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Tsukishima Kei loves the library at his high school.
It’s a wonderful combination of his favorite things: quiet, books, and a distraction from orange and black haired idiots named Hinata and Kageyama.
Truly, wonderful.
Not to mention, Tsukishima comes here so often that he’s on a first name basis with all the library ladies — which means that they’ll let him know about new releases before they put them on the shelves. He usually doesn’t prefer to interact with people at all, but Tsukishima makes an exception in this special case.
“Good afternoon, Kei!” One of the librarians greeted as he walked in.
Tsukishima held up a hand to wave, walking towards his usual table. Then he immediately stopped.
Somebody else was sitting in his spot. The spot where he’s sat every day since the beginning of the school year. The spot where the afternoon sunlight shines through the windows and lights up his the pages of books perfectly. The spot where he can get an exceptional view of the library entrance — just in case he needs to quickly make an escape if any nuisances walk in.
Tsukishima huffed and prepared to mildly threaten this new guy to pick a different seat. His older brother always told him that he could be quite intimidating.
After all, this guy had the nerve to disrupt his safe haven.
Tsukishima pushed up his glasses, took off his headphones, and tapped on the table. “Excuse me, unless you want to end up—”
But as soon as the guy looked up at him, Tsukishima froze.
He had greenish hair that reminded him of summertime and amber eyes that warmed his entire body. He had light olive skin, and wore a light yellow sweatshirt that matched Tsukishima’s curls.
And don’t even get him started on those freckles.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” The guy pulled out his earbuds and asked with a voice so sweet that it snapped Tsukishima out of his daze.
“I was just going to ask,” he started and then hesitated. “If I could sit here with you?”
He silently cursed at himself. Why the hell would he say that?
Those damned freckles.
But watching him light up with a smile as bright as sunshine, Tsukishima felt like sharing a space wouldn’t be as terrible as he thought.
“Of course! I’m just working on some boring assignments — I could use the company!” The guy beamed, making sure to not raise his voice too much. After all, they are in a library.
Tsukishima nodded, sat down across from him, and pulled out his book — a nonfiction work detailing dinosaur discoveries over the years.
He’s read many books since he started coming here, but dinosaurs always seemed to be a topic he tended to come back to. Then, a slight interest became an obsession — with tons of figures decorating Tsukishima’s shelves at home.
“My name’s Yamaguchi by the way! What’s yours?”
“Tsukishima.”
Yamaguchi leaned forward in his chair, then pointed at Tsukishima’s team jacket. “Ah! Are you on the volleyball team here?”
Obviously, or I wouldn’t be wearing our volleyball team jacket, was the first thought to come to Tsukishima’s mind. However the endearing look on the Yamaguchi’s face — as well his own face heating up from the proximity — made him bite his tongue.
“Um, yes,” He paused. “I’m a middle blocker.”
Yamaguchi beamed and let his chin rest on his hand. “Wow! That’s so cool, Tsukki! I always wanted to try out for the team, but I can’t even serve a ball properly—“
Someone at a nearby table shushed him.
“Sorry!” He winced. Suddenly, his face flushed red. “Um — is it okay if I call you Tsukki? Sorry I didn’t ask you before!”
“Sure, whatever,” he shrugged then silently scolded himself, What has gotten into me?
Yamaguchi smiled shyly and went back to his homework.
Tsukishima put down his book and thought about it for a moment. If it were anyone else that asked him he definitely say fuck no. But something about the way Yamaguchi said it makes him want to hear it again and again.
They sit in silence for a while, but it’s the comfortable kind. The kind that Tsukishima longs for after a long day of volleyball practice. Or the kind that he never thought he’d enjoy with someone else.
Tsukishima slapped himself internally. He comes to this library to enjoy dinosaur books by himself. He doesn’t come here to fawn over a guy he’s just met. Especially one that took his favorite spot. Besides, he already has enough troublesome things in his life. He doesn’t need a stupid crush to add on top of that.
He looked across the table at Yamaguchi, watching him scribble over his English homework with some random doodles.
Cute.
Tsukishima slammed his head on the table, making Yamaguchi jolt out of his seat in the process.
“Tsukki!” He whispered. “Are you okay? What happened? Do you need to go to the nurse? Those library ladies at the front desk are staring and—“
Tsukishima raised his head and snorted at Yamaguchi’s arms flailing around in concern.
Fuck it. He figures he needs someone at this school to talk to that doesn’t drive him absolutely insane.
Well, here goes nothing.
“Hey. Come to our next practice tomorrow after classes. I‘ll show you how to serve, and you can meet some of my teammates.”
Unfortunately that means the freak duo, but Tsukishima kept that part to himself.
At first, Yamaguchi looked surprised. But then he immediately smiled ear to ear and his cheeks turned a dusty shade of pink. “I’d love to! Thanks, Tsukki!”
Shit.
Now it was Tsukishima’s turn to smile, with the color of his face matching the boy across from him.
Yamaguchi has proven to be a distraction, but one Tsukishima is starting to look forward to.
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