Push and Pull

“Kageyama?” one of them asks, leaning over his desk. “Are you alright?”

“Head hurts,” Tobio grits out.

“Do you need to see the nurse?”

“I’m fine.”

He puts his head in his hands and breathes, thinks of the exercises he used to do when he felt a little sore or overwhelmed and the space between his eyes ached more than usual. He’d do breathing exercises, get a glass of water, lie down, take a nap.

But pacing his breathing is doing nothing, he’s in too much pain to get up and get himself some water, and he’s pretty sure his teacher will get angry with him if he just lay down in the middle of the classroom and decided to fall asleep. There wouldn’t be any harm in going to the nurse’s office, but then she would say something about his health and wellbeing and not let him go to volleyball practice this afternoon. Tobio doesn’t want that.

So he bares his teeth and toughs it out, even though he wants to scream again. His classmates keep glancing at him worriedly since he keeps letting out frustrated grumbles under his breath. When the lesson starts up again, his teacher asks once if he wants to go to the nurse’s office, and also threatens to drag him there, but he manages, “I’m fine,” and then, “I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine,” until she stops and leaves him alone.

He figures it’s just a momentary thing. After practice, or maybe even during, it’ll go away or he’ll be distracted away from it enough that he won’t have to worry about it anymore. He feels a little dizzy when the bell rings and he walks to the gym, but it’s not all that bad. It would be worse if he actually did miss practice because of it.

He’s ready to endure the pain and let volleyball take over, wash away the headache. But as soon as he steps into the gym, it disappears.

Tobio blinks. Mostly everyone is there—he’d been walking slower than usual, due to the pain. Hinata bounces over to him and says, “Hey, Kageyama! I heard you were shouting in your class earlier.”

“How’d you hear,” Tobio grumbles, taking out his water bottle and placing it on the bench.

Hinata goes on about how some of his friends in Tobio’s class had told him, and Tobio rolls his eyes. His own classmates are exactly that, but Hinata likes making friends pretty much anywhere.

Then Hinata is saying, “I wouldn’t go near Tsukishima today.” He drops his voice into a whisper. “He seems to be in a really bad mood.”

“I don’t care,” says Tobio. He glances at Tsukishima from the corner of his eye, who is talking to Yamaguchi. Tsukishima is clutching the side of his face and frowning.

Tobio doesn’t think much of it when practice starts.

*

He expects that to be the end of it, and practice goes on as usual. Hinata was right: Tsukishima is grumpier than usual, snapping too quickly when Tobio sets to him, despite that he hits it every time. Tobio has to hold himself from lashing out, because it’s not like he wants Tsukishima to miss; he’s pretty satisfied that he’s getting used to setting to him in the way that Tsukishima wants him to.

But he remembers what Hinata had said about Tsukishima’s bad mood and chalks it up to that. When practice ends, Tobio gathers up his things and heads out of the gym, being one of the first to leave.

It comes back as suddenly as it had left—a striking pain, in the middle of the skull, erupting out of nowhere. Tobio yells and falls to the ground, clutching his head.

Hinata and Suga are rushing over to him immediately. “Kageyama?” Suga says, crouching down by his side.

Hinata exclaims. “Kageyama! Are you getting ill?”

“I don’t know, dumbass,” Tobio shouts between his teeth. “I don’t know what’s happening!”

Behind him, he can hear more noises. It doesn’t drown out the searing pain and the rage of sound flooding through his head, senseless and noisy and piercing. Tobio cries out some more and bends his head between his knees, on the dirt and barren patches of grass.

Then Suga has his hand on his back and saying, “There’s something wrong with Tsukishima, okay? I’ll be right back.” His voice is a little more distant when he says, “Hinata, look after him.”

“I don’t need Hinata to—” Tobio starts, but the hand on his back disappears and Suga is gone.

Tobio lifts his head up a little to see Hinata peering at his eyes carefully. “Maybe you did something bad,” Hinata says, conspiratorially. “Maybe this is the universe getting back at you!”

“And maybe you need to shut up.” Tobio tries to punch him, but most of the energy in his body is trying to repair the pain in his brain, so it’s half-hearted. Hinata doesn’t flinch at all.

“Wonder what’s wrong with you,” Hinata muses.

Suga comes back out, jogging with a worried line between his eyebrows. “Tsukishima’s having a similar problem,” he says to the both of them. “C’mon, we should figure this out together.”

Tobio shakes his head. He grabs his things, which had fallen when he’d crumpled to the ground, and manages to stand back up. “It’s okay,” he says. “I’m going home.”

He manages two steps when the pain gets even worse, not just in his head but flooding to his shoulders and starting a terrible ache at his elbows. Inside the gym they hear an inhuman yell.

Tobio falls to his knees again.

“No you’re not,” Suga says firmly, and clutches Tobio by his arms. At least he manages to do so gently; Tobio’s knees are wobbly, barely keeping him up.

He hears Suga say, “Hinata, help me with him.”

“Okay!”

Tobio wants to say something about how he doesn’t need Hinata’s help, goddammit, but it’s hard to work his mouth and he’s more concerned about how his face is screwed up and his skin is burning in pain. Suga and Hinata manage to lug him back inside the gym, dragging him up the steps and settling his feet onto the squeaky wooden floors.

As soon as his sneakers make contact, the pain subsides almost immediately. There’s still a faint ache between his eyes, but it’s more than halved; Tobio can stand up straight and see more clearly now. He rubs at his eyes and takes in his surroundings.

On the ground, Tsukishima is surrounded by everyone else, adjusting his glasses and rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he’s saying, scowling at everyone. “It’s better now. I don’t know why.”

“Hm,” Suga says, from Tobio’s side.

Hinata echoes him. “Hm!”

“Kageyama.” Suga turns to him. “Do you think your headaches and Tsukishima’s are connected?”

“What—no!” Tobio gapes at him and presses his lips into a stubborn frown. “What would that have to do with anything? Why would Tsukishima and I be connected?”

Suga shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says, but gets a mischievous glint in his eye. “Let’s find out!”

And then he’s pushing Tobio towards the crowd, while Tobio tries to protest. Hinata, because he’s terrible, delights in Suga manhandling him, and helps Suga by pushing him with more force than necessary. Tobio almost trips over his own feet and also Kinoshita when he arrives at the crowd around Tsukishima.

“Oi!” Tobio says, as Hinata shoves him into Azumane’s back.

Hinata jumps back and grins. “Sorry!” he says, not sounding sorry at all.

Tobio huffs at him and turns around. Tsukishima’s eyes narrow at Tobio’s sudden presence.

“What are you doing here, king?” he spits.

“It’s not like I want to be here,” Tobio grumbles, and doesn’t meet Tsukishima’s eyes.

But Suga says, “I have a theory,” popping out from the crowd. He paces between the two of them, as everyone else steps back a little to give the three of them some room.

Daichi asks, “What’s your theory, Suga?”

“Well these two had headaches at basically the same time,” says Suga, gesturing between the two of them. Tsukishima glares at Tobio, probably because he doesn’t want anything to do with him. Tobio doesn’t know if he shares the sentiment, but he scowls back anyway. “And it got worse when Kageyama tried to leave the gym. And—let me guess—you probably had headaches all day before you came to practice.”

Tsukishima doesn’t answer.

So Tobio says, “How did you know?”

Suga shrugs and smiles. “Tsukishima was in a foul mood, and you weren’t any better,” he says. “But neither of you complained until you started leaving.”

