Work Text:
(1)
Let the record show that Kentarou does not give a flying fuck who Tsukishima dates.
He does, regrettably, give a flying fuck about his teammates’ happiness. Not all of them, he’s not a psychopath, just Koganegawa and Tsukishima. That’s where he draws the line, that’s more than enough. But that does mean when Koganegawa shows up at his doorstep, bags with take-out in hand—because it’s Thursday and they always have dinner together on Thursdays and Kentarou is not quite sure how he got to the point where he regularly has meetups scheduled with his friends, but here he is—and loudly asks “Did you know Tsukki has a partner?” , he can’t help but raise a singular eyebrow in surprise.
Granted, it’s not much of a reaction, but it’s more than enough for Koganegawa who shoulders his way into Kentarou’s apartment like it’s his second home.
“I overheard him talking to Coach Saitou about the end of the season party and he said he was going to bring his partner as a plus one. I thought he was single? Shouldn’t we know? Are we bad teammates?” He keeps chattering away, placing the take-out boxes with a soft thud on Kentarou’s kitchen table.
Kentarou leans over to peek inside the white plastic bag, catching a whiff of sweet-sour smell. “You went to the Thai place?”
Koganegawa pauses his chattering to look up at him, nodding enthusiastically, before he continues, “Anyways, I was thinking we should investigate.”
“Did you get me khao soi?” Koganegawa’s words only register when he starts to pull bowls from the cupboard. “Wait, what are we investigating?”
“Tsukki’s partner,” Koganegawa beams brightly, carefully portioning their food—He did indeed get Kentarou khao soi. Fucking ace.
“Mh,” Kentarou hums, inhaling the steam coming off from his bowl. “Why?”
“Because Tsukki is our friend—”
Arguably true.
“—and we care about him—”
Also true.
“—and what if he finds out we didn’t know? He’ll be so disappointed in us. We’re the worst friends ever.”
He looks at Kentarou with wide eyes, hands thrown into the air. Kentarou swallows down a spoonful of soup.
“Dude. He won’t care.”
Koganegawa drops his arms with a soft fump. “No way. He’ll care! Tsukki’s like, all prickly on the outside but he has a soft, squishy vulnerable centre!”
Yeah, no. Kentarou’s calling bullshit on that one. Tsukishima is just as prickly on the inside as he is on the outside. And even if he wasn’t, his teammates not knowing who he’s dating won’t be the straw to break that bespectacled camel's back.
“We need to come up with a game plan! Or a list of suspects. Tsukki wouldn’t just date anyone. There’s gotta be history there. A connection .”
Truth be told, Kentarou has no fucking clue what any of that’s supposed to mean, but if he thinks about the way Tsukishima interacts with people, there’s one person who instantly comes to the forefront of his mind.
“Nah,” he tells Koganegawa, taking a quick break to slurp some noodles. “It’s gotta be Kageyama then.”
“Oooh,” Koganegawa’s eyes widen with an epiphany. “He calls him ‘king’, too! That’s so romantic.”
More like, embarrassing. It was questionable when they were teens but to pull that shit when you’re in your twenties? Let it go, man. Not that he’s going to tell Tsukishima that. None of his business.
Kentarou snorts into his khao soi, sending droplets of food dancing through the air. “Sure.”
And that’s the end of it, case closed, he decides. Except Kogangegawa suddenly releases a loud gasp. “No, it can’t be Kageyama. He’s in Italy.”
“Long distance exists,” Kentarou counters with a shrug.
“Nooo, Ali Roma has a game when we’re having the party. Hinata told me! Because he said it’s so annoying that Kageyama is not coming back for their Karasuno meet up. And that’s around the time of the party, so he definitely wouldn’t be able to come. I know because Tsukki was complaining about that, too.”
Okay, guess it’s not Kageyama then. That’s mildly annoying.
Kentarou digs out his phone, slowly tapping away with one finger to send off a singular message:
>> you call another man king and he’s not even sucking your dick wtf have some self-respect man
The reply is almost instantaneous:
<< I don’t need to hear this from a guy called Mad-Dog by his entire high school team. How many cocks did you suck back in the day?
