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“That's it!” Daichi's voice booms through the communication system, his face appearing on screen half a second later. His eyebrows twitch from under his visor in what is most definitely annoyance.
“It wasn't my fault this time!” Hinata's screen appears in the left hand corner. “Tsukishima tripped us!”
There's a sharp snort before the bottom right screen opens. Tsukishima looks annoyed, but what else was new?
“Maybe I would have been able to hold us if his highness wouldn't put so much force behind his swing. It throws us off balance.”
Yellow lights up the bottom left of the screen, displaying Yamaguchi’s tired smile. “Hey now, let's not blame anyone here-”
“What the hell, shittyshima?” Kageyama yells into his mic and Daichi's on screen face cringes. “Just do what I tell you and we'll be fine!”
“Of course,” Tsukishima drawls, “commoners should always obey their king, right?”
Kageyama is about to retort, but Daichi's voice cuts him off.
“Tsukishima, Kageyama, we're having a talk when we get back to the castle.”
Every line goes quiet. Yeah, Kageyama thinks belatedly, they were in trouble again.
The trip back to the Castle of Lions is quiet and underlined with the sort of tension that should really only come from your parents being mad at you. It’s kind of the same thing, Kageyama reasons, because Daichi is the only father figure he’s ever known. And right now, Daichi is livid.
They all convene in the main hangar after departing with their lions, and Kageyama is the last to join the team. He slips his helmet off and shakes out his hair, though it does little good to combat the severe case of Paladin Hair™ he’s contracted.
The red paladin groans internally when he sees that Suga has joined them, Asahi following timidly behind the alien prince. If they weren’t in trouble before, they definitely were now, because Daichi was bound to already have vented about his unruly paladins.
“Tobio, good of you to join us.” Kageyama huffs as the Altean prince begins what is sure to be a scolding. “Daichi told me what happened during training. Have anything to say about it?”
“It wasn’t my fault! It was-”
“Yes, yes,” Tsukishima scoffs from his place next to Yamaguchi, “it was obviously my fault for not reading your mind and bracing for heavy impact. My deepest apologies, King.”
Kageyama is up in the green paladin’s face in a tic, about to scruff him by the collar when Daichi’s voice booms,
“That’s enough, from both of you.” Kageyama’s hand falls from the air between them like dead weight. The black paladin crosses his arms, stares the younger two down with hard brown eyes. Yamaguchi and Hinata not so subtly back away from their friends, abandoning them with the irritated team leader.
Daichi hadn’t been this mad at them since they failed to form voltron because they couldn’t cooperate. It was the same now, though. Except Kageyama knew it really, definitely, absolutely was not his fault this time. Apparently, Daichi doesn’t care.
“The two of you are going to the training room, and you’re going to work this out. Beat each other bloody, cry and talk about your feelings; I don’t care. Just fix it.”
Tsukishima is already turning to walk towards the training area while Kageyama stutters out a “yes sir” and scrambles to catch up with him, if only to hiss under his breath.
“You got us in trouble, asshole.”
Tsukishima rolls his eyes. It infuriates Kageyama that he has to look up to make eye contact. So he doesn’t. He stares hard at the floor passing under their feet, at the red and white of his paladin boots clicking on the floor. It makes the time to the training room pass faster, if anything. At least he doesn’t have to look at Tsukishima’s annoying face, or his soft looking hair, or how obnoxiously good he looks in green. Not that Kageyama has those thoughts, because he definitely does not. At all. Ever. And most certainly not in the private of his own room.
The door to the training room opens with the press of Tsukishima’s still gloved hand, and it closes behind them just as quickly. The green paladin sighs in that long-suffering way he does.
“Let’s get this over with. Why did you swing when you knew damn well that we hadn’t have a stable landing?”
Kageyama glares, but the words die in his throat. Tsukishima looks tired. Not physically, really, just. Tired. The realization makes the red paladin uncurl the fists at his sides. He drags a hand through his dark hair, messing it up even more than it already was.
“I don’t know. I saw an opening, and I went for it. I didn’t know you were bearing the weight for Yamaguchi, too.” It was the closest thing to an apology that Tsukishima was going to get, but it was enough. The way Tsukishima relaxed his shoulders told him so.
“Just don’t get us all killed, King.” There’s no bite in the words, no sarcastic undercurrent to snap at sensitive nerves. And that was the end of it.
But that tension between them was still there, that toxic buildup that seemed to grow each day.
Even two weeks after the incident, Kageyama still can't look at Tsukishima without feeling the hair stand up on the back of his neck. It all comes to a head when the team is doing a round of mind link training. The five of them are sitting in a circle, eyes closed and a digital representation of their thoughts floating in front of them. This sort of exercise was supposed to help them bond as a team, making it easier to form voltron. At least that’s what Suga tells them.
Kageyama’s screen keeps flickering, broken images flashing before giving out completely. He tries to hold back a frustrated growl. This was the third time this session he’s lost his concentration, and he could just feel Yamaguchi giving him a concerned look. Scrunching up his face, Kageyama tries again.
He summons an image to the forefront of his mind. Being in the Red Lion. Piloting through the stars. Forming voltron. But those thoughts turn to thoughts of fighting as voltron, and hearing the voices of his teammates through the communication system. Hearing one particular voice, all smooth tenor over silky venom. The voice matches a face with high cheekbones, smirking lips, and eyes like molten copper.
At this point, it’s obvious who Kageyama is visualizing. Tsukishima’s face is the clearest thing to form on Kageyama’s screen in the last hour, and the red paladin can’t get it to go away. And he really, really needed it to. But the universe is not kind to him, and one by one, his teammates begin to take notice.