“This is like magic,” says Nishinoya, awed.

“They make each other suffer when they’re around each other, so now it’s the same when they’re not, too!” Tanaka exclaims.

“That’s so morbid,” Azumane says frightfully. “What if they’re just like, soulmates or something?”

Tobio sputters. Tsukishima sputters, too, and glances to Yamaguchi for help. But Yamaguchi is hiding a smile behind his palm. Tobio doesn’t try to think about what it means.

“You might be onto something, Asahi,” says Suga, and he and Daichi snort at the idea at the same time.

“Well that’s great,” says Tsukishima. He picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder. “I’m soulmates with this idiot. Can I go now?”

“I’m pretty sure if you leave, the pain will return,” Suga says thoughtfully, because apparently now he’s in charge of this whole operation. Tobio doesn’t know what to think of that, but he trusts Suga for the most part, so he doesn’t protest.

Tsukishima scoffs. “I can live,” he says, and takes a step forward.

Tobio pinpoints the moment the pain begins in his head again. And with each step Tsukishima takes toward the door, it gets worse and worse until he’s clutching at his cheeks, trying to move the ache elsewhere so it won’t feel like someone is trying to squeeze his head to death.

“Stop it, Tsukishima,” he hears Suga’s voice say, because Tobio’s vision has gotten blurry and all he can look at is the wooden ground. He thinks he hears Daichi trying to calm him, but he can’t focus on anything right now.

There are more useless footsteps. Then the pain is decaying further and further away until it’s a faint spot in the back of his head.

Yamaguchi has dragged Tsukishima back, who looks reluctant but no better than Tobio feels.

“I was right,” Suga says proudly. Tobio and Tsukishima try to glare at him, but Tanaka and Nishinoya praise him with too-loud shouts, and Azumane pats him on the shoulder.

Daichi looks between Tobio and Tsukishima carefully. “You shouldn’t be apart,” he says to them.

“I’d rather stick pins in my eyes,” says Tsukishima, glaring at Tobio.

Tobio scoffs. “Like I’m enjoying this any more,” he mutters.

Daichi folds his arms and stares at the two of them like they’re two particularly troublesome pet dogs. “I’m serious,” he says. “We can’t have either of you out or in pain, especially for the sake of your wellbeing.” He smacks them both on the back, which really does not help with the stupid headache that is starting again.

But Tsukishima steps closer to Tobio by an inch—whether intentionally or by accident, Tobio can’t tell—and it lightens significantly.

“So you’re going to stay together until whatever this thing is,” Daichi gestures between the two of them, “goes away.”

Tobio crosses his arms and huffs.

Tsukishima glares at their captain. “What do you expect us to do?” he says, and that he referred to them as us makes Tobio a little less reluctant about all this. “I need to go home. I haven’t had dinner yet. And I’m sure Kageyama has even more needs than I do.”

“Hey!” Tobio says.

Daichi ignores them.

But it’s Yamaguchi who pipes up, “You can stay in the club room if you want. You can call your parents and say it was an emergency.”

“That’s a great idea, Yamaguchi,” Daichi says gratefully. Yamaguchi beams.

Tsukishima, for some reason, is glaring at him. But Tobio says, “Fine,” and takes out his phone.

He begins to trudge away to call his parents. To his surprise, though, as soon as he takes a step, Tsukishima yanks him back by his arm.

“Are you stupid?” Tsukishima demands. “Don’t you remember what happened the last few times we moved away from each other?”

“I need to call my parents if we’re doing this,” Tobio retorts.

“And I do, too. Just—stay here.” Tsukishima waves vaguely and takes out his own phone.

They stand with their backs to each other, calling their respective families. Tobio’s parents understand, though they don’t really ask for any more details after he says he’s going to stay overnight in the volleyball club room; they probably think he’s overworking himself, because in middle school sometimes he’d accidentally sleep overnight after a private practice and they’d berate him thinking that he hadn’t had any sleep before he mentioned that he was getting ready to go home and had just closed his eyes for too long. They’re not any less worried now, but it hasn’t really happened much since then.

Tsukishima’s phone call takes a little longer. Tobio talks to Hinata to pass the time, and Yachi, who has been cowering in the back fearfully since this all started.

“Ooh, you’re going to spend the night with Tsukishima,” Hinata says eagerly. “You better tell me how it goes!”

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Tobio growls, shoving at his shoulder a little.

Yachi’s eyes dart between him and Tsukishima. “Why do you think this is happening?” she asks worriedly.

“Beats me,” says Tobio, shrugging.

“Maybe you are soulmates,” says Hinata. He chuckles. Tobio tries to hit him again, but he dodges more easily this time.

“I’m not soulmates with anyone,” Tobio insists.

Hinata snorts. “Except for volleyball.”

Tsukishima closes his phone shut and huffs. “I can stay,” he says, to the room at large.

Suga claps his hands together. “Great!” he says. “Let’s get dinner then, and then you can come back together.”

“Wait—what?” says Tobio, confused.

Suga gestures to himself and the others. “We need to go home after dinner, of course,” he says. “But you two are staying here, right?”

Tobio doesn’t know what to say. For some reason, he’d been under the impression that one of them would stay with them. To chaperone, or something.

“So, dinner!” says Suga.

Tobio doesn’t glance Tsukishima’s way once as he joins them out the gym, though at least this time it doesn’t end with him in a splitting headache and humiliatingly on the ground. He sticks by Hinata’s side at the back of the flock, letting Hinata engage with him on what they should get for dinner, and pretending that Tsukishima’s presence which used to be a little less than unpleasant before is like a tense warmth that he doesn’t want to address.

He doesn’t say anything about it, but Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stay in the shop even after they’d bought their own dinners, as Hinata and Tobio get their own. Then they congregate outside, and Tobio grudgingly walks over to Tsukishima as Yamaguchi strays towards the others.

“Have fun, you two,” he calls back. Tobio catches the sound of him snickering.

“Stop that, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima says uselessly.

Yamaguchi waves a hand back behind him.

Tobio glares at their retreating backs as they bid their goodbyes to the two of them. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to spend the whole night with you,” he mutters, not looking at Tsukishima.

“Believe me,” says Tsukishima dryly. “This is not a walk in the park for me, either.”

*

They head up to the club room, because Coach and their advisor had patiently stayed out of it, and handed over the key to Daichi when he asked, who in turn gave it to Tsukishima (well, it was more like Tsukishima had snatched it up before Tobio had the chance to grab it) and said, “Play nice, we don’t want to see either of you limbless tomorrow morning.” The school is dark and barren at this time of night, and they make their way through the eerie pathways and creep up the balcony.

Tobio flinches when one of the staircase steps creaks underneath their feet.

In the dark, he can see the outline of Tsukishima’s smirk. “Scared?” he taunts.

Tobio snorts. “Yeah, right,” he says, and climbs the rest of the way up.

Tsukishima turns the light on in the room as they step in, moving miscellaneous things strewn on the floor out of the way, like Tanaka’s lucky volleyball and Narita’s PSP that he always leaves up here. The battery’s dead, but it’s not like Tobio is very good at puzzle games, anyway.

Tsukishima sets up camp at the back of the room, taking the only open space and settling down. He stretches his legs and places his bag next to him.

“What are you doing?” says Tobio.

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow. “Making myself comfortable, what does it look like?”

“You’re—” Tobio helplessly glances around the room. “Where am I supposed to sit?”