What an asshole. Kentarou’s not replying to that.
(2)
Kanji likes to keep in touch with his friends. That kind of thing has always been important to him, so as soon as Goshiki told him he’d be back in Miyagi to visit his family, Kanji invited him to hang out.
It’s been a while, both of them have been busy with volleyball respectively but outside of that, Kanji has no idea what Goshiki has been up to.
What he doesn’t expect is for Goshiki to show up at his door, a pink flush to his cheek and say, “Hey, I need your advice on something.”
Then, once he’s been ushered inside he proceeds to pull out a small velvet box, hands shaking slightly.
Kanji gasps. “No way. You’re proposing to her?”
Goshiki nods, face now bright red. “Yeah, I think so. Unless… You don’t think it’s too soon, right?”
If you ask Kanji, it’s never too soon for love. And really, thinking about it, there seems to be something in the air. First Tsukishima, now Goshiki.
Wait. Tsukishima.
Kanji gasps again, grabbing Goshiki by the shoulders and softly shaking him. “Tsutomu! Did you hear? Tsukki is dating someone.”
Goshiki blinks at him. “I— That’s great uh— but could you go back to my question?”
“No, this is important. Do you know who it is?”
“And my engagement isn’t?” Goshiki mutters, sounding slightly put out, but there’s no time for that. Romantic mysteries need to be solved!
Kanji narrows his eyes at him. “You do, don’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Goshiki splutters. “I—huh? I don’t know? I mean maybe in high school but now?”
Kanji shakes him more forcefully. “Who? Who?”
“Would you stop that? ” He lets his hands fall away. “Hinata. I thought maybe Hinata, back in school… Remember at camp when they…?”
Oh. Oh. He does remember. That time Tsukishima came and pulled Hinata aside and they all thought he was going to confess to him.
“We need to call him,” Kanji decides, already fumbling for his phone, starting up a video call with a couple of taps.
It takes four rings, then Hinata appears, slightly pixelated but his bright smile still visible.
“Kogane! Bom dia!” he laughs. Behind him palm trees trail into the distance as the screen shakes slightly. Kanji thinks he might be on his morning run.
“Hinata!” Kanji replies with just as much excitement. Then he remembers why they’re here. “Are you dating Tsukki?”
For a second he thinks Hinata's screen freezes but then Hinata’s brow furrows and Kanji realises he has only halted in his steps. “You do know about me and Kenma, right?”
That is not an answer. Kanji narrows his eyes.
Behind him, Goshiki peeks over his shoulder. “Hinata, I’m so sorry, I tried to stop him, I don’t know what’s happening to him—”
“Goshiki! How are things?” Hinata asks cheerfully, clearly not bothered the slightest bit as he bounced back to his usual happy demeanour.
“Good. I’m actually thinking about propo—”
“None of that matters,” Kanji interjects. It doesn’t. (“It does,” Goshiki complains quietly behind his shoulder.) He needs to solve this mystery first. “That was not a proper answer. You could both be dating Tsukki! You better not be hiding this from me.”
“Kogane,” Goshiki hisses, elbowing him into the side. “What’s gotten into you?”
What a silly question! Love has gotten into him. Love and Mystery.
On the other end of the line, all the way in São Paulo, Hinata bursts into bright tinkling laughter. “You really don’t know? It’s kind of obvious.”
That’s exactly what Kanji feared. With a groan he buries his head in his unoccupied hand. “I’m a terrible friend.”
“Nooo! No! It’s okay. I can just tell you if you—,” Hinata rushes to reassure him, even as Goshiki grumbles, “You kind of are, right now.”
“Don’t tell me,” Kanji shoots back. That’d be cheating. He doesn’t deserve to find out like this. “I need to do this the right way.”
Goshiki awkwardly pats his head. “You’ll figure it out. Right?” The last word he says louder, directing it toward Hinata.
“No, yeah. It’s super obvious. You’ve got this. You just have to pay attention to who Tsukishima spends time with!”