Hinata’s screen goes out first, like a wormhole closing. Yamaguchi’s goes next, and even Daichi’s thoughts scatter before dissolving into nothing. Tsukishima’s, however, stay. The images on his screen flit through various things as if set on shuffle. The Green Lion. Lines of coding. Dinosaurs Kageyama can’t even begin to identify. But then, with something like resignation, the image goes still. It’s like a freeze frame moment, a snapshot from Tsukishima’s memory. And it makes Kageyama lose his screen.
The screen hovering in front of Tsukishima is frozen on an image of Kageyama himself. In the image he’s smiling, half covered by his hand. It’s obviously from right after a mission, as Kageyama is still clothed in his red and white paladin suit, dark hair flattened to his head from the visor. The image cuts out suddenly, and Tsukishima is standing, setting his headset on the table behind him.
“I’m done for the day.”
The statement shoves Kageyama back to reality. Or maybe it was Hinata pushing him. Either way, Kageyama was on his feet, scrambling to remove his headset and follow Tsukishima down the hall.
Contrary to his words, Tsukishima turns away from the living quarters and down the hall towards the training rooms. Kageyama just catches him as he opens the door to the room they had been sent to only weeks before.
“Tsukishima, wait.” But the green paladin does not wait. He just grabs a training scabbard from the wall.
“Begin: training sequence, level three.” The blond calls in monotone. A rumble from the other end of the room starts up and out comes a training dummy. It's a grotesque, robotic looking thing, covered in smooth white metal and armed with limbs like swords.
Kageyama huffs and grabs a weapon from the wall. Looks like Tsukishima plans on ignoring him. He joins the taller paladin as the dummy moves towards them, striking out with its sharp arms.
“I don't need any help, Kageyama.” Tsukishima parries an attack easily, sending the dummy in a spin towards Kageyama.
The use of his last name stings. It was always King or Your Highness. Never Kageyama. The red paladin dodges a swing from their fake opponent, choosing to ignore the remark, for both their sakes.
“Good thing I didn't ask.”
They stay like this for a while, fighting with the training dummy until both of them are out of breath.
“End: training sequence, level three.” Kageyama pants. The dummy freezes and glitches before disintegrating. Kageyama is still breathing heavily when Tsukishima's scabbard just misses his nose.
“What the hell was that for!” He yelps, but the green paladin smiles at him innocently.
“Spar with me.”
Even if Kageyama had a response, Tsukishima was already pulling his shoulder back for another strike, so the brunet just braces himself to block.
To say that they are unequally matched is an understatement. Kageyama is a born and bred fighter. Tsukishima, on the other hand, was a lab assistant at the garrison up until a few months ago.
To his credit, Tsukishima had built up a good amount of muscle on what was, admittedly, an intimidating frame, but it still wasn't enough to challenge Kageyama's practiced skill. It's no secret to the team. The only one that could best Kageyama in combat was Daichi, and only with well planned strategy. Kageyama had to wonder why Tsukishima even tried, especially as he looks down at the blond.
It had only taken a few moments to pin Tsukishima to the floor, Kageyama's weight straddling the other's midsection. Tsukishima's weapon lays a few inches from his hand, where it had clattered to the floor with a metallic clang.
Their little fight is long over, but Kageyama keeps his place on the blond.
“What's your problem?”
Tsukishima arches an eyebrow at him, as if he somehow still has the upper hand. “I don't have a problem. But clearly, you do.”
“Why are you making this so difficult?” Kageyama discards his own weapon with a sharp flick of his wrist. Maybe he threw it too hard because it hits the wall with a bang he's sure means a dent in the wall. But he doesn't care right now, so he focuses on scowling down at Tsukishima. “I know you saw my thought screen, everyone did. And I'm sorry if it was awkward, but you didn't have to leave!”
Tsukishima turns his head to the side. His hair falls to the side, and his glasses are definitely pressing uncomfortably into his temple, but he doesn't move.
“Yeah, well you saw my screen too, so,” The blond trails off. Kageyama isn't sure where he was going with that. Sure, he'd seen the screen, seen his own face scrunched up in a smile. But that means. Well, he doesn't know what it means.
“So what?”
“Moron.” Tsukishima quips, and suddenly Kageyama is the one on his back with Tsukishima leaning over him. “It means that I think about you too.”
“Um, what?” Kageyama says intelligently. Tsukishima sighs like the response exasperates him. It probably does.
“You're not subtle, you know. I see you staring at me all the time.” Kageyama flushes red, is about to say something back, but Tsukishima keeps talking, “But I only see it because I'm looking at you too.”
Kageyama blinks up at him with wide blue eyes. His mind races, trying to process the information he's been given. Apparently, he doesn't figure it out fast enough, because Tsukishima moves off of him with a measured exhale.
“Nevermind. I'm going to my ro-” Kageyama didn't give himself time to think, reaching out and grabbing Tsukishima by the collar and dragging him back down. Their lips crash together painfully, but Tsukishima's kissing him back with equal aggression.
The coppery taste of blood mixes with the flavor of Tsukishima's lips, and Kageyama isn't sure who it belongs to. It's not like it matters, with the blond’s tongue wiping away any other sensation. Sharp teeth catch his lip as the taller paladin pulls away. They're both panting harder than they were before, but this time Kageyama smiles.
“So, that's what you meant.”
“Yeah,” Tsukishima smirks and leans back over the brunet, their lips brushing with each word, aching for another taste. “That's what I meant.”