the boy in yellow • teruyama

10

tw: explicit language.

•

come the school week, the school's administration in johzenji took action for what had happened friday night. 

the baseball captain was suspended for a week, and had to serve two weeks worth of after school detention afterwards.  terushima had two days of suspension and one day of in school suspension, followed by two days of detention.  they let the volleyball captain off easier, saying that the injuries he sustained were punishment enough. 

students from other schools were dished out suspensions or detentions accordingly as a list of the perpetrators caught by the police went out.  most of them, however, were baseball boys, as violence on school ground was illegal. 

luckily, no one from karasuno got in trouble.  most of the crows had drifted out of the gym when the brawl started, the only ones staying behind being tsukishima, yamaguchi, and sugawara.  sugawara had stayed behind with other team moms to comfort an seemingly-inconsolable oikawa, who started crying rather uglily after iwaizumi took a beating. 

nobody knew about yamaguchi punching the baseball captain, and tsukishima and terushima stood by their word to not tell anyone.  school went back to normal that monday, the biggest gossip being the party but it was forgotten come tuesday morning. 

as for terushima and his sentence, he used it to his advantage.  instead of wallowing around at home all day, he completed all the homework he received from his teachers in the morning and early afternoon.  then, once he was done, he took the forty minute walk to karasuno to watch and was eventually allowed to participate in the crows' volleyball practice.

seeing as johzenji wasn't playing in the nationals, coach ukai wasn't so pent up about its captain being there.  the coach was also reassured that third years at johzenhi only attend the interhigh prelims, not the spring prelims, so he wasn't even going to be an opponent come then. 

terushima ended up getting along pretty well with karasuno.  he wasn't allowed to participate in all of the activities, as some were team-building, but he got along great with everyone.  he pleased the setters with his great spiking, he made quick friends out of tanaka and nishinoya; he never extended any captain authority over sawamura's team, and tsukishima even tolerated him.

as imagined, yamaguchi was ecstatic to have his friend at their practices, even though it was only going to be for two days.  it became quite obvious to the team that their bond was becoming something greater than a friendship, even though both of the involved boys were still oblivious to the fact.

after practice those two days, tsukishima accompanied terushima and yamaguchi to the best friends' usual split off before walking home.  the tall blond wasn't greedy nor jealous; he knew yamaguchi was going to have friends in his life that would eventually lead up to him calling them "his best friends."

tsukishima knew yamaguchi.  even if that meant sharing, yamaguchi would never push his childhood best friend aside.  the blond smiled to himself, thinking just these thoughts as he walked home tuesday afternoon.  greeting his mother at the door in an oddly good mood, he quickly went up to his room to text someone. 

keikardashian: are you going to do it?

freckledgrass: wish me luck!

•••

the two teenage boys had visited their favorite café, ice creams in their hands as they walked down the sidewalk.  they spent the afternoon at the shimada mart, practicing at the lopsided net with each other.  they spoke as little as they could, simply enjoying each other's company. 

it was dark by now, the stars shining in the night sky as yamaguchi led terushima to the karasuno park.  the karasuno native runs over to the swings that were built for eight year olds, and the boy in yellow couldn't help but laugh at his friend's antics.  the swings still worked for them both. 

they sat there, swinging a bit as they ate their respective ice creams.  they ate in silence, the olive-haired boy waiting until they were both done with their ice cream before speaking up.

"i lied."

terushima casts a sideways look at his the younger boy, confused but intrigued.  his black eye was still prominent.  yamaguchi purses his lips, looking up at the star-lit sky.  "friday night, when we were hiding in between the dumpsters.  i lied sunday when i told you that nothing happened," yamaguchi clarifies, gulping down a lump in his throat. 

the older tilts his head, waiting for the other to continue. 

"when i was little, in elementary, i was a scrawny kid.  real short.  my freckles were mixed up with acne, and some kids in my grade would make fun of me for them.  bullied, you can say.  they said that they could point out constellations or play connect the dots with them all.  it hurt, a lot.  i hated my freckles."

"after going to karasuno, the bullying stopped.  tsuuki has always been there to have my back.. we met when some kids were bullying me, actually.  saved my ass even though he insulted me a bit too." yamaguchi tucks a stray piece of hair behind his ear, feeling a burning gaze on his face. 

"but i still didn't like my freckles.  i didn't like how i looked, how i acted.  all my friends were so successful, but me?  i was just so weak," yamaguchi's hand clenches into a fist.  "i thought of all the ways how people could like me better if i tried to change for them.." he sighs.

"there was nowhere quiet for me to think.  someone mentioned going for a stroll helped.  and so, just over four months ago, i began to go out out on walks."

terushima was trying not to talk during the special moment, but a small gasp passed through his lips.  yamaguchi chuckles, his dark eyes glancing over at his friend before looking back up.

"and i met you.. and your friends, of course.  tell them i said hi tomorrow, please.  i never liked scary-looking guys because of the bullying, but despite your groups' piercings and your loud voices, i knew there was something different.  so, i kept going on walks.  and we started talking, we exchanged numbers, and then it just escalated from there."

yamaguchi exhales deeply, his posture slouching a bit thanks to the sigh.  he fixes it though, looking at terushima now.  giggling at his friend's dropped jaw, he leans over to close the older boy's mouth.  his eyes falter at terushima's lips before he looks away.

"in between those dumpsters, we were touching each other.. nothing bad, don't spiral.. and then you said something.  you said my freckles looked like constellations, but you didn't say it how those guys back in elementary did.  the way you said it even though you probably didn't know where we were, what was happening.. god, yuuji," yamaguchi's eyes were welling up with tears. 

"my heart burst, yuuji, it really did."

a tear tracked down yamaguchi's cheek and he looks down and away, embarrassed.  his heart was beating a hundred miles per hour.  a thumb wipes away the tear almost instantly, and a face interrupted his sight of the ground in front of him. 

warm, muscular arms clad out in a yellow hoodie engulfed yamaguchi, who let more tears run down his cheeks.  he was lifted up, and instinctively, the younger wraps his legs around the waist and his arms around the neck of the older. 

terushima chokes up on his words, yamaguchi burying his tear-dripping face into the yellow hood. 

"friday night.  i had a plan before it all went to shit," even in this moment, yamaguchi managed a little giggle, and terushima holds the other closer and tighter to his chest.

"i wanted to bring you out of the gym, and go up to the roof of the clubrooms and point out all the constellations with you.  and put your hand in mine.  and hold you.  and be there with you.  i wanted to say something, but i think you got there first.. say it, i want to hear it from you.  say it, tadashi."

"i love you, yuuji."

"i love you too."

mint chocolate chip flavored lips crashed into coffee flavored ones, the stars and the moon their only witnesses in the quiet park. 

~~~

| word count: 1,216 | paragraph count: 35 | time taken: 0:28 |