“It’s not Kageyama, is it?” he dejectedly mumbles the question.
Hinata only laughs, bright and happy.
(3)
Kentarou is not sure you can call what they are doing ‘investigating’. So far it has only amounted to Koganegawa asking random acquaintances if they are dating Tsukishima. The reply has been a resounding ‘no’, with the exception of that one JVA representative that is always around somehow, who just burst into high-pitched laughter and excused himself to “check on the volleyballs”. Whatever that’s supposed to mean. Fucking weirdo.
There was another unfortunate incident where Koganegawa tried to “hack” into Tsukishima’s phone—it’s not really hacking if you know the code, even if you obtained that code by creepily staring over your teammates shoulder for three days—but Tsukishima came to collect his phone before they could get very far. The only hints they have are a contact labelled ‘idiot’ with a red heart next to it, the hint of dark hair in a profile picture, and a message that said, ‘ can’t wait to see you soon Tsukki it’s been far too long <3’. All in all, fucking nauseating if you ask Kentarou.
Now they are switching things up apparently. According to Hinata, they are supposed to be watching how Tsukishima acts with other people and once they do they’ll be able to see who his partner is. Well, Koganegawa is supposed to. Kentarou definitely doesn’t care.
It’s definitely Ushijima, though. That guy has been staring weirdly at Tsukishima all night.
“So we both agree it’s Bokuto-san, right?” Koganegawa whispers as he leans into Kentarou’s side.
They’ve been at this promotional event for hours and so far Kentarou has been standing in a corner, glaring at people. Tsukishima was keeping him company for a while but then the shifty JVA guy showed up and whisked him away. It’s obvious he’s trying to make Tsukishima the face of the Frogs or something. Kentarou’s not complaining, better Tsukishima than him.
“Bokuto? Why?” He searches the crowd for the MSBY spiker, and sure enough, there he is, arms slung over both Tsukishima’s and the JVA guy’s shoulders—and really? That guy is everywhere —loudly boasting about something. Kentarou only makes out the words “amazing” and “straight” before he decides he doesn’t care to know more.
Tsukishima is—huh. Tsukishima is doing that face where he presses his lips together, trying not to smile. He actually looks kind of fond when he shoves Bokuto’s arm off his shoulder.
“Just look at them,” Koganegawa says, having watched the same scene. And sure, Tsukishima is definitely fond of the guy, Kentarou will give him as much, but dating? No way.
“He doesn’t have dark hair. If it was him we would’ve known by the picture right away.”
“Ugh, you’re right,” Koganegawa sighs. “Who do you think it is then? And don’t say Kageyama again.”
“Not my fault, it makes sense,” Kentarou grumbles. It’s really not. It’s Tsukishima’s for calling him ‘king’. “And it’s totally Ushijima. Look at him, he’s been making weird eyes at Tsukishima all afternoon.”
Koganegawa hums thoughtfully. “That is kind of weird, but I don’t know. I just can’t picture Ushiwaka being the kind of guy who calls him ‘Tsukki’.”
He does make a good point. The idea of Ushijima referring to anyone with a nickname feels pretty strange.
Kentarou glances back toward Tsukishima. Bokuto is gone by now, but the JVA guy is still there, arm slipped around Tsukishima’s waist—he sure is touchy—as he ushers Tsukishima across the room.
Right towards Ushijima, it seems.
“Yo,” Kentarou calls out quietly, jabbing Koganegawa with his elbow to catch his attention, nodding in the direction of the newly formed group.
Both of them are watching the scene before them unfold. Kentarou expects some intense eye contact, maybe a hand kiss—he’s placing a lot of faith into Ushijima’s romantic prowess here.
What he doesn’t expect is a polite greeting, directed at Tsukishima, and then for Ushijima to turn toward the JVA guy and start bombarding him with questions about an upcoming charity match.
Huh. Would you look at that?
“I guess we’re both wrong,” Koganegawa sighs.
