Unreadable. Unreachable. Unrequited. | TsukiYama ✓

6

[Yamaguchi]

"Hey beansprout!"
I heard the Nekoma captain before I felt him wrap an arm around my neck, his grip tight and almost choking me. "Had fun sending me on a wild goose chase yesterday huh?"

"Uh- my name's Yamaguchi. And I don't know what you're talking about, Kuroo-san." I mumbled, fiddling with the hem of my Karasuno jacket. I'd gotten out of practise before Tsukishima, Hinata and Kageyama so I'd waited by the gates for them to show up. "How are you even allowed out here? Aren't you on a field trip?"

"I'm a third year, they let us explore. Especially as I said it was 'volleyball business'. Anyway, so about Aoba Johsai-"

"And Kozume-san? He's a second year right? Why's he allowed out?" I interjected, desperate not to talk about how I'd lied to him.

"Volleyball business. Anyway! Why did you-"

"Yamaguchi!" Two voices called from behind us, making us both turn around to look into school grounds. Hinata and Kageyama were racing eachother to where we were, screaming things at eachother. I ducked out of Kuroo's strong grip and stepped aside as Hinata jumped at me, subsequently falling to the ground on his belly.

"Yama!" He whined, pushing hismelf to his knees as he panted. Kageyama had also doubled over, panting slowly and catching his breath. It was almost humorous to see Kuroo's confused expression.

"It's the freak duo huh?" He snickered at last. Hinata and Kageyama both snapped their heads up to glare at him.

"What are you doing here Rooster Head? Daichi-san will destroy you if he sees you." Hinata grumbled as he got to his feet, wrapping an arm around my neck and tugging me down to his level in the process. "And where's Kenma?"

"Rooster Hea...? Whatever. Kenma is at the inn, playing video games. I don't bring him around everywhere like you do to the King of the Court."

As if by instinct, Hinata's free hand reached out just in time to match Kageyama stepping forward, stopping him in place. Hinata didn't even look over at Kageyama to judge where he was, he just knew. What an enviable friendship.
"What are you doing at our school, cat-boy?"

"Relax, Shrimpy, I'm here to grab a friend- ah! Tsukki!"
All heads turned to where Kuroo was waving just in time to see Tsukishima walking out of the building. He had his headphones on, but instantly took them off as he saw Kuroo. Something he never did for me...

"Kuroo-san? What do you want?" Tsukishima asked blankly once he got close enough. He was so cool...

"It's training time, c'mon get you glasses-wearing ass to the gym. Bokuto said that your arms are too weak remember? We're getting some muscles on those twigs of yours." Kuroo smirked, whacking him on the shoulder. I could only watch helplessly as Kuroo and Tsukishima walked off, talking to eachother.
Tsukishima was just...

"Yeah... Tsukki is a mystery." I murmured once they'd left, pulling away from Hinata's grip.

"...by the way, Kageyama now I'm beating you in-"

"Not the time dumbass! Go comfort him or something!"

"You!"

"You think I'm good at comforting upset people? Or anyone?"

"I'm not good at comforting people when I'm upset too! Just try!"

As I was walking away, they followed a little behind, whisper-shouting at eachother as if I couldn't hear. It would've been funny, if my heart wasn't slowly breaking.

"...you're upset? Dumbass. Fine."

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and stopped, looking up at Kageyama. Honestly, I couldn't help but stifle a laugh upon seeing him, which just confused them both.

"I'm sorry Kageyama but... you look like you're about to explode." I laughed, hearing a quiet chuckle from Hinata beside me. "You're so awkward.."

"Huh- Dumbass Hinata! Don't you laugh too!" Kageyama seemed embarrassed by that, cheeks flushing a deep pink. That caused Hinata and I to burst out laughing.

I needed this. It was slowly putting my heart back in one piece, at least for now. In a weird, Kageyama-only way, he had helped. Though after a few moments my laughs did turn to quiet cries. Hinata placed a hand on my shoulder before unexpectedly giving me a tight hug.

"Tsukishima is an asshole. Yamaguchi, you know that right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"You know that he's not good enough for you, yeah?"

"..."

"He's nothing compared to you. Can he float serve? I don't think so. You're not saying it, but I know you're putting yourself down in comparison to him. Hell, you might not even notice yourself, but you're doing it. I do that all the time, mostly with Kageyama because he's so cool and yeah it feels like shit because you don't feel like you can match their coolness, but instead of seeing Tsukishima as this incredible person who you'll never be able to stand by, you gotta think of him as an inspiration."

"Yeah, I guess that jerk is... pretty good at read-blocking.. a bit."

"Thank you, Kageyama? But yeah, you may think Tsukishima is all... woah! Wow! But you're just as woah wow too! In a special Coolaguchi way! Where was I going with this again huh? Oh-! You're just as important as he is! You're our pinch server, so you're even cooler!"

"Dumbass, I don't think he's that upset about volleyball." Kageyama karate-chopped Hinata in the head, making him stumble back with a childlike whine. Then he turned to me, and I swear he was radiating as much intensity as he did during a third set of a volleyball match.
"Tsukishima is lame next to you."
He spoke so seriously that it was almost funny, but comforting too.

"Yeah! We like you more than Tsukishima!" Hinata added from where he'd fallen on the floor from Kageyama's absolutely fatal blow.

They didn't quite hit the nail on the head, but the thought was all that counted. Yeah... I was important too. Tsukishima was cool, but I was cooler. I didn't need to keep on putting myself at a lower peg compared to him. But still.. I wanted to be with him. Maybe not as lovers, but at least as friends...

"Because.. friends stand as equals right? And I'm an equal to him." I asked slowly, accidentally voicing by thoughts aloud. The dynamic duo nodded vigorously though, eyes bright.
"I've never had a friend before Tsukki.."

"Well.. now you have me! And Kageyama, Yachi-san, Daichi-san, Sugawara-san, Asahi-san, Tanaka-senpai, Nishi-"

"He gets the point."

"Shut! For some reason you still want to be friends with stinky Tsukishima don't you?"

I gave a pathetic little nod, not trusting myself to speak in fear in case I let out just how much I wanted to be close to him again.

"Then, you gotta make him feel the same way you did!"

"Hinata-"

"Not as in some overdramatic b.s., no no no! You gotta just... ignore him. Nekoma will be gone by next week and he won't have anyone to sneak away too. He'll try going back to you, but you'll be hanging out with us because we're better than him, then he'll get all sad and lonely and jealous. Then, when he asks you what's wrong, you'll be like 'what do you mean I thought you didn't want to be friends' or something like that, really wapow! All like that! Then he'll say how much he missed you and-"

"Enough, dumbass." Hinata received another karate-chop to the head, which he complained about again. "You could do something along those lines though, once Nekoma leaves. He's probably not been talking at all because he's been waiting for them or something. Hinata, you saw them training at the Tokyo camp right?"

"Mhm, he was with Rooster Head, Bokuto-senpai and Akaashi-san. Me and Lev joined in a few times. Kuroo-san and Tsukishima looked like they were getting along well, though that's probably because they played together so much being middle blockers. That doesn't matter though! Your history with Stinkyshima outweighs Rooster Head's ten to one! You're gonna make Tsukishima so jealous he'll beg for you to talk to him again!"

Yeah... what a nice idea.