“Don’t know.” Tsukishima is grabbing a book and a mechanical pencil out of his backpack. “Don’t care.”

Tobio splutters for a moment, then sits down in the middle of the floor. This isn’t going to be good on his back, and he blames Tsukishima entirely for it. He blinks, not knowing what to do for a second, because his weights are at home and so are his pens and pencils—he usually just asks one of his classmates for one each day, and somehow ends up losing them.

“What are you doing?” he asks Tsukishima, again.

Tsukishima sends him a long-suffering look. “Doing my homework,” he says. “Though I don’t suppose you know what that is.”

Tobio glares at him.

“I don’t have a pencil,” he says.

Tsukishima doesn’t look up from his book. “Good for you,” he say absently.

Tobio places his hands on his knees, crosslegged. Tsukishima is taking up too much room and his feet are almost touching Tobio, but not quite. Tobio wants painfully to just get up and go, but he’s afraid that if he does, he won’t even make it back home. He’ll probably end up passed out at the side of the road somewhere, and who knows what will happen to him while he’s out.

“Can I,” Tobio grits out, staring at the musty floor. “Can I borrow a pencil?”

Tsukishima looks up.

“What’s this?” he mocks. “Kageyama is asking me for help? On his own?”

“I said, can I borrow a pencil.”

“I don’t know.” Tsukishima is grinning now, tapping the plastic back end of his own pencil against his chin. Tobio bares his teeth and forces himself not to say anything. “What if I said no?”

“Then I’ll sit here and stare at you until I fall asleep,” Tobio shoots back.

“Terrifying,” Tsukishima says, dry.

But he reaches into his backpack and pulls out another mechanical pencil. “Don’t break it,” he says to Tobio.

Tobio begins to pull out his own homework. “I’ll try,” he replies.

*

Some time passes, when they’re scratching in their respective books and putting up with each other’s company. It’s surprisingly not that terrible, when they’re not speaking. Every once in a while Tobio has problems with his homework, but he’d rather eat five tubes of wasabi than ask Tsukishima for help.

The urge to use the restroom hits him after a bit. Tobio starts up and heads toward the door, until Tsukishima’s sharp voice says, “Where are you going?”

“Bathroom,” Tobio says, opening the door.

Tsukishima is scrambling up. He dusts off the front of his shirt, and then says, “I’m coming with you.”

Tobio frowns at him. “You need to use the toilet, too?”

“No, you—” Tsukishima closes his eyes in what is probably annoyance. Tobio doesn’t think he deserves to look like that.

“We need to stay around each other, remember?” Tsukishima says. And then, probably because he feels obligated to, he adds, “Idiot.”

“Right,” says Tobio.

“So I’m coming with you,” says Tsukishima.

“Okay.”

They walk down the balcony, the key to the club room jangling a little in Tsukishima’s pocket. It’s darker than before, the moon peeking out from behind a building, against the blue-black of the sky. Tsukishima shivers a little.

“Are you cold?” Tobio asks. He’s wearing his maroon gym outfit today, so the long sleeves are covering most of his skin.

Tsukishima shoots him a glare, visible under the white light. “No,” he retorts, and shivers again.

Tobio rolls his eyes as they finally make their way to the men’s room. He opens the door for Tsukishima, to let him in, but Tsukishima scoffs.

“I’m not going in there with you,” he says.

Tobio frowns. “Then what was the point of you coming with me?”

“So I don’t fucking pass out while you’re gone, and you don’t go unconscious when you’re in the middle of taking a piss.”

Tobio didn’t think it was possible for Tsukishima to sound angrier, but evidently he was wrong.

“Just don’t make me wait too long,” Tsukishima grumbles.

Tobio uses the toilet as quickly as he can and washes his hands. The pain stirs in the middle of his head again, so it generally chases away any stronger urges to relieve himself. He looks at his reflection in the mirror—there are bags from under his eyes, probably from his body hating existing for most of the day today. He scowls before heading back out.

Tsukishima is sitting on the ground, arms across his chest like he’s cold, eyes closed. He peeks an eye open when Tobio comes back out.

Tobio is struck with the urge to help him up. But then Tsukishima’s already standing up, looking Tobio up and down.

“All done?” he says wryly.

Tobio shrugs, and they walk back to the club room together.

*

Somehow they manage to make it through the night without killing each other. Tobio miraculously finishes his homework in what feels like the first time ever, and after he’s done he yawns immediately. Tsukishima suggests for him to turn out the lights, and Tobio realizes that Tsukishima’s now reading a book; he must’ve finished his homework a while back and just waited for Tobio to finish his, too.

Tobio does not think too much about it as he gets up and goes to shut off the light.

He falls asleep with his head on his backpack, Tsukishima presumably still sitting up with his back against the wall. Tobio isn’t particularly picky about where he sleeps, so he doesn’t stir and only wakes up when the next morning the room is flooded with light, and a loud voice is shouting, “They’re alive!”

Tobio groans and sits back up, shielding his eyes from the strain. Behind him he hears Tsukishima groan, “Shut up.”

“That’s no way to talk to your captain, Tsukishima,” says Suga’s morning cheerful voice.

“Wake up you sleepyhead!” shouts Hinata.

Tobio has no qualms with getting up in the morning, especially with the promise of volleyball. He rubs his eyes to see Kinoshita wavering over to him, a small smile on his face. He’s holding a small duffel bag.

“We figured that you guys wouldn’t want to walk around today in yesterday’s clothes,” he says to Tobio. “So we dropped by your houses to pick some stuff up for you guys.”

Tobio is grateful; he has to remind himself from time to time that his teammates aren’t just that. “Thanks,” he says.

Kinoshita graces him with a small smile before going back to join the crowd.

Ennoshita and Nishinoya are at Tsukishima, with a similar looking bag. Tsukishima is glowering at them, though the thank you that he grounds out doesn’t sound short of sincere. Nishinoya exclaims a you’re welcome back, and Ennoshita bumps Tsukishima’s shoulder with his own and tells him to sound more genuine.

“We’re glad you didn’t kill each other,” Daichi chuckles, as Tobio and Tsukishima inspect the contents of their bags. From the corner of his eye, Tobio can see Tsukishima tug out his sweater immediately.

“Asahi here was really worried you were going to,” Daichi continues.

Azumane turns crimson. “I was not!” he lies, unconvincingly.

“Don’t say that,” Suga teases. “Didn’t I hear you say on the way here, oh no, what if we left weapons in the club room?”

“Oh no,” Daichi mocks in a similar voice. “What if one of us should’ve stayed to make sure that they’re alright?”

“Have more faith in your kouhai, Asahi,” Suga teases, elbowing him.

Azumane sputters and mumbles incoherent excuses.

They all change together, even though Tobio and Tsukishima have already started and are the firsts ones done. Tobio fidgets between all the bodies, as Yamaguchi ropes Tsukishima aside and Yachi joins them to say something about Tsukishima’s big brother. Hinata bounds over to Tobio, trying to wring his t-shirt on.

“So,” he says, leaning in too close to Tobio. “How’d it go?”

Tobio rolls his eyes and bumps his palm against Hinata’s forehead. “It went fine,” he says, honestly.

“Really? I thought maybe you and Tsukishima annoyed each other’s brains out.” Hinata chuckles like the prospect of that is amusing, even though Tobio doesn’t particularly want Tsukishima to be the reason of having his brain disappear, or whatever.