(4)
“It has to be one of his friends, right? Yamaguchi or Yachi. What if it’s both, do you think it can be both?” Kanji doesn’t wait for Kyoutani to reply. “He always smiles at them really nicely! Of course, they are dating. They have to be!”
Kyoutani snorts. “I think that’s just how he smiles when he’s genuine. He smiles like that at you, too, you know. Can we shut up and watch the movie now?”
The movie is currently the furthest thing from Kanji’s mind. Kyoutani is right. He is so right. Tsukishima does smile at him like that. How hasn’t he noticed it before? What else has Kanji missed?
He gasps loudly. “He does! Wait!” Another gasp. He’s just had an epiphany. “What if he’s dating me? Mad Dog!” He turns towards his friend, pelting him with popcorn to get his attention. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kyoutani turns aways from the screen and growls. “Stop that,” he deflects another popcorn kernel. “I can’t believe I have to say this but you are not dating Tsukishima.”
Kanji opens his mouth, ready to protest. He could totally be dating Tsukishima. He’d be a great boyfriend, that’s what his mother always says.
But before he can say so, Kyoutani keeps going, “First, you would know.” Debatable. “Second, if he’s dating you, why would he tell Coach he’s bringing a plus one? You already have your own invitation. Third, you do not match the profile at all”
Okay, so maybe Kanji is not dating Tsukishima. Fair enough.
“Then it has to be Yamaguchi and Yachi, they always come to our ga—”
He’s cut off by a handful of popcorn being shoved into his mouth. It’s caramel, his favourite.
“Just shut up and watch the movie. We’re about to get to the good part,” Kyoutani grumbles, pointing at the screen where an animated chicken is knitting.
Kanji opens his mouth to protest, popcorn kernels spilling out. How is he supposed to focus on Chicken Run at a time like this? They have a mystery to solve!
Kyoutani’s hand shoots up to cover his mouth, keeping both sound and popcorn from escaping. “We can ask them about it after, okay? Now be quiet.”
Kanji does manage to stay quiet for the rest of the movie—that Rocky guy (Chicken? Cock? Rooster?) is a real piece of work, huh—but mostly because he’s busy creating a group chat with Yamaguchi and Yachi.
By the end of the film, he’s arranged themselves a coffee date and is forcefully pulling Kyoutani out the door before he even has enough time to finish wrapping his scarf around his neck.
“Yo, chill,” Kyoutani barks, just as he manages to pull a knitted hat on.
This is not the time to chill. Investigation calls!
The café is bustling by the time they get there, but Kyoutani secures them a table in the far back corner while Kanji goes ahead and orders for them. One oolong for him, a hot chocolate for Kyoutani.
“That’s not what I ordered,” Kyoutani grumbles when Kanji carefully places the mugs on the table, but he pulls the sugary drink closer despite the protest.
Kanji shrugs. “You didn’t but I know you wanted to.”
Kyoutani harrumphs but otherwise stays quiet.
Ten minutes later they are joined by Yamaguchi and Yachi, each of them balancing their own mugs as they make their way over—cappuccino, Kanji thinks.
Quick greetings are exchanged, then Yamaguchi asks with a wrinkle to his forehead:
“What’s wrong? You said it was something important.”
Kanji squares his shoulder, straightens himself in his seat as he shifts into detective mode. “We are investigating! You two are dating Tsukki!”
Kyoutani sets his hot chocolate down with a sigh and a quiet thud. “He’s bringing a plus one, not two. It’s only one of them.”
“We are investigating! ” Kanji repeats, trying for the same dramatic flair. “One of you is dating Tsukki!”
Yachi and Yamaguchi exchange a loaded glance before breaking into nervous chuckles.
“Did Kei-kun tell you that?” Yachi asks, eyes darting around nervously.
“No, we induced it. He smiles at you nicely, so it has to be one of you.” Honestly, Kanji is starting to feel really proud of his detective work.
Kyoutani just sighs again. “Look, he’s just obsessed with the idea of finding out who Tsukishima is dating. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“ We are obsessed,” Kanji corrects. “Tsukki is our friend. We should know!” Then in a quiet whisper, he adds, “Please don’t tell him we didn’t know.”
