In which Kyioko Amaku and Tsukishima kei come to the annoying realization that they might be more similar than they'd like to believe.
Slight enemies to friends to lovers
This is a SLOWBURN and will take place from s1-s4
A lot of the events don't go...
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Karasuno had won their first official game. While they weren't playing perfectly, it wasn't close, winning both sets by more than 10 points. Amaku was bursting with pride, although she looked slightly more than content from the outside.
Their next game was Date Tech later this afternoon, so Amaku was doing some last minute research while the boys stretched to stay warm. Truthfully, once she noticed Karasuno was winning the first match, she started paying closer attention to Date Tech's game. While the team on the court needed to be focused on the game ahead of them, Amaku knew she had to be one step ahead for them.
She was taping Asahi's fingers, he had jammed his middle finger and Amaku was considered the team nurse with all the injuries she faced as a player. The third year's face was contorted, and it wasn't hard to imagine what he was thinking about.
"Last game was different." She said quietly. "You're not alone. You're going to get blocked, anticipate that. But you cannot let up. You're the ace for a reason."
Asahi raised his head, about to say something before Daichi called out to him, Nishinoya beside him. She let him go, nodding at him before watching him leave.
Instead of grabbing lunch, she decided to go through her research on Date Tech, grabbing her laptop and earbuds to concentrate.
She wasn't sure how long she had been working before she noticed a pair of sneakers appear in front of the floor she was sitting on. Amaku looked up, meeting eyes with Tsukishima as she took out her left earbud. Before she could even ask anything, he spoke.
"If you don't eat anything and end up passing out, they're going to have to stop the game to take you out on a stretcher." He said simply, tossing her plastic bag. "And I know you're difficult, but that'd be really annoying."
He walked away, and it took a second for Amaku to realize he had handed her a bag of food. Upon closer inspection, he had also bought her favorite foods, okaka onigiri, a blood orange and strawberry milk.
"Blondie!" Amaku called out, stepping to her feet. He stopped, but didn't turn around. "Thank you."
"Shut up." He replied, turning the corner.
When she caught herself smiling, she forced herself to sit back down. She looked at the food again, trying to rack her brain to remember when she had told him she liked those kinds of food. Then, she realized she hadn't. But she always got okaka onigiri whenever the team went to Ukai's store after practice, she always ate a blood orange with her lunch in school, and she almost always bought a strawberry milk from the vending machine before practice.
Amaku couldn't stop thinking about it until warm ups for the next match.
"Okay! Time to win round two!" Hinata declared. After he spoke, the white-haired boy from Date Tech walked past him, glaring at him. The ginger jumped behind Amaku immediately, using her as a shield.
Amaku glared back at the boy until he was on his side of the court and his back was turned before pushing Hinata off with her shoulders.
"Dude, let go."
Before Hinata could respond, he was cut off by the loud chanting of Date Tech's cheering section, and Amaku paled. This was something she worried would be an issue for the team, even more so than their blocks at time.
The ref called for captions, and Amaku rushed to Coach Ukai to emphasize a few things in her reports.
Just when she thought the chants were getting to them, Nishinoya brought the attention back to him by doing his "rolling thunder" recieve, breaking the scare tactic Date Tech was using. They lined up shortly after that, Amaku much more focused on this game than the one before.
Easily, they could loose. Not because their skill wasn't there, but if Asahi wasn't able to get past the first game with Date Tech, it was going to be a difficult match to watch. The girls team had come to support them, as well as a few people from the neighborhood association team.
Karasuno won the first set, but as expected, it wasn't a blowout game like before. Still, most of the points they gave up were on errors, but their receives were getting stronger. Date Tech started read-blocking their quick attack, a move she was sure none of the first years have seen, except maybe Kageyama.
It was something she planned to go over with the middle blockers in a later practice, and it was something she knew Tsukishima in particular would be good at if he actually tried.
The whole game, Nishinoya was playing his absolute best. He was the best on the court that game, no doubt about it. The spikers were doing well, too. Amaku had told them if they couldn't get past their blockers, then just aim the ball off of their fingers or their arm, that way Karasuno can still get the point.
Although skill was a major point in the game, Amaku was sure the only reason they had won both sets was because no one stopped thinking they were going to win for a second. There was not an ounce of doubt on the court, and the trust the boys had in each other only grew.
Not once did anyone blame the other, even when things did get rough in the second set. Amaku hoped Oikawa had took notice that Kageyama was a part of that, too. He wasn't the player he was in middle school, he played for the team, not for himself.
Even when Tsukishima started taunting him the second he went in for Nishinoya, Kageyama obliged (even if it meant he called him an asshole while doing it).
When Asahi broke through Date Tech's "Iron Wall" to end the game, Amaku almost shouted with excitement. Instead, she opted for a modest smile, letting the boys have their moment.
After helping clean up, she fell into conversation with Kageyama and Hinata, making sure to praise them for being able to be discreet about the hand signals they were using.
"That's good that they couldn't read our signals." Hinata smiled, swinging his bag over shit shoulder so aggressively he almost knocked Tsukishima in the face.
"Uh huh." Kageyama agreed. "I guess we should keep them, then."
"Couple of morons like you managed to pull it together. I must say I'm impressed." Tsukishima smirked, and Amaku couldn't help the twitch of amusement on her lips.
"For your information it wasn't us!" Hinata argued.
"Why would announcing that help your case?" She said bluntly.
"Of course not," Tsukishima mocked. "so who did it for you then?"
Kageyama and Hinata's eyes flickered to Amaku, who was zipping up her jacket. When she looked up and saw Tsukishima's unsurprised expression, she rolled her eyes.
"You need to stop babying them." He smirked. "What happens when they have to start using their own brain?"
"I don't think we have to worry about that anytime soon." She pointed to Hinata, who had his jacket on upside-down.
To her surprise, Tsukishima let out a genuine, light chuckle. Even if it was at the expense of another, it wasn't mocking. She looked up at him for a moment, a glint in her eye of something foreign, before the cheers of girls brought her back.
That was right, Seijoh should be starting soon. Amaku fixed her gaze on the middle court, where Oikawa was starting his serve. He bounced the ball, made directed eye contact with Kageyama, and hit the ball with such precision and force it made her breathe hitch.
