls in our lives that develop us and this identity crisies usually happens in the teen years. (I learn psychology a little) And yes, dating him would be exhausting but I'm sure that if he really loved girl, he would do his best. The hug did catch him offguard.


Chapter 24 - A Party

For the last few weeks until the holidays, Tamiko and Semi had been working together a lot. Planning the christmas party was a lot of work, especially since they were celebrating at Semi's home. At first, his mother wasn't very happy about leaving the house to her son and thirteen high schoolers but when Tamiko intervened, stating that she would be there as well, she allowed it. From then onwards, the two planned out games, food and all sorts to have the days planned out. Tobio would spent Christmas over at Hinata's and he was surprisingly easy to persuade.

"I'll look after your brother, Kageyama-san." he had grinned.

Tamiko did have a chat with Hinata's mother, to be absolutely sure that it was okay. After telling her of the situation, the woman was more than happy to take in Tobio for the holidays. Tamiko was glad that it was now all taken care of after having to be comforted by her brother a few nights before. It had been a while since she had felt so angry but this time she was devastated. Their mother had to cancel a flight because of her work. This was the first time they had to spend Christmas without her. She hadn't told the boys. None of them. She didn't want them to worry, especially Ushijima and Semi, who always seemed to worry. It would cause her more stress otherwise so she kept quiet. On that fated day, Tamiko drove her brother to the Hinata household, wishing the family a great Christmas.

"Behave." she told him, flicking his forehead. Then she smiled. "And have fun."

After a hug and a peck on the cheek she drove home. Leaving him felt hard somehow. But it had to be done. After gathering essential material from home, she then drove to Semi's house. He was already busy moving everything into place. He was a little out of breath when he opened the door for her and disappeared back into the living room, when she stepped into the house. She retreated into the kitchen and prepared everything. An hour passed and Tamiko was busy in the kitchen when the boys arrived. Since they all lived at the dormitory they all came together and it instantly became loud. She could already hear Tendou ask where she was but she didn't bother to pause her work at the moment. The ones that had brought the food came into the kitchen anyway.

"Hello, Tamiko." Soekawa smiled and placed a plastic bag of food onto the counter.

"Hey, Jin." she grinned.

He walked over to her, looked over her shoulder, made a comment about the good food, made a joke for her to laugh at and patted her shoulder. Soekawa Jin was a great vice-captain and friend. It would be interesting to see who would step into his and Ushijima's shoes once they had graduated. Tendou also popped his head into the kitchen. He was awed at the sight of her with an apron and casual clothes.

"Tamiko-chan looks like a proper housewife." he grinned.

She gave him a short side glance before continuing cutting the vegetables before her.

"Do you know why women live longer than men?" she asked him.

"No," he said, tilting his head a little to the side.

She made one last, rather aggressive, chop and then paused.

"Because the knives are in the kitchen," she smiled but the menacing aura behind her made him flinch back.

The knife in her hand added to the effect and Tendou searched for safety in the living room. Soekawa laughed and patted her shoulder before leaving himself. She smiled to herself and turned her attention back to her work. After she had finished with preparing everything to be cooked, she turned on the oven, set a timer and took a few things with her to the living room. Everyone had gathered in the warm and cozy living room. Semi's parents had put up a christmas tree a few weeks ago, since their daughter had sparked them with American traditions, and apart from the ceiling light, it was the only source of light in the living room. There were at least 5 fairy lights, red and silver decorative balls out of glass and a small round carpet at its base. The family cat was not allowed near it, that's what he had told everyone. The cat was already too old to protest and was resting on one of the sofas. Semi himself had pushed some sofas and couches around the kotatsu on the ground. Not everyone was there. Many of the first and second years were with their families with only Goshiki, Kawanishi and Shibaru present. Everyone from the third years were her though. Kawanishi and Shibaru were the first to have crawled into the kotatsu. The rest of the boys sat on the couches and sofas when Tamiko came with 8 mugs of hot chocolate and a bowl with homemade cookies.

"Help yourself." she told them.

"Thank you!"

Tamiko snuggled into her fleece blanket on a lone sofa that she had seized for herself. She looked around to make sure they were all satisfied when her eyes briefly met with Ushijima's. He didn't hold the eye contact for long when he reached for another cookie. She grinned to herself. Apparently he was a sucker for cookies and he didn't get them often either. Tamiko stayed quietly by herself while the boys talked and talked. After an hour, the conversation topics started to run out.

"Did you guys remember the photographs?" Tamiko asked.

"Yeah." they all grinned.

Everyone went to their luggage and placed a photo on the table of the kotatsu, everyone except Tamiko. This didn't go unnoticed. Goshiki looked at the photos and then at Tamiko.