“Ah, well, that’s easy then,” Yachi starts to explain with a relieved smile. “It’s—”
“No!” Surprisingly the outburst does not come from Kanji this time, but Yamaguchi. “Don’t tell them.”
He then turns to Kanji, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hands, elbows placed on the table. “What do you know already?”
Kanji digs out the mental list he’s been assembling these past days, glancing at Kyoutani for encouragement—he gets none—before he starts to count on his fingers: “We know they have Tsukki privileges, so they’ve probably known him for a while. Very likely they are doing long distance, but they also spend as much time together as possible. Dark hair.” That’s where the list ends. Actually, that sounds like—
He turns to Yamaguchi with wide eyes. “Oh, it’s you!”
Yamaguchi splutters, then bursts into a series of giggles. “Me and Tsukki? I mean, I guess I do kind of fit the bill, but no. No. I’m definitely not Tsukki’s type.”
“And what would that be?” Kyoutani grumbles with a furrowed brow, leaning forward, pushing his hot chocolate aside. Oh, he’s getting invested! Kanji so knew this was going to happen!
“Annoying.”
Three heads in unison swivel around to gape at Yachi in shock.
She yelps, quickly covering her mouth with both hands, embarrassed blush colouring her cheeks. “Did I say that out loud? I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to—I just—I didn’t mean it like that.”
Yamaguchi snorts softly. “It’s fine, Yacchan. You’re not wrong. Tsukki does enjoy pretending to be annoyed.”
Kanji adds ‘annoying’ to the list.
When they finally make their way back home later to continue their movie night, Kyoutani grumbles into his scarf, “I still don’t see how it’s not Kageyama.”
(5)
“Maybe we should just give up,” Kentarou sighs as gives himself a onceover in the mirror. He looks good, a simple shirt, no tie, tucked into charcoal slacks. Eyeliner, small silver hoop dangling from his earlobe.
Next to him, Koganegawa is looping a green tie around his neck, dressed in a similar ensemble minus the make-up and jewellery.
“No, I’m telling you, it’s that Suna guy!”
“Why? Because they follow each other on twitter?”
Koganegawa nods vigorously. “And because Tsukki called him annoying, once.”
“That means jackshit. He calls everyone annoying. You know who he also calls annoying?”
“If you say Kageyama again—”
“Kageyama.”
“Why are you so obsessed with him?”
Kentarou shrugs. “I don’t know, I just can’t believe he’s single.”
Koganegawa meets his eyes in the mirror. “Maybe he’s not.”
He scoffs in reply. Sure, probably. Maybe he’s got a hoard of people over there in Italy calling him ‘king’ or ‘re’ or whatever..
“You really don’t think it’s Suna?” Koganegawa asks again.
“No way. Do you even know if they’ve seen each other since high school?”
“Who else then?”
Kentarou thinks for a moment. He pulls aways from the mirror, searching for his pair of black boots. They’re by the fridge for some reason. He slips them on.
“What about his book club friend? You know, the one with the glasses?”
“Akaashi? No, I don’t think Tsukki finds him annoying at all.”
Kentarou groans. This is a nightmare.
“Maybe we should just think about the most annoying people we know then,” he suggests, shrugging his jacket on, sliding phone, keys and wallet into his pocket. “Ready?”
When he turns to look for Koganegawa, his friend is staring at him, mouth hanging open.
“ Most annoying person we know,” he repeats slowly. “Oh my God. It’s—”
“Oikawa.”
“Futakuchi.”
Another fail.
(+1)
Kei throws Tetsurou one final glance once they reach the restaurant Coach Saitou has booked for their end of the season celebration.
“Everything alright?” he asks, quirking a singular eyebrow when he sees his boyfriend awkwardly shuffle back and forth on the balls of his feet.
Tetsurou turns toward him. “Be honest, Tsukki. How do I look?”
Kei sighs, a fake and put-upon little thing that brings a soft smile to Tetsurou’s face.