“No,” Tobio says. “We just did homework and went to sleep, that’s all.”

“Do you feel better now?” Hinata asks. He stands on his tiptoes to look Tobio more directly in the eyes.

Tobio pushes Hinata’s face down and ignores it when Hinata yelps. “Whatever,” he answers.

Nishinoya swings in to yell at Hinata about something so Tobio is left standing alone again. But then Tsukishima is sidling up to him, not really looking at him in the eye. He asks Tobio, “Want to go to the gym?”

Tobio is at a loss for words. Tsukishima glances at him then, so Tobio manages out, “Sure.”

They walk together, but it’s only torturous for a minute because then Hinata is running out, shouting something to Yachi over his shoulder, who is trying to keep up with him to maintain the conversation. Tobio runs after him because Hinata shouts, “I’ll beat you to the gym, Kageyama!” and Tobio shouts back, “No you won’t!”

“Agh,” Tsukishima moans from somewhere behind him, and then he’s running after them, too.

*

Morning practice goes along fine, though by the middle of it, Tobio’s stomach is growling. He’d filled up his water bottle with the others—which meant Tsukishima had been there too, so it’s fine—but none of them had the foresight to get them food, so Tobio forces himself to endure the crippling hunger all morning. As soon as practice is over, he packs up his things and leaves, ignoring the internal strike between his eyes as he steps out of the club room.

But then it disappears when he hears footsteps and Tsukishima’s voice is saying, “Are you an idiot?” He swivels around to see Tsukishima there, in his class clothes with his bag swung over his shoulder. The top buttons of his shirt are undone like he’d left before he had the chance to do them up, and he’s clutching the side of his head.

Belatedly, Tobio goes, “What?”

“Stop leaving without me,” Tsukishima grounds out. “Unless you like killing my brain. In which case I’ll do the same thing to you, and that won’t be fun for either of us.”

“Oh,” says Tobio. He has a feeling he should say sorry, but that’s not really something he and Tsukishima say to each other.

Tsukishima huffs and adjusts his bag. “I’m assuming that you’re hungry and you’re about to get breakfast,” he says. “I might as well come with you.”

“Oh,” Tobio says, again. “Okay.”

They walk in less than companionable silence, but only because after a moment Tobio asks, “What should we do about classes?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Tsukishima says, striding along at his pace. He’s not like Hinata, who has to jog every once in a while to keep up with him. “I figured we could tell our teachers about this, and then I could come with you to your class, since it’s not like you’ll be smart enough to keep up with mine.”

“Wh—Hey!”

“Although it’s going to be embarrassing and I’ll be a laughingstock.” Tsukishima frowns, and shoots the look at Tobio. “I blame you.”

“What,” Tobio snarls. “It’s not like I asked for this, either.”

“Well I didn’t do anything to deserve this,” Tsukishima says, like it should be that obvious. “So it must be you.”

“How did we even manage a night of not killing each other,” Tobio mumbles.

They get to the cafeteria and manage to procure some food, because even though the chefs don’t usually work in the mornings, they’re more distraught at starving students who might not have enough brain energy to study if they don’t have enough food in their bodies. Tsukishima snorts and makes a comment about how Tobio doesn’t use his brain for anything other than volleyball, and Tobio nudges him in response. Tsukishima is kind of smirking, though, and it’s not really terrible—it’s kind of nice, actually.

They eat and walk back to the first years’ hallway. Tsukishima makes Tobio stand outside his classroom—“I can’t bring you inside, you might pass out from being around so many people who are smarter than you”—and goes inside to talk to his teacher. But being away from Tsukishima for more than two minutes makes Tobio’s head start to pound and skin start to sweat, so he rushes in anyway, despite Tsukishima’s words.

Tsukishima seems to be in a similar state anyway, bent over his teacher’s desk. He glowers but turns back to his teacher as soon as Tobio comes in.

“See?” he says to her, as the pain at the side of Tobio’s head subsides.

So they do a similar thing to Tobio’s teacher, and then Tobio can go through class with the only painful aspect of it being that he pretends to pay attention. He stares into space and doodles miscellaneous volleyball things in his notebook, like usual.

Then something hits him in the back of his shoulder. Tobio scowls and turns around, to see Tsukishima, where he’s been strategically placed diagonally and behind him, glaring. A crumpled piece of paper lies at the floor behind Tobio’s chair.

“What are you doing?” Tsukishima hisses.

“It’s none of your business!” Tobio whispers back. But he lifts up his notebook, anyway.

Tsukishima reels back. “Wow, your drawings are terrible,” he mutters. He ignores Tobio as Tobio’s scowl deepens. “Pay attention,” he whispers, and gestures to the front of the classroom.

Tobio shoots back, “Don’t tell me what to do—”

“Kageyama? Tsukishima?” calls his teacher from the front of the classroom. “Don’t tell me that Tsukishima’s presence will be a distraction for you, Kageyama,” she says.

The rest of their classmates giggle. Tobio faces forward and slinks down in his seat. “No,” he mumbles, face warm.

His teacher nods shortly. “Good,” she says, before returning to the lesson.

Tobio sneaks a glance back, expecting Tsukishima to look smug, victorious even. But Tsukishima’s cheeks are pink too, and his glare is enough for Tobio to turn back around and pretend to be paying attention a little more.

*

They sit together at lunch, resigned to having to share space with each other now. Tsukishima doesn’t say anything as he eats his bento, and Tobio holds himself back from asking about Tsukishima’s lunch as he sits next to him. Because even though the rest of his teammates are more than just that, some he might even consider his friends, Tsukishima has always been a weird exception to that rule. Tobio doesn’t think too much about it.

Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Yachi have joined them, too, so it’s not all that terrible. They start off with a weird conversation about Tsukishima having spent the whole morning with Tobio in class, but then Hinata gets distracted and starts talking about volleyball again, and Tobio is more than happy to join in. Yamaguchi and Yachi pitch in with their own thoughts as Tsukishima pretends not to pay attention, as Tobio corrects all of Hinata’s horrendous history of volleyball knowledge.

Then Tobio is getting a chopstick full of rice when something bumps against his foot. It’s probably just someone else’s, but it sends an electric tingle through his bones and up his spine. He startles, but no one really says anything, or reacts either, though Tsukishima is drinking from his water and swallows a little too hard and chokes. Yamaguchi pats him too hard on the back and Hinata frets about them maybe needing to perform CPR (Yachi is certified, she exclaims) until Tsukishima tells him not to be ridiculous.

Tobio figures it’s nothing, mostly, until later when they’re at afternoon practice. Tobio is toweling sweat off his forehead while Tsukishima is at the bench, tying his shoelaces, because Tobio had wanted to start as soon as possible while Tsukishima insisted on being the slowest person alive with getting himself ready. He followed Tobio to the gym, though, while sliding on his shirt.

Tsukishima says, “Hey, king, get me my water bottle,” and Tobio, too used to the nickname (at least when it’s coming from Tsukishima) only glares a little and grabs Tsukishima’s water bottle from the bleachers.

Their fingertips touch as soon as Tobio hands it over. He drops it and Tsukishima just barely catches it, scowling at him as he does.

“What was that for?” he demands.

Tobio’s fingers are tingling like his foot had earlier at lunch—but even more now, because it’s bare skin contact, and the pads of his fingers are prickling with warmth where Tsukishima’s had been. And not even in a bad way; in fact, Tobio wants it to happen again.

