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The fridges in Sakanoshita hummed their familiar electric sound. Tsukishima used to find that annoying. It had been another reason to keep his headphones on during their nightly stops at the store, Yamaguchi talking about this and that while deciding what flavor of soda he would get.
Tsukishima’s headphones were around his neck right now. And Yamaguchi was in a lively conversation with Hinata and Yachi, talking about an episode of some TV show they’d seen last night. It was a night like hundreds before it, the third years stopping at Sakanoshita for snacks after school. Only this time, it was four nights away from their graduation.
The fridges hummed, and Tsukishima idly thought that he would miss the sound.
One fridge door opened, its cold air flooding out and dousing Tsukishima before it fell shut again.
Kageyama held two boxes of milk in his hand, one plain and one strawberry.
“Thought you only liked the plain one,” Tsukishima commented. They walked to the front counter together even though Tsukishima had nothing to buy. This they did every night, too.
“Yeah,” Kageyama said, “but the strawberry’s for you.”
Tsukishima resisted the urge to smile. He hid it with a cough. “I didn’t ask for one.”
“I saw you looking at it. Just take it.” Kageyama’s tone left no room for argument. Which was usually the case.
“So demanding.”
But once the drinks were paid for, Tsukishima picked up the strawberry milk.
They walked out the front doors to wait for the others to finish. The sun was nearing the end of its descent, and the sky had gone purple and pink. It cast a light on Kageyama, whose face was downturned while he focused on punching a straw through the milk carton. Pink light caught on the ends of his eyelashes, which were rather unfairly long.
“So,” Kageyama said, “I need to talk to you.”
Tsukishima paused. “Well that sounds ominous.”
“It’s not like that.” Kageyama grimaced.
“Okay. Here, then?”
The others walked outside of Sakanoshita’s doors, bags in their hands. They were laughing at some voice Hinata was mimicking.
Kageyama somehow grimaced further. “No. Somewhere else.”
Kageyama didn’t fidget. But he kept glancing at Tsukishima then away, Tsukishima then away.
Tsukishima only felt a fondness in his chest, a feeling that ceased being unfamiliar partway through their second year. Maybe even before that.
“The park?” he suggested, which was only a few minutes’ walk from here.
Kageyama’s shoulders relaxed, and he nodded.
It was at that point that Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Yachi reached them.
“You all done?” Yamaguchi asked.
“Yeah,” Tsukishima said. “You guys go on ahead.” He lightly tugged on Kageyama’s sleeve as he took a step down the road in the direction of the park.
“Huh? Where are you going?” Hinata tilted his head.
“None of your business,” Tsukishima said smoothly.
“Hey! Why are you being so secretive?”
Tsukishima didn’t feel like explaining, so he gave Yamaguchi a look. And Yamaguchi, ever the clever captain, understood immediately.
“Come on!” Yamaguchi said, ushering Hinata and Yachi along their usual route home. “We can try all our new snacks at my house.”
Hinata didn’t look entirely mollified, which didn’t surprise Tsukishima. Yachi, on the other hand, wasn’t bothered at all. She gave a smile to both him and Kageyama in a manner that Tsukishima could only call knowing.
“See you tomorrow!” she said brightly, and joined Yamaguchi in trying to convince Hinata that eating snacks was far more interesting than where Tsukishima and Kageyama were going.
Tsukishima would miss them all too, when the time came.
“Have you found a place in Tokyo yet?” Tsukishima asked Kageyama as they walked.
“My mom scheduled apartment showings the week after graduation. And there’s an orientation or something that same week, so.”
“That soon?” The V-League had Kageyama hitting the ground running, it seemed.
“Yeah.”
“Nervous?” Tsukishima glanced over at him.
Kageyama had a gleam in his eye.
“No,” he said.
Figured. Tsukishima had to smile wryly.
The park was at the top of a hill. It was mostly empty, just some passersby with their dogs and a few children at a distant playground. Kageyama picked a bench that looked out at the nearby mountains, the same that Hinata biked through every day. They were lush and green. Tsukishima wondered if the mountains in Sendai would look like these. Would it matter, though, if they weren’t these particular mountains?
Sheesh. Graduation hadn’t even happened yet, there was no reason to feel this nostalgic.
“Will you stay at an apartment in Sendai?” Kageyama asked.
“My brother thinks I should just stay with him. Cheaper that way.”
“... But you don’t want to.”
“It’d be embarrassing.” Tsukishima cringed. “It’s already bad that now he’ll be close enough to go to all of my volleyball games.”
“So you’re going to keep playing?” Kageyama’s face lit up.
Ah. Tsukishima hadn’t exactly intended to let that slip.