"Kageyama-san, where is yours?" Goshiki asked.

A sad smile played on her lips, something that Ushijima noticed all too quickly. Her words made him feel pity.

"My mother didn't really bother with taking photos." she started. "But Semi has one with me on it."

"Seriously?" Goshiki gasped and looked at Semi.

"Behold." Semi grinned and revealed a small and old foto.

The boys looked at it closely. It showed little Semi sleeping on the ground with a girl sleeping next to him. Her hair was short and curly, her glasses lying on the floor.

"You haven't changed at all Eita." Ohira smiled.

"I know but Tamiko has changed a lot." Semi laughed.

Tamiko vaguely nodded while she looked at the other photos. All of the boys hadn't changed from the photos. That's when Yamagata asked.

"So, what's the story with that photo?"

"If I remember correctly, we were at the playground all day and came to my home exhausted. We were so tired we fell asleep on the carpet and my mum got us a blanket and my dad took the photo." Semi explained.

"What was Tamiko-chan like?" Tendou asked.

"Loud and adventurous." he grinned.

Semi told them a few memories of their childhood and Ushijima listened. Semi told them about the times they played volleyball together, did homework together, visited each other. It turned out that Semi and Tamiko hadn't only been close neighbours and gone to the same school. They had gone to the same class and he knew a lot about her past. It was a part of her life Ushijima didn't fully know about but deep down he started to wish he would have known her when they were younger. He would have played volleyball with her, watched her laugh, watched her grow. He started to dislike the fact that Semi and Oikawa had witnessed those parts of her life that he never did. He started to imagine her in her younger days, her hair short like when they were in first year. Her glasses that she now wore as well. He came to the conclusion that he liked her glasses. He gazed over to her, her eyes partially covered by the frame of her glasses.

"Look at this." Yamagata suddenly laughed. "Satori looks like Tetsumo!"

The others all looked at the photo of a little boy with red hair. He had the same haircut that Goshiki wore today.

"You're right!" the others agreed.

"I looked cool didn't I?" Tendou grinned proudly. "That is the coolest haircut."

"Yeah, I'm not going to comment on that." Semi smiled.

They all laughed and looked at the remaining photos. Most of them had a volleyball in their hands except Semi and Ohira. Adorable little children, all of them. After every photo received a comment and a laugh and a back story, Tendou came up with a glorious idea.

"Tamiko-chan should rate the photos." Tendou suggested.

"Why would I do that?" she grumbled.

"It's just for fun. Who looked the cutest?" he asked.

Tamiko took another look at the photographs.

"Ushijima was adorable." Tamiko noted, mainly to herself.

Those words made Ushijima's heart skip a beat. Especially when she took the photo into her hands and smiled at it. It made him feel so strange.

"We have a winner." Tendou clapped and cheered.

While Tendou congratulated Ushijima, Tamiko gained a mischievous glint in her eye.

"But then again, you looked adorable as well, Tendou." she said.

Tendou quickly caught the gist of it. He knew her too well already and this was what he enjoyed about her. Teasing.

"Oh, was I?" he grinned.

"Well," she looked at the image again. The war was on. "You used to be. It's a shame really, what happened?"

"Puberty hit me like a truck." he said, running his hand through his hair in a smugly fashion.

"You could be as cute as Goshiki if you kept that hairstyle. You should get it back." she suggested.

In the back, Goshiki grew bright red and began stuttering nonsense. Tendou admitted defeat while Yamagata tried to explain to Goshiki that this was normal. After a good laugh, Tamiko gathered the photos of the third years.

"Can I keep those?" Tamiko suddenly asked.

"Why?" Soekawa asked.

"Well, we are going to graduate soon, so I thought I would make something nice with those photos." she confessed.

"I don't mind." Ohira smiled and the others also offered their photos.

She gathered them up and thanked them for their cooperation. Stacked in a small pile she left the living room, still smiling at the image of little Ushijima with a volleyball in his hand. He hasn't changed at all. Ushijima saw that smile and let a long breath escape him. He was enjoying this. Just her presence was enough to make him calm, despite the fact that he had a lot going through his mind. But it was mainly her. He had made it his goal to at least talk to her once while they would spent the next three days together. But at this moment he was lost in his happiness. Her smile was just so intriguing. What was that adjective called again? Charming. Fascinating. Beautiful. Enticing. Desirable. He didn't know what word fitted best but he was sure, that he wanted her.


Just another reminder to find extra stories and art of this fanfic on my blog on tumblr kageyama-tamiko. I am also open for a chat anytime :) Can't wait to meet my readers!