“You kicked me during lunch,” he says, suddenly.

Tsukishima adjusts his goggles and straightens the back of his shoe. “I didn’t kick you,” he says defensively.

“Bumped against me, whatever,” says Tobio.

And then without warning, he touches Tsukishima’s shoulder. Tsukishima yelps and springs free.

“Ask before you touch someone, idiot!” he shouts.

“Sorry,” Tobio says absently. His mind is replaying yesterday, like it would if they’d played a volleyball match, but instead of that it’s his whole afternoon with Tsukishima. Since the headaches had started, he realizes that they haven’t touched once—they’ve been in each other’s companies, firing off unnecessary commentary, spending the night together in the club room. But he can’t recall a point of physical contact before the lunch not-kick, and—and now.

Suga jogs over to them, glancing between them worriedly. “What’s up?” he says. “Are the headaches coming back? I saw Tsukishima shout.”

“No,” says Tsukishima.

At the same time, Tobio says, “Suga-san, I think—I think something’s happening when Tsukishima and I touch each other.”

“Oh?” Suga raises his eyebrows. “In a bad way?”

“No, in a good way,” says Tobio.

He glances at Tsukishima, who is standing around, looking like he’d rather have an extended practice than have this conversation. But he’s still around, anyway.

“Can I?” Tobio asks, reaching out hesitantly.

Tsukishima sighs, but nods. Tobio touches his fingers on Tsukishima’s elbow.

Immediately warmth blooms up his fingertips, to his wrist and rocketing through his arm, staying at the left side of his body. Tsukishima lets out a content sigh which is probably involuntary, judging by how he turns pink as soon as he does. Tobio tries not to analyze it as he tugs his hand back, body going cold again.

Suga’s eyes are wide. “I see,” he says. “Then—what do you think you should do?”

“I don’t know,” Tobio says helplessly.

Suga shifts his attention. “Tsukishima?” he asks.

Tsukishima purses his lips, eyes darting between the two of them. “I suppose Kageyama and I should remain in physical contact as long as we can,” he says. “Without hurting each other,” he adds.

“I’m not sure if that’s possible,” Suga chuckles, and ignores Tobio’s mumble of assent. “But that sort of thing should be put off until after practice, right? So we can take care of this later.”

*

Suga’s words sound nice, but all through practice Tobio can’t help but let his mind wander at how warm he had felt when he’d touched Tsukishima, a pleasant tingling that he wants to experience again. He glances at Tsukishima more, and he’s pretty sure Tsukishima knows—he stoutly avoids Tobio’s gaze when he can, and even when Tobio is too slow with his set, instead of yelling at him Tsukishima stomps off to talk to Yamaguchi, who is sitting on the bench.

Narita comes in his place. Tobio tries not to feel too disappointed. And he’s kind of pissed at himself, anyway, because since when does he need Tsukishima’s attention and approval, outside of pure volleyball things? When he and Hinata do their quick attack, Tobio is off by a mile and Hinata yells at him and starts another unoriginal rant about how Tobio should focus if he wants to go to nationals.

Afterward, Tobio half-expects Tsukishima to storm off without him, headaches be damned. But instead Tsukishima lingers back and doesn’t look Tobio in the eye as he does.

Tobio says, “Guess we’re stuck here together again.”

“Wow,” says Tsukishima. “Sound a little less excited, will you?”

They go to the clubroom as usual, having already eaten their dinners with the others, and having called their parents once more. (Tobio’s mother had insisted that he better not be pulling all nighters, and he’s pretty sure Tsukishima’s phone call had been longer than before, too.) Tobio pulls out his backpack and searches for a pencil, but, as usual, comes up with nothing.

“Can I borrow a pencil?” he asks Tsukishima, who has resumed his regular spot against the wall.

Tsukishima glares up at him. “Didn’t you borrow one earlier today?”

Tobio shrugs. “I lose them a lot,” he says.

To his surprise, Tsukishima flings one at him, nearly poking Tobio’s eye out. “Don’t lose this one,” he says, before taking out his own homework that he’d picked up from his teacher this afternoon before practice.

Tobio glares, but Tsukishima’s already started on his homework. Sighing, Tobio forlornly takes out his own.

Tsukishima’s feet are only a few inches from him. Tobio remembers how nice just having their shoes brush had been, and figures a little more contact couldn’t hurt. He touches his shirtsleeve to the bottom of Tsukishima’s shoe, enjoying a little how his left side yet again shimmers with a comfortable warmth.

But then Tsukishima jerks his foot back, and he’s going, “What are you doing?”

Tobio’s mouth is dry. “I just,” he starts. “When—earlier, and the water bottle—”

“I know,” Tsukishima grits out, and for a second Tobio thinks he’s not going to let Tobio touch him and make him suffer.

But then Tsukishima is moving his bag from his side so it tosses in front of his shoes. “Come here,” he says, as Tobio stands up.

Tobio stares at him.

“Come here,” Tsukishima says, again. “God, if you’re going to touch me, don’t touch my shoes. That’s disgusting.”

“I,” says Tobio, taking one step hesitantly. Tsukishima doesn’t bark at him, so that’s a good sign. “Okay.”

He settles at Tsukishima’s side, trying not to react so much when his entire left side practically springs alive at the contact. Tsukishima must be feeling the same thing, because he lets out a badly disguised shudder as Tobio’s thigh nestles against his.

“Don’t sit too close,” Tsukishima says, though he doesn’t sound like he really means it. “Don’t make it weird.”

Tobio nods, trying to meet his eyes and failing. “Okay,” he says.

*

They settle into a pattern after that, bumping the backs of their hands together, waking up the next morning and letting their spaces linger together. Tobio finds that just being closer to Tsukishima helps things, even though he’s been around Tsukishima for twenty-four hours so he hasn’t really had a headache since then. In the morning this time the second years have remembered to get them breakfast, and they walk together to Tobio’s class, a little closer than yesterday, hips bumping against each other every once in a while.

Neither of them comments on it, so Tobio figures that Tsukishima doesn’t mind too much, either. In fact, a lot of his comments are less biting for Tobio and more about him. Hinata makes this observation and says that it’s progress and that he’s jealous. Tobio tells him there’s nothing to be jealous of.

After their lunch break, when they’re back in Tobio’s class, Tsukishima excuses himself to go to the men’s room. As soon as he steps out the door a wave of pain floods through Tobio’s body and he’s up and out of his desk before he knows it. He tells his teacher that he’s going to the restroom with him, and they both do their best to steadfastly ignore the giggles that erupt around them.

“I can’t believe this isn’t over yet,” Tsukishima mutters, disgruntled.

Tobio mumbles in agreement.

It’s only been a few days, and he’s stopped hating it, really. Their arms brush together and Tsukishima doesn’t complain as he heads into the restroom. He makes Tobio stay outside, because, “Boundaries Kageyama, really.” But on their way back, when Tsukishima is done, Tobio notices the way the sunlight from the nearby window hits Tsukishima’s face, carving a light yellow outline around his profile.

He quickly turns back and tries to shake the detail out of his head.

At practice, he can’t find any excuse to touch Tsukishima more than usual, so instead he just takes his breaks whenever Tsukishima does. However, Tsukishima takes a lot of breaks, and quite often; it’s about the eighth time (because Tobio is counting) when Tobio gets his water bottle along with Tsukishima’s and Tsukishima glares at him.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

Tobio shrugs. “I need to stay with you or else I’ll get a headache,” he says. It’s not a lie; they haven’t been longer than a court length away for them to really test this theory.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes but doesn’t complain the next time it happens. When they play a practice match, Daichi initially puts them on different teams until they both wince, blocked by the net. Rolling his eyes, Daichi switches Tsukishima over for Ennoshita.

