after years, your best friend's older brother makes an earth shattering appearance back into your life. and suddenly, a shared secret not only turns your lives upside down but forces you two to be closer together than ever.
est. may 2023
YOU SIGHED AS YOU dried your freshly washed hands and walked back into the living room. tsukishima's eyes tried to follow your every move as you lifted the blood-soaked shirt from his abdomen. you slipped it into a plastic bag to avoid making any more of a mess.
"we're gonna need to replace this couch," you sighed, taking out a pair of scissors.
he ignored that, his attention fixing on your hands. fingers twitching at his sides, he surveyed you. "what... are you gonna do with those?"
"this," you responded half-heartedly, too focused on cutting his shirt right down the middle. tsukishima hissed when you peeled his shirt, sticky with blood, off of him. he moved forward slightly, allowing you to slide the sleeves down his arms.
"that was one of my favorite shirts, you know," he muttered dryly, making you roll your eyes. it wasn't until you tried using the fabric to wipe the excess blood off his stomach that you realized you couldn't see a damn thing. your eyes had gotten so used to the dark, and you'd been in such panic that you completely forgot.
reaching over, you twisted the notch on the lamp, permitting soft yellow lighting to flood the room. the comfort from that didn't last long.
the moment you turned your gaze back to tsukishima, a deafening scream clawed at your throat, begging to be freed. you let your eyes flutter shut as you fought to keep it chained up. with both your hands resting on his lower thigh, you squeezed, applying pressure at the bones of his knees; deep breaths circulated your lungs as you examined the boy before you.
you knew tsukishima often got himself into trouble. with that mouth of his, let alone that attitude? it was bound to happen, and everybody knew that—but to think he'd go as far as to let this happen wasn't something anyone would've anticipated.
looking at the stab wound on the left side of his abdomen—right above the tattoo of the tiger he got when he turned 21–it became clear just how fucked tsukishima was.
you exhaled a breath so shaky you were sure your lungs had deflated. when you looked back up at him, tsukishima looked at you with an unreadable expression. on the other hand. despite your best effort, the unreadable expression on his face made it impossible to tell if he was feeling bad for putting you through this; besides, you were too busy trying to bite back the bile threatening to erupt from your throat.
