Hidden From You [Haikyuu / Tsukkiyama]

The Fleeting Effect

Tsukishima always thought he would be alone.

Despite other teenagers his age, his mind had never expressed a tinge of desire to be in a romantic relationship. He never craved physical contact. He never wanted to share an emotional connection with anybody, preferring to revel in isolation. It was not until a musky Tuesday morning, where the school gym was so spacious it obstructed any amount of artificial ventilation that he witnessed a familiar freckled classmate try time and time again to execute a float serve, only to remain prolific. It was only until he had served the ball over the net that Tsukishima realized the reason why.

His heart was taken by Yamaguchi.

Known for ten years, friends for nine. They had slept over at Tsukishima's home a copious amount of times. After all these years he could probably collect the scattered, useless information stored in his brain about Yamaguchi and present them on a bulletin board as well as a dissertation long enough to challenge the works of famed theoretical physicists. They have fallen asleep listening to David Attenborough documentaries more times than he would like to admit. He knows that salted buttered popcorn is Yamaguchi's favourite snack, hence why he always has packets impeccably stored in his cupboards like a doomsday prepper. He also knows that he loves to listen to instrumental music and calm synthwave, much to his delight. Yamaguchi is something special, and Tsukishima found himself baffled at why Yamaguchi had captured his attention at all. They have known each other for years. Why now?

To classify these feelings as conflicting and exhausting would be a vast understatement. Extra-strength Yamaguchi glue has been cautiously mending his crippled heart throughout most of their friendship, and Tsukishima felt an alluring inclination to backtrack their entire friendship and investigate when his feelings had started to take effect. Tsukishima tried to block out all the polar bear facts Yamaguchi had listed to him over the years like a receipt while they both gradually lost consciousness to the television sitting in negligence. He vaguely pictures a tall silhouette of discarded DVD cases and cassettes that began their inevitable journey to pile in a corner of his bedroom due to laziness and the lack of shelves or empty cabinets, acting as a token of their close bond. Tsukishima's eyes had begun to strain as he tried to focus, blotches of colour appearing like fireworks the more he steadied his vision into the distance.

Except he couldn't focus. Not while Yamaguchi shared an uncanny resemblance to a child who was just told they were going to Disneyland with their favourite uncle.

A loud slap echoed through the gym, sudden enough to pull Tsukishima out of his wandering thoughts.

"Daichi! Daichi, I finally did it!"

Tsukishima watches Daichi smile at Yamaguchi like a hawk, Daichi's eyes filing through Yamaguchi's lingering self-doubt. Tsukishima's heart twitches as their arms fall back down to their sides. He curses Daichi for even being able to touch, let alone high-five Yamaguchi without wanting his touch to continue shocking his pores with dangerous levels of excess dopamine.

Tsukishima stares at his lap, concentrating on one convoluted question in the latter half of his advanced maths textbook dedicated to calculus and tries to ignore the intrusive adrenaline he feels as Yamaguchi approaches him from across the gym. Yamaguchi has the biggest, dorkiest smile plastered on his face and his asymmetrical dimples are prominently ingrained below his clustered, freckled cheeks. The footsteps dissipate and lose their sound, alerting Tsukishima to Yamaguchi's closing presence.

"Hey, Tsuki. Did you see my float serve?"

Tsukishima tries to glare at Yamaguchi nonchalantly, but instead, he resembles a mole from a whack-a-mole arcade machine poking its head out like he's overtly desperate for conversation.