They go through their usual post-practice routine with getting dinner and being abandoned by the others. Today, though, when they get back to the club room, Tobio sits next to Tsukishima and Tsukishima doesn’t complain. In fact, he adjusts himself so they’re pressed even tighter together, trickling up Tobio’s side into hot spots.

He tries not to react and starts on his homework, this time not asking Tsukishima for a pencil because he’d managed to keep (and not lose) the one Tsukishima had lent him the night before.

Tobio gets through two problem sets and frowns. He doesn’t see the point of doing language and literature—if he can read enough, and speak enough, it’s all he really needs to know.

Tsukishima is reading and listening to music, though turned down soft enough so that Tobio doesn’t need to complain about it. After a second, though, he leans over Tobio’s shoulder to look at his homework.

“Wow, did you pay attention at all today?” he says.

Tobio glares at him. “Shut up,” he says. Maybe if he stares at the problem enough, he’ll scare the answer out of it.

“You covered this in class,” says Tsukishima. “Well, you should’ve if you were paying any attention.”

“Shut up,” Tobio repeats.

Tsukishima ignores him and sighs. “You’re hopeless,” he says, but instead of turning back to his book, he slides his headphones down and reaches across Tobio.

Tobio is so surprised at the sudden contact that he doesn’t know what to say. Tsukishima makes a grabbing motion for Tobio’s pencil and says, “Give that here.”

“What,” says Tobio.

But he lets Tsukishima take the pencil from him, anyway, and then Tsukishima is scribbling on his homework. His handwriting is pointy and elegant, compared to Tobio’s messier scrawls.

He tells Tobio what type of answer he’s looking for, which Tobio feels should be obvious even though he hadn’t known at first. He doesn’t admit this and grounds out, “Yeah, so?” and Tsukishima lets out more impatient sighs before he walks Tobio through the problem, until Tobio manages to get to the answer himself.

After that, it’s a matter of Tsukishima hovering over his shoulder and watching Tobio fill in his answers, making weird grumbly noises when he thinks Tobio is wrong. Tobio darts nervous glances to him when he’s at the eighteenth problem, but at this point Tsukishima is just watching patiently, and gives a clipped nod when he sees Tobio waiting for his approval.

When he’s done, he sits for a moment, staring into space. It feels a little like something significant has happened, but Tobio doesn’t know how to place it.

The warmth disappears from his side. Tobio starts. But Tsukishima is just going up to turn out the light, before stumbling through the darkness and rejoining him.

“Goodnight,” Tsukishima says shortly.

“‘Night,” Tobio replies, insides soft.

*

“Ohohoho, Kageyama!”

“Tsukishima!”

“Tsukki?” says Yamaguchi’s bewildered voice, even closer than what sounds like Tanaka’s and Nishinoya’s. “Kageyama?”

Tobio blinks awake. All around his head is warm, but not hot like in a way when he practices volleyball for five hours (which he sometimes does on the weekend.) He tries to move his head, but finds that there’s a small warmth above it, and he doesn’t really want to leave it alone. It burns nicely against his ear.

And then above him is a mumbled, “It’s too noisy,” and Tobio realizes that the warmth there is Tsukishima.

He nearly jolts out of his skin. But Tsukishima would probably hate that, so he doesn’t.

Hinata shouts, shoving his way in front of everyone, “Kageyama, you and Tsukishima slept together?”

“I hate you,” says Tobio. He grabs absently for Tanaka’s lucky volleyball and throws it at Hinata.

Hinata laughs even as it bumps at the front of his thigh. “Ow,” he says, without feeling. “This is cute! Yacchan, come take a picture of this.”

“Don’t you dare,” Tobio tries to grit out, but his eyes are still bleary and he rubs them awake.

Yachi is biting her lip, badly keeping herself from smiling. “I have to admit, Kageyama-kun, this is kind of cute,” she says.

“I hate you too,” Tobio says.

Hinata gasps dramatically. “Don’t say that to Yacchan!”

“What’s going on,” Tsukishima manages, finally awakening. His glasses are folded in his lap, as well as his hands, and he’s finally stirring as Yamaguchi shakes him from Tobio’s head.

Tobio nudges him off a bit, trying not to mourn the loss. “Get up,” he says. “You fell asleep on me.”

Tsukishima jerks back so quickly that Tobio may as well as told him that they lost nationals before they even tried to get in. “Oh,” says Tsukishima, and he blinks the sleep out of his eyes before shoving his glasses back on. He doesn’t meet Tobio’s eyes.

Tobio doesn’t have time to mull over it when Ennoshita says, “It was pretty cute to come back to.”

“Shut up,” Tobio and Tsukishima say in unison.

Tobio glances over, but Tsukishima’s cheeks turn pink when they do. He grabs his things and stands up, shoving back a yawn.

Ennoshita just shrugs and smirks. “Everyone agrees, so it’s true,” he says. “C’mon, we got morning practice.”

“Yeah, Bakageyama,” says Hinata. “Don’t let me beat you to the gym again!”

“You didn’t beat me yesterday, dumbass!”

“Don’t leave me,” Tsukishima mutters, as Hinata laughs and races out, oblivious.

Tobio pretends he doesn’t hear and chases Hinata out. He slows a little, anyway, until Tsukishima has clambered up and forced himself to the doorway, messy and worse for wear.

*

Nothing’s really changed, except it feels like things have, during practice. Their rotation for their mock game has Tobio practicing his sets with the other spikers more than Tsukishima, and Tsukishima spends a lot of the time sitting by Yamaguchi at the benches. Tobio wants to be annoyed with Tsukishima for snubbing his position as a regular when Yamaguchi isn’t, but Tsukishima has been looking more and more tired as the week’s gone on.

He’s probably even less of a morning person than Tobio is, not like that’s a surprise. When Tobio accidentally falls asleep in class, though, Tsukishima prods him awake, even though his classmates are dozing off too.

Tobio glares. But during their break Tsukishima says, “Didn’t get enough sleep on my shoulder last night?” and Tobio doesn’t know what to say to that.

Tsukishima sounds a little irritated, maybe, but not in the way that he usually does. Tobio scowls at his back as they go to Yachi’s classroom for lunch today, and Hinata takes out his notebook for him and Yachi to pore over his homework. Tsukishima snorts when he sees what problem they’re working on.

“Kageyama was having issues with that one yesterday, too,” he says.

But his elbow is pressed against Tobio’s so maybe he’s not being too critical, or at least it’s not a terrible thing, or something. Tobio finds that he’s not really offended, and kind of shrugs when Hinata looks at him questioningly.

Yamaguchi asks, “Did you help Kageyama with his homework, Tsukki?” His eyes are wide.

Tobio absently thinks, how did he know that? Tsukishima mumbles something that no one really understands and continues on with his lunch.

The day goes on like usual, with Tsukishima trailing Tobio with less grumbles than usual, looking like he doesn’t mind, even. He shoves a notebook at Tobio at the end of the day and Tobio expects maybe a passive aggressive remark—instead, it’s an organized collection of notes, from today’s lesson. Tobio opens his mouth, intending to say something to him, but Tsukishima’s already shoved his headphones back on and doesn’t look like he’ll even try to answer Tobio if he asked.

