𝗧𝘀𝘂𝗸𝗶𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯

🏳️‍🌈 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭 | 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 | 𝑀𝑦 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑜𝑢

Author's Note:

Hello hello! And welcome to my first entry of a four-part series for a pridemonth-4x3-challenge this June hosted by FanFiction Library on Discord! Link to their Discord: https://disboard.org/server/778179746185216030

The fandom and couple I'll be working with will be Haikyuu!! and Tsukihina-centric, and for their first week's theme it's "Identity", with my chosen prompt "Self-Discovery"

Hope y'all enjoy! :D

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It all started with the squeak of rubbered heels.

Tsukishima hears all his teammates huffed pants, see the sweat prickling exposed skin despite the natural chill in the gym, and their victorious exclamations on a good playthrough for their fourth or fifth practice round as he sits down as a benched player.

The latter part all thanks to his manic ginger-haired teammate and fellow first year receiving the ball in an impressive ninety-degree angle to his left, and therefore, directing the ball smack-dab right in his face.

Tsukishima lifts up a hand to rub soothingly on his right cheek, still feeling the remnants of pain shooting up his jawbone right after their coach sent him to the clinic and became benched until then.

He remembers blinking off colorful spots in his eyes to see a pale and very apologetic looking Hinata kneeling down before him from where he was crouched on varnished wood, remembers him profusely apologizing with a concerned look on his face, and vividly remembers that weird feeling in his gut right after.

Tsukishima chalks it up as some kind of bad after effect from getting hit physically and assumes a concussion of some sort, even if the logic doesn't connect with the feeling in his lower body and not in his head, but despite all that he sneers at the ginger anyway and only lets Yamaguchi help support him all the way to the clinic.

As he sits watching the team jog around the gymnasium for an after practice cool down, Tsukishima thinks it certainly hadn't stopped a certain male from stealing worried glances at him every once in a while, and it annoys the blonde to no end that it's affecting him personally, more than it should've.

Tsukishima comes home that night to a quiet bedroom, yet irritated to find a mind full of conflictingly loud, war-torn thoughts. He lounges above his comforters and finally, after countless weeks of ignorance, finally lets himself think about the issue that's been plaguing at the forefront of his mind.

It wasn't the first time he's had that weird annoying gut feeling surge up in him whenever Hinata Shoyo was around, sans getting hit by a volleyball. He's almost glad to see the incident hadn't snapped him out of this and back to his ordinary, normal self. Almost, he thinks irritatingly, because what's stopping him from diving deeper into the abyss— that he wouldn't admit to being frighteningly terrified of— is the fact that it's happening in the first place.

Tsukishima Kei prides himself on being the best, but most importantly, to not let anyone see they get to you while doing it. It's how he shows up to school everyday with the strict but condescending confidence that everyone knows him for, face through the challenging obstacles with an objective and logical mindset, thereby achieving the high honor roll grades that many of his peers envy, and set aside any emotional capacity that even a miniscule glance can make him look like a weak target.

All of those are blown out of proportion the moment his heart had started stuttering and skipping beats when seeing him. When his usually clear-focused mind starts going off the deep end in a blurry haze thinking about him. And him who's basically a bundle of feelings personified who wears his heart on a sleeve and constantly shows what he feels at every second whether it's his pure, sharp-eyed determination in the game, unbridled indignation for unjust acts of bullying from his peers, the trembling and shakiness and glossy eyes as he bonds emotionally with his friends and family, and that sheer, unnecessarily joyous smile seemingly directed at him which all entirely goes against his values and about to collapse at the seams, all because of him. Hinata Shoyo.