Receiving Practice

Chapter 4

(1200 words)

Over the next week, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi started to hang out with each other more and more. It baffled the players on both Nekoma and Seijoh since the two boys are quiet and don't go out to meet new people often. They would sit and eat lunch together everyday as well as breakfast and dinner. Turns out Yamaguchi was right to befriend the blonde as it made their practices with each other more enjoyable and you could see the slight improvement in their volleyball skills as everyday passed.

Despite only knowing each other for a few days, they knew a lot about one another due to the fact that it would be considered rare to find them separate (not including practice or games of course).

It was nice for Tsukishima that Yamaguchi wasn't clingy. Sure he would always be with the other but he never tried to hug him or talk to much. Yamaguchi enjoyed the fact that there wasn't an intense pressure to keep a conversation going or having to plan out when they hang out. They complimented one another and genuinely enjoyed each other's company.

Though the more time the two spent together, the closer their bond became and the more they wanted to be with one another. It didn't take long before Tsukishima realized he liked Tadashi a little more than friends and he wasn't in denial about it either. The taller had known he was gay since middle school when he relized he had a crush on one of the guys in his class. Nothing ever came of it since Tsukishima never confessed and ended up losing feelings the summer before highschool.

Yamaguchi, just like Tsukishima, was also experiencing the same feelings but wasn't aware that they were more than what you see in a friend. As far as Tadashi knew, he was straighter than a stick as he has had crushes on a few girls and had never had these feelings directed towards a boy. Granted, throughout elementary and middle school he only had girls as friends since all the guys would tease him. In fact it wasn't till he became a first year that he found guy friends on the volleyball team.

Right now, the two boys were walking to breakfast together, as usual. They were laughing and chatting about Yamaguchi's pet turtle named Hachi (Bee in english).

"Then, she was about to walk right off my dresser so from where I was laying on the bed, I dove and just barley caught her in the nick of time, it was so crazy and I almost had a heart attack." Yamaguchi explained just as they walked into the cafeteria.

Tsukishima lightly laughed at the story.

"The things we do for our pets." The taller sighed.

"Yeah but you can't sit here and tell me you wouldn't do the same for your lizard."

"It's an iguana. Iguana!" Tsukishima repeated.

"Whatever nerd, let's just go eat, I'm hungry." yamaguchi said as he skipped off toward the food.

Tsukishima sighed fondly and smiled slightly before following his friend. They grabbed their food before sitting at Nekoma's table. They usually sit at Nekoma's table because Tsukishima felt more comfortable being at his team's table than Seijohs and Yamaguchi didn't mind. Plus it helped that there were lots of other players that sat with Nekoma like Bokuto and Akaashi and even Hinata from Karasuno sometimes. They sat down and Yamaguchi quickly dove into his food while Tsukishima took a slower pace.

They ate in a comfortable silence before Yamaguchi finished his meal. Tsukishima still had quite a bit of food left and Yamaguchi had wanted to talk with his coach before they started the day so Tsukishima let him go and continued to eat. Tsukishima sat in silence when he noticed someone's presence next to him. When he turned his head he saw none other than kuroo and Bokuto standing there.

"Can I help you?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"You just might be able to actually." Kuroo started before sitting on one side of Tsukishima and Bokuto on the other.

Tsukishima let out a sigh, "what is it?"

"We were just wondering what the deal was with you and Freckles, you seem offly close for only spending a week with each other!" Bokuto said as he wrapped his arm around Tsukishima's shoulders.

"We just hang out a lot, it's not a big deal."

"Really? How come you were whispering 'Tadashi' while you were sleeping this morning?" Kuroo asked with a cat-like grin.

Tsukishima remembered the dream he had the past night where he and Yamaguchi went on a date to a cafe and shared a strawberry shortcake. The boy flushed in embarrassment that he had been caught talking in his sleep and even worse caught dreaming about another person.

"I-it was just a dream." Tsukishima mumbled and pushed Bokuto's arm off his shoulders.

"A dream about Yamaguchi? Mind telling us what it was about?" Kuroo asked.

"We were just hanging out." He said quietly.

"Hanging out or a date?" Bokuto asked.

Tsukishima, out of embarrassment and not wanting anyone to see his red face, decided to leave the table without answering the question. Bokuto and Kuroo grinned at each other as they had got the answers they were looking for. The two third years had already invaded Tsukishima's personal space so they decided that it would be a good idea to tell Oikawa about Tsukishima's obvious crush on Yamaguchi. They could kinda trust Oikawa to keep a secret. After all, this is Oikawa's Kohai that we are talking about.

Lunch had just finished and they decided to find Oikawa and tell him the big news right away. They left the cafeteria and thankfully spotted the captain and were able to catch up to him.

"Hey Oikawa, come with us!" Bokuto said quickly and pulled Oikawa away where there were less people.

"Hey! What do you doofuses want?" Oikawa asked once they stopped walking.

"We have very big, very exciting news to tell you!" Bokuto said.

Kuroo walked over to Oikawa and whispered it into his ear, in order to make sure no bystanders could hear Tsukishima's secret.

Oikawa gasped. "Shut, up!" He exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yeah I know right! We were wondering if Yamaguchi feels the same way. Or maybe if you have picked up any hints of him acting strange?" Kuroo asked him.

"Well, not that I can think of. You know what? I can ask him, maybe he'll tell me. Anyways, better get going to practice, I'll talk to Yama-Chan later, bye!" Oikawa exclaimed, not forgetting his signature peace sign before walking off.

A/N 

I was contemplating weather to post this chapter now or write more and post it later, but I decided to just do it now cause I wanted to tell anyone reading this that my updates might not be as fast as they were before because we just got off Thanksgiving break. Yeah this also means I cant stay up late to write cause I have to wake up at 7. I will still post updates though so don't worry (not that this story is in high demand anyway) :/