It could be just his imagination. But after they get changed and go to the gym together, in a group where Tsukishima is ghosting behind Tobio’s back while talking to Yamaguchi, Hinata bounds over to Tobio, a curious brightness in his eyes.

“Tsukishima seems to like you more today,” he says thoughtfully.

Tobio cuffs his ear. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious!” Hinata says, seriously. “And you seem to like him more, too! You’re not glaring at him anymore.”

“There’s no reason to,” Tobio mumbles. His cheeks feel warm.

Hinata leans in, with interest. “Are you guys friends?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tobio says again, even though his chest lurches at the thought.

Practice is normal, though one time after Tobio sets to Hinata, it rolls away and Tsukishima picks it up. He tosses it back without either Tobio or Hinata needing to ask. Hinata jumps up and yells, “Thanks Tsukishima!” while Tobio takes the ball, trying not to notice how his hands can immediately detect the place where Tsukishima’s had been, tingle and warm at the spots.

Everything is normal—well, as normal as this whole situation is—and they wait for it to wane off. Tobio and Tsukishima say goodbye after getting dinner with their team, and walk back to the club room without much fuss or debate.

Tobio’s knuckles brush against Tsukishima’s hand, but he does his best not to notice. It makes him feel excited, like when he serves particularly well or blocks so fast that they get a point. He wants to do it again, but Tsukishima would probably scowl at him and things will be even more awkward.

But then it happens again. Tobio looks down at his hands, and then up at Tsukishima. Tsukishima  has his headphones in, and meets Tobio’s eyes.

“What,” he says.

Tobio faces forward again. “Nothing,” he says, neck hot.

He swings his arm a little and his knuckles hit the back of Tsukishima’s hand some more. Tsukishima doesn’t say anything, so he figures that he hasn’t noticed or it’s okay. Either way, it’s no reason for Tobio to stop.

In the club room, Tsukishima finishes his homework and glances over at Tobio’s every once in a while, tsking when he thinks Tobio is doing something wrong that Tobio hastens to backtrack every so often and correct himself. Although one time he insists that he’s right and Tsukishima is wrong and they have an argument that doesn’t really feel like an argument and Tobio keeps his answer on his paper. “Fail all you like,” Tsukishima huffs, folding his arms.

“Thanks for caring,” Tobio replies sarcastically.

Tsukishima doesn’t say anything to that.

When Tobio is done, though, Tsukishima pokes his arm. “Oi,” he says. “I need to go to the bathroom. I’ve been waiting for you to finish.”

“You didn’t have to,” says Tobio.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes and stands up.

Tobio follows him to the bathroom, habitual now, through a night soaked campus. Even though it’s only been a few days, falling into this—thing with Tsukishima had been so natural. Sometimes he forgets that it had started with headaches in the first place, but he’s just glad he doesn’t have to suffer through the awful pain again.

He knows it’s not done, though, when Tsukishima leaves into the men’s room and it begins between his eyes again. He rubs at them, hoping it’s just exhaustion, when the door to the restroom opens.

“Come in then,” Tsukishima says grudgingly. “It hurts me, too.”

So Tobio walks in and hums so he doesn’t have to listen to Tsukishima relieve himself. Tsukishima seems kind of embarrassed, too, when he comes back out. Tobio kind of likes seeing Tsukishima pink-cheeked like this. It’s not that he thought Tsukishima was a robot or anything, at first, he just—hasn’t really seen much past Tsukishima’s frosty exterior.

“Sometimes I forget that you’re human,” Tobio blurts.

Tsukishima looks up from where he’s washing his hands.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just.” Tobio shrugs. “You always say shit against me, I don’t usually remember that you’re—” Real? A teenage boy like him? Tobio’s not sure what word he’s looking for.

Tsukishima shuts off the faucet and goes to dry his hands. “I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not,” he says.

Tobio furrows his eyebrows. “I wasn’t trying to offend you.”

“Then I’m not offended.”

They head back to the club room; but as they do, Tsukishima goes, “Shit.” He rifles through his pockets, turning them inside out.

“What’s wrong?” says Tobio.

“I knew there was something wrong when we—” Tsukishima exhales. “I forgot to unlock the door from the inside when we came in today. And I left the key in there.”

Tobio frowns. “The door locks from the inside, too?”

“You’d know if you were paying any attention.” But Tsukishima sounds more like he’s releasing his anger than that he’s actually angry at Tobio. He turns his pockets out again, and then swears loudly. His voice bounces off the walls of the building.

Tobio is bewildered. “Can’t we just,” he says, and tries to tug the door open.

Tsukishima snorts. “If you really think you’re strong enough to pull a metal door open, be my guest.” He slumps down against the wall. “We’re doomed.”

Tobio joins him. “Daichi-san is going to kill us,” he agrees.

“I don’t even have my headphones,” Tsukishima moans.

They sit next to each other. It’s autumn and the days have been feeling a little shorter, though Tobio also chalks that up to the excitement of the spring highs, and their weekend outings. He wishes he had the foresight to bring a jacket when he came out to the restroom with Tsukishima—it’s chilly, and he’s back in his regular uniform, the short sleeved white button up.

Tsukishima frowns at him after a moment. Their hips and feet are touching, but Tsukishima is straight-legged while Tobio stretches his at an angle, so nothing else is.

“Are you cold?” Tsukishima asks.

Tobio clutches at his elbows and glowers down at his lap. “No,” he says, because that is less humiliating than admitting so.

Plus, he remembers the first day when Tsukishima had been so obviously cold and insisted he wasn’t.

But Tsukishima says, again, “Kageyama. Are you cold.”

“I just said, no,” Tobio bites out.

Tsukishima yanks his hand suddenly, and twines their fingers together. He is warm and it sends a shock through Tobio’s body, more than just one side of him, now—it fizzles through his veins, touching every nerve ending.

“You’re a terrible liar,” says Tsukishima, like them holding hands is no big deal.

Tobio tries not to analyze it and lets it happen. Tsukishima’s fingers are long and kind of bony but not in an uncomfortable way, and his thumb is rubbing absently over Tobio’s. Tobio wonders if he should say something about it, or bring it up; but it feels kind of good and he’s worried that if he does, Tsukishima will stop. So he doesn’t.

Eventually he dozes off on Tsukishima, so close that he can feel the pulse point at Tsukishima’s wrist, hear the steady breathing under him. Today Tsukishima has already nodded off on his shoulder. He would be pissed if he knew. But Tobio kind of likes it, so he keeps quiet and waits to fall asleep, too.

*

They wake up the next morning before the others arrive, mostly because despite that hand holding warms them both up a bit, it’s still not enough for the shocking October weather. They stand up and don’t meet each other’s eyes, and Tobio brushes off the back of his pants and leans forward on the balcony as they wait for the others to arrive.

Tanaka teases them endlessly for getting locked out and Daichi scolds them, but Tsukishima points out (yet again) that the door locking from both the inside and outside is stupid so it’s not their fault. Tobio catches Tsukishima’s eye for a second; but then the moment’s over and they’re getting ready for morning practice.

It’s Friday, and Tobio is concerned about how they’ll deal with the weekend—maybe they’ll have to spend it at each other’s houses. Several days ago he would’ve hated the idea, but today it doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe Tsukishima can help him with his weekend homework.

