Tsundere - Tsukishima Kei X Reader

Short Story - Bleach

Y/N walked into the home she had lived in through her first year in highschool, ready to surprise her elder cousin who was supposed to have graduated his college just a few days ago. Nobody was home at all though, and the place was dusty as if it had been that way for a while.

"Chikara?" She cautiously called out. "You here?"

As expected, she got no answer. Y/N dialed up his number which he picked up after just the second ring.

"Hey Y/N! You're at the house right?"

"Yeah, but where are you?"

"So Mom went on a trip again, this one is a month long though. I stayed in dorms starting a few months ago as well so nobody should be there now."

"Wait, what do you mean 'now'?"

"Tsukishima-kun offered to clean up the place while we were out, and also just to check out the security stuff like nothing's been stolen."

"Kei? Being helpful? And NICE?!"

"He's been a lot nicer after we all graduated, definitely less of the remarks. I heard that he even gets along well with Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun!"

"Really? Weren't Shoyo and Tobio playing professionally now?"

"They made it after all I guess! Well I gotta go but why don't you help out with the cleaning? At least make him some food for coming over."

"Fi-" The call ended.

Y/N rolled her eyes and started searching for some teabags since she really was to lazy for anything else. She found a good brand in the section that was the same from even back when she was there, so she brewed up the tea nice and warm.

The second she placed the teabags into the boiling water, the doorbell rang and it startled her so bad she almost knocked over the kettle. You are not Rei Todoroki-ing yourself today Y/N!

She opened the door expecting Kei and instead was met with a gorgeously mature looking young man with pale blond hair just long enough to look tousled up naturally. Pale blond hair...? Tall...?

I'm so dumb that IS Kei! Y/N found herself scanning her old friend top to bottom, he really did glow up even though it seemed already impossible before.

"Y/N? Weren't you in America again for college?"

"The voice oh my- Oh I'm talking out loud okay um.. I was planning on surprising Chikara because we have vacation in the summer all season long, but he wasn't home."

"Ah... I see." He stared at her right back, taking in how she seemed more mature than he remembered. Well, just a little.

"Oh!" Y/N remembered. "I made some tea if you'd like before we get to cleaning?"

He agreed politely and the pair stepped in, and as if on cue the kettle steamed happily away, signifying that the water was done boiling. Y/N took out two teacups and poured Kei some tea before filling her own cup with the hot drink.

He sipped at it calmly, while watching Y/N drink hers with long, fluid sips instead.

"Peppermint?" The blond broke the silence as he stared at his now empty cup, which our good hostess Y/N filled right back up.

"Yep. It never grows old, does it?" She smiled up at him and he returned it, glad that both remembered their moments with the tea. "You've aged well, too."

He laughed and said, "It's been around three years not three decades!"

She giggled back, a small sign of agreement after all. Kei cautiously continued, "You've also glown up a bit."

Y/N looked at him, but like a child he'd turned away, embarrassed. "My my~ after all this time you still can't give a compliment without going red as a tomato?"

"And after all this time you're still ever the tease." He rolled his eyes playfully at her and she gave a mock pout in return. Y/N lifted the kettle to pour them some more, but it felt light and sure enough, it was empty when she checked inside.

"Ah! The tea's finished. We should start cleaning up now."

The two got up and started getting out the supplies from underneath the cabinet, from sprays to powders to brushes as well. Kei looked for the bleach but couldn't find it at all, so he asked Y/N where it was.

"No worries, it should be right- oh that's strange?" She leaned further into the cabinet, now on her hands and knees. "I don't see it yet!"

Kei looked down at her then right back up, embarrassed because her skirt was looking a bit short all of a sudden and he didn't want to think about things like that after finally reuniting with one of his good friends.

Y/N sat back up with the bottle of bleach and looked over at Kei, confused. "You look like you need to 'bleach' your eyes or something." She held up the bottle with a grin. "Anything the matter?"

Calm down, Kei. Don't let her know you're the only one thinking like that! "N-not really." He inwardly cringed at his voice crack. "Where did the eye-bleaching term come from?"

"Oh, it's just a little joke people our age in America make." Y/N stood up, dusting herself off as she did so. "It's used when someone saw something they really shouldn't have, so the bleach is like a cleaning tool."

"Wouldn't that kill you?" He stared at her with genuine concern.

"You'd think so, right?" Y/N rolled her eyes at a memory of her chaotic energy with her American friends. "So what happened?"

"Nothing at all, though I'm now more concerned about your mental health than anything else."

Y/N laughed. On her tiptoes leaning towards the tall male, she whispered softly, "Aww, someone still cares about me don't they?"

"How did you-"

"Just kidd-"

They looked at each other again. This time they both exclaimed in unison, "What'd you say?!"

They both laughed as an immediate defense against the awkwardness and started walking around to actually get some cleaning in.

"Hey, Y/N..." Kei finally worked up the courage to say as they finished up the living room. "Would you like to go for some coffee and catch up sometime while you're back? Only if you have time or whatever."

He was getting shy and she could see it all over, and was so happy he'd finally gotten the dang hint and asked her out again. " Yeah! I'd love that."

Kei couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face and Y/N felt all tingly inside at seeing the boyish side of Tsukishima Kei that nobody but her had found out through his usually cold demeanor.

I'd never bleach this memory away.

A/N:

...hello again my friends hahahaha

To the readers who put up with my lazy updates um thanks again! This was an apology chapter for not getting the story finished dang it!! But I'm sad to say that as we know season three as Tsukki's big redemption arc, there will be just a few (hopefully from five to ten) more chapters left :(

I swear this story's gone so far from back in summer 2020 when quarantine led me to start writing.

Bye for now (I swear I'm trying 😭😭)

Saishimi 💜