“I’m thinking about it.”
“You should do it.”
“Of course you think that,” Tsukishima said. “But it’s not that easy.”
“Why not? You’re good.”
Tsukishima opened his mouth, trying to fight that horrid flutter in his chest and say the usual dismissives he had at his disposal. But Kageyama was difficult to argue with. Not only because he was stubborn as a brick wall, but because Kageyama only spoke in what he saw as the unadorned truth.
“Maybe I’m decent in Miyagi—”
“We went to Nationals.”
“And maybe we did well there, too,” Tsukishima continued. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m V-League material.”
Kageyama’s expression was utterly confused. Tsukishima would think it was cute, if he wasn’t currently spilling thoughts he hadn’t shared with anyone else on the team. Not even Yamaguchi.
Tsukishima sighed, looking down at the strawberry milk carton in his hand. Kageyama always wormed himself under Tsukishima’s skin somehow. It used to be annoying. It wasn’t anymore, not even a little bit, but it still took some getting used to.
“What if it was just this team?” Tsukishima murmured, fiddling with the plastic straw on the carton instead of looking at Kageyama. “What if it’s not the same, once I’m out there? I have game sense and height, sure, but maybe everything else was just because of the people around me. What if I don’t meet anyone like this team?”
Or like you? he didn’t add. But that was already obvious. He knew he’d never meet anyone like Kageyama.
Kageyama was quiet, brow furrowed. His mouth opened, then closed.
He said, “You’re the best middle blocker I know. You’re amazing.”
Tsukishima felt his face burn. “You’re exaggerating—” he began.
“You’re amazing, and you’re only going to get better the more you play.”
“Well, that goes without saying. More practice means getting better—”
“No, I mean— Ugh, will you just—?” Kageyama reached out and took Tsukishima’s face in his hands.
Tsukishima went quiet.
Kageyama’s hands were warm.
“You should keep playing,” Kageyama said. His face was red. Tsukishima knew his own face was red, too. “New teams take time to get used to, I know. But I didn’t think we would ever get along and now here we are. If you love volleyball, play it. If you want to get even better, play it. If you…”
Kageyama swallowed, and Tsukishima’s gaze flicked down to watch the bob of his throat.
“... And if you want to meet me on the court again, you should play.” Kageyama’s gaze was unrelenting and beautiful. “I would want to see that. How good you get.”
Tsukishima’s heartbeat was roaring in his ears. Kageyama wanted to see him again.
“Fine,” Tsukishima said finally. “I suppose you’ve convinced me.”
“Good,” Kageyama said.
Neither of them pulled away.
Something in the air had shifted, that was certain. Tsukishima wasn’t sure how to proceed from here. He knew what he wanted, but he was never very good at taking things without considering every way things might go wrong.
“While you’re waiting,” Tsukishima said, still held by Kageyama, “I would understand if you meet other people. It’s fine. You’re going to meet a lot of amazing athletes. Maybe you’ll fall for some big name, talented opposite hitter, or… Maybe a celebrity, or something. I don’t know. But—but that’s fine. I wouldn’t stop you. It would only make sense, really—”
Kageyama pulled Tsukishima into a kiss.
His lips were soft. Tsukishima felt Kageyama’s breath on his face, felt the shift of his jaw when Kageyama parted his lips and pressed forward, and their mouths slotted together a little more nicely. Tsukishima curled his fingers into the front of Kageyama’s gakuran and kissed him back.
The slightest nip of Kageyama’s teeth made Tsukishima’s head fill with white noise. But then they were pulling apart, breathless, and the rest of the world rushed back in.
Kageyama’s face was covered in a splotchy red blush. It looked really good on him.
“Shut up,” Kageyama said. “It’s you. It’s always been you. You jerk.”
“Your way with words is truly unrivaled,” Tsukishima said.
His heart was thumping. Kageyama’s hold on Tsukishima’s face changed into something gentler, just the cradle of his fingers against Tsukishima’s jawline.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place,” Kageyama admitted.
“A confession? How very dramatic.”
“I wanted to tell you for a long time.”
Way to throw Tsukishima’s entire gravity out of balance. How was it that Kageyama said these things so effortlessly? These things that cracked Tsukishima open and let the light slip through?
Kageyama was looking away with a blush still high on his cheeks, too embarrassed to meet Tsukishima’s eyes. Well, maybe it wasn’t entirely effortless.
Tsukishima sighed and raised one hand to touch Kageyama’s wrist.
“We made it here eventually,” he said.
He leaned in for another kiss. He felt Kageyama’s lips curve into a smile. Yeah, they made it here eventually. And they would make it through whatever came next, too.