They go through their routines as usual. Over lunch Tobio stares at Tsukishima’s hand too long, thinking of how warm it had felt the night before. Tsukishima catches him staring and Tobio expects him to accuse him of being weird or whatever, but instead Tsukishima quickly draws his hand back and engages into a conversation with Yamaguchi, cheeks pink.

His strange behavior doesn’t go unnoticed. While Yachi and Tsukishima try to help Yamaguchi with his English, Hinata whispers, “Did something happen last night?” to Tobio.

“What?” Tobio says absentmindedly, because he’s staring at the curve of Tsukishima’s elbow.

“Kageyama, you idiot,” Hinata teases. Then he brightens up. “Ooh, wait—did you figure out that you really are soulmates?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tobio bites out. “We’re not soulmates.”

But he finds that he doesn’t mind the idea of it—the idea of Tsukishima. Tsukishima is annoying with the way that he prods Tobio during the lesson later, passing him a note that says, This is the stuff you had problems with yesterday, PAY ATTENTION. And when they go over the homework, there’s another one: See, I was right.

Tobio smiles at the paper despite himself, pocketing it away. It’s warm in his jacket, though it doesn’t compare to holding Tsukishima’s hand last night.

When they walk to the club room, he thinks of holding Tsukishima’s hand. He brushes his fingers against Tsukishima’s to maybe suggest it, but Tsukishima just says, “Don’t.”

“What?” Tobio blinks at him.

“It’s embarrassing if we do it in front of other people,” says Tsukishima, like he’s a mind reader. “Maybe—later, or something.” He doesn’t meet Tobio’s eyes.

Tobio bites his lip. “What are we going to do about the weekend?”

“I don’t know,” Tsukishima answers right away, like maybe he’d been thinking about it too. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We should figure it out now,” Tobio insists.

“We’ll figure it out later.”

Tobio huffs. Tsukishima doesn’t really look at him while they walk to the club room, but he says, “Meet me here after practice,” once they’re in front of the same door that had locked them out the night before.

Tobio looks at him incredulously. “You don’t really expect us to stay the whole weekend, do you?”

“Just meet me here after practice,” says Tsukishima. He doesn’t glower; he only looks tired. “I have an idea.”

“Why can’t you tell me your idea now?” Tobio demands.

“Because it’s embarrassing and I’m not going to tell you. Now shut up and just say yes.”

“Fine,” Tobio mumbles, ears burning. He doesn’t want Tsukishima to be so impatient with him—and this is another thought he didn’t think he’d have in the beginning of the week. He doesn’t want any of this; it’s not like he’d planned the past few days to stay attached to Tsukishima at the hip.

But as they join the others to change into their gym clothes, Tsukishima grabs his hand for a quick second and squeezes it. It lasts for a second and he drops it immediately. Tobio looks around to see if anyone had noticed, but everyone else continues with their conversations obliviously.

“Just,” Tsukishima mumbles, so Tobio is the only one who can hear. “Trust me.”

Tobio never has before, but he does. Tsukishima’s words ring through his head, making practice go by too slow. But it also feels so fast, because soon enough they’re getting dinner and then doubling back, after suffering through questions from the others about how long they’re going to stay there (Daichi), if they plan to spend the whole weekend there (Suga), and are they really that boring to do nothing else except stay around school (Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka.)

Only Yamaguchi smiles and says, “Good luck,” to them. Tobio has a sinking feeling that he knows what Tsukishima is planning.

They walk back slowly, eating their dinners. Tsukishima says thoughtfully, “I just realized we didn’t really have to come back to school to do this.”

Tobio growls, though he hip checks Tsukishima and Tsukishima just chuckles. “Then where do you suggest we go?” he asks through his food.

“Finish chewing. And I guess if this doesn’t work then we really might as well spend the whole weekend here.”

Tobio stares at him for a moment.

“You’re joking with me,” he says.

Tsukishima shrugs. “I am,” he agrees, and doesn’t look at Tobio as he says it. But his tone is light and Tobio finishes his pork bun, unusually content.

They throw their trash in a bin near the entrance of the school. Tsukishima stops and says, “Here is fine.”

“Fine for what?” Tobio asks.

Tsukishima stares at him for a moment. The moonlight reflects off his glasses. He sighs.

“Come over here, Kageyama.”

“Come over—?” Tobio furrows his eyebrows and takes a step forward.

Tsukishima reaches for his hand, warm and electrifying. That jolts Tobio to bridge the space between them until he can see how much taller Tsukishima is than him, which really isn’t much when he’s not this close. Tsukishima looks Tobio in the eye like he’s searching for something, but Tobio is strangely hot and flabbergasted at this amount of contact.

Then Tsukishima mutters, “Goddammit,” and then his lips are on Tobio’s, new and soft.

Tobio hasn’t really thought about kissing anyone, much less actually having experienced it, and it doesn’t feel like Tsukishima has either. He lets their mouths linger like he’s not sure if it’s enough, until Tobio opens his mouth a millimeter and tries to exhale, and puffs out a small, desperate noise instead.

Tsukishima isn’t that tall, he reflects, as he touches at Tsukishima’s chin to see if his response will be more interesting. Tsukishima mumbles something that sounds like, “Too long,” and Tobio doesn’t try to decode what that means, because when Tsukishima opens his mouth back, Tobio finds that kissing is not that bad. It’s pretty nice, actually, and it’s a lot like the sparks that usually happen when they touch are lighting up every nerve ending of his body—but then it disappears, and even when it does, Tobio finds that he’s still kissing Tsukishima, still wants a little bit more.

When they break apart, Tobio is panting. So Tsukishima is, the moonlight lighting up his pink cheeks.

“That was,” Tobio says. His voice is throaty. “New.”

Tsukishima shrugs like he’s trying to look cool. His face is still flushed, though.

“I guess,” he says airily.

“You didn’t hate it,” Tobio accuses.

Tsukishima shrugs again. But he glances to the side, and admits, “I didn’t.”

Tobio doesn’t know what to say, trying to wrap his mind around kissing and Tsukishima and other weird things he didn’t think he liked before.

Tsukishima says, then, “So I think the weird headaches are gone.”

“What—oh,” Tobio realizes. “That was your idea?”

“After our,” Tsukishima raises an arm, “hands. It felt logical.”

Tobio nods. That makes sense.

He says as much.

“I know,” says Tsukishima.

He looks like he’s about to step back, go home like this entire week hadn’t happened, like last night hadn’t happened, like this night hadn’t happened. Thinking about it Tobio realizes he really doesn’t want that, so he blurts—

“Do you want to eat lunch with me?” And then processing his own words, “On Monday?”

“We’ve been eating lunch together already,” Tsukishima says wryly.

“Alone,” Tobio clarifies.

“Oh.” Tsukishima stares at him for a second. Tobio worries that he’s going to say no.

“Okay,” Tsukishima says, instead.

Tobio lets out a sigh of relief. “Okay,” he agrees, and averts his gaze to the ground. “I’ll just—Bye, then.” He turns away.

Behind him, Tsukishima calls back, “See you later, king!”

Tobio glances back. Tsukishima’s face is guarded with one of his rare genuine smiles that Tobio has caught sight of only a handful of times this week, convincing  himself it was a trick of the light. But there is Tsukishima looking at him like that now, and the tingling he’d been feeling from their touches, even though they’re more than ten feet away from each other now, hits him full force.

Tobio can’t help a smile of his own. He waves and bounces back to his house, looking forward to the next week like it’s better than nationals.

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