Haikyuu!! x Reader

Lifeguard {Tsukishima Kei} (Request)

You almost drown at a team beach party but saltykishima saves your ass
Requested by @Neji_Hitsugaya
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As you sat on your towel and watched a few of the boys from the Karasuno volleyball team challenge each other in a beach volleyball game, you self-consciously applied more sunscreen. If you got burnt, you'd never hear the end of it from your parents or from Tsukishima, who loved to tease you about everything. Since he was playing, surprisingly enough, you took it upon yourself to get him back.

"Come on, Tsukki, is that all you've got? I bet your grandma can hit harder than you!" you called out to him as you dusted the volleyball off when it rolled over towards you. Your friend glared at you as everyone else snickered and you tossed the ball over to Nishinoya, who was getting ready to serve. You gave Tsukki a sweet smile before he turned his attention back to the game and adjusted his glasses.

"Geez, you and my brother go at it all the time," Akiteru commented from where he was lounging on a towel next to you, "No wonder you're both impervious to each other's insults."

"Well, that's just how our friendship works."

A shit eating grin crept onto his face as he looked at you over the top of his sunglasses. "Mhm, friendship."

"Akiteru!" you gasped as you began blushing profusely.

"Kei only shoots insults at people he likes, if you haven't noticed. Even I can tell he really likes you," his brother explained, the devilish smirk remaining on his features.

"We're just friends, I swear!"

"Okay, okay." Akiteru slid his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose and rolled over onto his back to soak up some more of the sun. Once he was comfortable, he left you in an uncomfortable dead silence that made you fidget and overthink your situation.

Sure, you liked Kei as a friend, but you were starting to like him more than that, and you didn't really know what to do. He always acted so cold and intimidating that you were worried about confessing your feelings to him. You were afraid he'd just think you were joking and laugh it off, or that he'd reject you. Since those were the only two possibilities that lingered in your mind, you refused to move out of the friend zone and became complacent with the way things were between the two of you.

You hadn't realized how long you'd been trapped inside your own mind until your thoughts were interrupted by loud cheering from the beach volleyball court. Upon looking over at what was going on, you discovered that Nishinoya, Tanaka, Asahi, Suga, Hinata, and Yamaguchi had won the game and were celebrating raucously.

"Victory swim!" Nishinoya announced before bolting off the court and towards the ocean. Even though Tanaka was already shirtless, he picked up his shirt and spun it around in the air, hollering, before throwing it back down and running after Nishinoya to the ocean. On their way there, they stopped to pick up Kiyoko and carry her with them down to the water, much to her surprise.

The losing team milled around for a few moments before Daichi encouraged everyone else to go down to the water. As the boys started to leave, Kei wandered over to his towel a few feet away and sat down, watching everyone go and run around like little kids.

You weren't a huge fan of the ocean, but you still wanted to join everyone else. Akiteru had mysteriously disappeared from your side, so you got up off your towel and walked over to Kei. "Will you come down to the water with me?" you asked and extended your hands out towards him.

The tall blonde gazed up at you with a pair of uninterested, amber eyes, making your heart drop slightly. It was lifted once again, however, when he grudgingly took you up on your offer and grabbed your hand, nearly pulling you over as he used you to lift himself up. "Don't you know that when you offer someone your support you're supposed to be strong enough to help them up?" he criticized as he let go of your hand and brushed sand off of himself.

"You're not necessarily the lightest person in the world, you know," you grumbled in response as the two of you began your walk down to the ocean. Kei simply scoffed in return, managing to hold his tongue and enjoy your presence as he watched you wade through the water after reaching it.

You requested for him to come into the water with you, but he refused to move from where he stood, enjoying the sensation of water lapping at his feet. He was trying to maintain his self-control, and being in the water with you while you were wearing that irresistible bikini of yours wouldn't help him in the slightest.

The fact that your friend seemed to be ignoring you—even though he was doing the exact opposite—made your heart sink with disappointment, so you decided to turn your attention away from him and swim further into the ocean. As you did so, you could help but notice how many waves were crashing down around you and how strong the undertow of the water felt as it dragged you farther and farther away from shore. As minutes passed, your peaceful swim soon became a bit panicked as you tried to swim back to shore only to feel yourself being pushed away and under the water. The currents threatened to pull you under the water completely, and it became increasingly difficult to resurface for air and regain your breath before another wave beat you down and the undertow dragged you out towards the ocean.

As Kei talked to Yamaguchi, he slowly noticed that you'd practically disappeared out of his field of vision. Upon realizing this, he frantically looked around before spotting you struggling to stay afloat out in the water. Rip current, he thought with urgency as he watched more waves push you underwater. The overwhelming feeling of anxiety brewing inside of him made him sprint over to the water before anyone could stop him.

After diving into the water himself, he swam out towards you, fighting against the currents until he reached you. He then hoisted your body onto his back and started swimming around the rip current as you coughed and spluttered, clearing your lungs of all of the water you'd inhaled. You held onto him tightly until he got close enough to shore to move your body and carry you in his arms back over to your towel.

Once he'd set you down and had given you some time to calm down, he grilled you. "(F/n), just how stupid are you, swimming around in a rip current like that? You could've drowned!" he growled from where he sat next to you, his eyes glinting with an unusual sort of emotion. You'd never seen him look so worked up before.

"I-I didn't mean to get stuck! It all happened so fast! H-How the heck was I supposed to know what was going on?!" you cried, pushing your hair away from your face before putting your head in your hands. You felt like such an idiot as tears stung your eyes slightly.

There was a long silence as Kei watched you and thought of ways to comfort you. Sighing, he placed his hand on your shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

The concern in his voice made you look up at him, blushing slightly. "I'll be fine," you responded once you'd found your voice. His hand trailed from your shoulder down your arm before coming to rest on your own hand and taking it in his. This action made you blush profusely, and you ducked your head, hoping he wouldn't notice how flustered you were, especially when he squeezed your hand gently.

"You had me worried, but I'm glad you're safe," he murmured almost inaudibly, making you wonder if you'd heard him right.

When you looked up and saw that he avoided your gaze sheepishly, you took the opportunity to press a gentle kiss against his warm, red cheek and tell him, "Thanks for being my lifeguard, Kei."