Under the Stars

#15: Losing Focus, Cover Blown

For an entire week, Tsukishima manages to remain calm and collected around Tadashi. He still feels that little spark every single time he sees him, but he's gotten more used to it. He hasn't decided whether or not he's going to tell Yamaguchi about his feelings, let alone how he'd go about doing that. After all, how do you tell your best friend that you've fallen in love with them?

The team has been practicing every day after school, continuing to improve their skills in preparation for the Spring High Preliminaries, which is now a month and a half away. Everyone has gotten back into the routine of school, and Hinata and Kageyama have already managed to fall behind. Thankfully, Yachi is here to help them before they start failing. Honestly, Tsukishima has no clue how she does it. He's just glad that it's not his responsibility.

The last bell rings and he packs up his bags and goes down to the changing rooms. The entire team is already there by the time he arrives. He sees Yamaguchi in the corner, taking much more time than one would deem necessary to take out his gym clothes to avoid changing in front of the others. Tsukishima weaves his way around everyone and drops his bag down next to him. The two are in the same class, but he hasn't had the chance to talk to him much today.

"Hey," he says, "How are you doing?" He has a feeling that he already knows the answer.

Yamaguchi looks up at him with a blank expression, before looking back down and shaking his head. His way of telling Tsukki that it's a bad day.

Tsukishima nods in understanding, but his heart hurts for him, knowing that he can't do anything about it. They both wait until everyone else finishes changing, and then head towards the gym. Everyone is already warming up, and they go join in.

***

An hour and a half into practice, Tsukishima's legs burn from running around the court, desperately trying to receive Coach Ukai's spikes. He's fallen a few times, with bruises already starting to show on his elbows and knees. They'd moved onto another drill, one where Coach throws a ball against the net and they have to dig it up. Everyone stands in a line, waiting for their turn, watching as others dive onto their stomachs to hit the ball up.

Tsukishima is standing near the end of the line when Yamaguchi goes in to dig up the ball for the umpteenth time. He successfully hits it up into the air and starts to walk back to the back of the line, when suddenly he stops dead in his tracks. He just stands there, looking at an arbitrary point on the floor some distance away. Coach had thrown the ball for Sugawara after Tadashi, but he didn't throw another ball after noticing that Tadashi has frozen on the other side of the net.

Sugawara approaches Tadashi from behind and gently places a hand on his shoulder, and before he says anything, Tsukishima has already left his place in line to check on Yamaguchi. He leans down so that he can see his face properly. His eyes are shut tight and his lip is wobbling, the tell-tale signs that he's about to start crying. Tsukishima carefully places an arm around his shoulders, and Sugawara takes his own hand away. But before they have the chance to take a single step, the tears are already flowing. Tsukki looks over his shoulder to see the team awkwardly watching the two of them. Hinata and Asahi are a step out of the line, looking to help Yamaguchi, but stop once they realize that Tsukishima is handling the situation already. He looks over at Coach Ukai, who wears the same concerned expression that everyone else does, and silently guides Yamaguchi out the gym doors.

They don't even bother changing into their outdoor shoes and instead head straight towards the locker rooms so that nobody can see Tadashi crying. It's not that Tsukishima is humiliated by this, he just understands that Yamaguchi would rather avoid being seen at this moment. He's already cried in front of the team, he doesn't need to make it any worse.