“Like an idiot,” he replies, taking a step closer and before he can even think about it, his hands are reaching out to readjust Tetsurou’s tie. A little quieter, he tacks on, “A handsome one.”
Tetsurou beams at him, confidence rekindled by the simple compliment. “Aw, you think I’m handsome? Tsukki, do you have a crush on me? That’s so embarrassing.”
The words are accompanied by an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.
Kei rolls his eyes at him. “I hate you,” he says, but the words slip out all soft and mushy. He can tell by the glint in Tetsurou’s eye that he’s already gearing up to say something incredibly sappy in return, so Kei spares them both the embarrassment by locking their lips into a gentle kiss, stealing the words right from Tetsurou’s tongue.
When he pulls away, Tetsurou has a floaty smile on his lips, eyes dancing across Kei’s face. He’s slightly breathless. They both are.
Kei will never get used to the effect he has on him.
“Come on, let’s go.” He extends his hand for Tetsurou to take, mostly because he knows how nervous Tetsurou can get about these kinds of gatherings, no matter how much he tries to overplay it with easy confidence.
Tetsurou takes it, intertwining their fingers before squeezing them gently. Kei squeezes right back.
The moment they step in through the door, they are greeted by loud excited cheers. Clearly, the alcohol has been flowing for a while.
“No way!” One voice cuts through them all. “Tsukki! That’s who you’re dating?”
Of course, it’s Koganegawa.
“Hey,” Kei fires back with a glare, prickling defensively at the exclamation. Tetsurou just squeezes his hand again. “Watch it.”
“Yo,” that’s Kyoutani, just as he steps up to them, Koganegawa following close by. “The JVA guy? Really?”
Kei glares at him, too. “I don’t know what’s happening with you two, but you need to cut it out.”
Both of them exchange a guilty glance, expressions softening slightly.
“We didn’t mean it like that. Sorry, Tsukki,” Koganegawa says in a small voice. “We were just so surprised it was him. We’ve been trying to figure out who you’re dating for ages.”
“When we asked you, you just laughed real weird,” Kyoutani adds with narrowed eyes, looking Tetsurou up and down.
Tetsurou just releases a nervous high pitched laugh in reply.
“But I guess it makes sense. You are always hanging around,” Kyoutani continues.
Kei rolls his eyes. “Thanks for your approval. Really means a lot to me.”
Kyoutani bares his teeth in an approximation of a smile. “No problem.”
“Guys. Guys,” Koganegawa desperately starts, trying to pull their attention. “Please. Don’t do this again.”
They both ignore him.
“I’ll be sure to congratulate you on your relationship, too. Oh, wait. You don’t have one,” Kei mocks in a biting tone.
Kyoutani growls at him. Growls. He’s really taking the whole Mad-Dog thing too seriously.
“Guys,” Koganegawa tries again.
They stare each other down for a few more seconds, before both suddenly crack matching smiles, tension bleeding away.
“You’re so fucking annoying,” Kyoutani says, this time without the bite, and he forcefully claps Kei on the shoulder.
“Oh, thank God,” Koganegawa sighs. “Your dynamic is so weird.” He turns toward Tetsurou, “Their dynamic is so weird.”
“Tsukki tends to have that effect on people,” Tetsurou replies, sounding entirely unsurprised by the turn of events, and then smacks a kiss to Kei’s cheek in an attempt to soften the blow.
Kei glares at him regardless.
“Babe, you’re so hot right now,” Tetsurou grins.
Clicking his tongue, Kei pointedly pulls his hand from Tetsurou’s grasp and turns to face Koganegawa. “Let’s go get some food.”
With that he marches in the direction of the buffet, Koganegawa following closely behind and releasing a loud whooping noise in doing so.
“Tsukki,” Tetsurou whines behind him, but Kei ignores him. He’ll make it up to him later. Maybe. If Tetsurou gives him his dessert.
“Dude,” Kyoutani can be heard in the distance. “Your boyfriend calls Kageyama ‘ king’.”