As he stood in the spotlight, the crowd cheering as the final chord of Yamaguchi's song rang through the arena they performed in, Tsukishima felt proud. More than proud, ecstatic.

He had found a passion, one he could continue even after his body started deteriorating and volleyball stopped being an option.

The very idea of a band had started as just a wishful dream back in his second year of middle school. Way back when him and Yamaguchi were just kids trying to figure out "Welcome to the Black Parade" on his brother's drum set and guitar. It had been Yamaguchi's idea, but Tsukishima had found himself quickly falling in love with it too.

For years, it had just been their thing, down in Tsukishima's basement annoying his parents.

Then in their first year at Karasuno, during a training camp near the end of the year, during lunch one day, he was drumming on the table with a pair of chopsticks simply because he was bored, as Yamaguchi hummed along.

It was then that Hinata ran over to their table, about to bother Tsukishima about something, and pointed it out, asking if he knew how to play.

A few weeks later, Hinata managed to muscle his way into their little pair with Kageyama (who Tsukishima was pretty sure just came along at first because Hinata made him).

Hinata's dad had taught him how to play a bit of guitar before his parents split, and he still had it, so they added another guitar to the group with Hinata. Kageyama was the only one in the group who had any sort of formal training, offering to play keyboard for them since he had taken lessons until sixth grade. He still had one at home too, so that made things much easier.

It didn't take long for Kageyama and Hinata to become as attached to the band as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had.

It wasn't until about halfway through their third year that they started writing their own stuff, at Yamaguchi's suggestion.

They had been sitting in one of the soundproof practice rooms together during lunch when he brought it up.

"Do you guys think we should start trying to write our own stuff?"

Tsukishima hadn't really been paying attention, he was quietly (at least as quietly as he could) practicing on his own, with one earbud in.

When he heard Yamaguchi speak, he stopped playing, and pulled the earbud out, "What? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I didn't hear."

Yamaguchi quickly came to his idea's defense, "I mean, covers are fun and all, but wouldn't it be really cool if we had our own music? I could take over on that if you want."

Tsukishima shrugged, and smiled, "I don't mind, that sounds like a great idea."

He went to turn to ask Hinata and Kageyama, who were both practicing on their own, headphones plugged into their instruments and shoved over their ears, "Hey, dumbasses!"

Hinata had seen Tsukishima talk, and he nudged Kageyama as he pulled his headphones off, and rested them around his neck, "Yea? What is it?"

"Tadashi wants to try writing some original stuff, you guys cool with the idea?"

Yamaguchi jumped to defend his idea yet again, but was quickly interrupted by Hinata, "That's a super cool idea! Hell yea!"

Kageyama shrugged, speaking a bit loudly due to the headphones still over his ears, "Get me my part and I don't really care whether it's original or not."

Tsukishima turned to Yamaguchi, and grinned, "There we go, better get to writing Tadashi."

"I, uh, I have a bit of something already, if you wanna hear it," Yamaguchi unplugged the headphones from his guitar, "I don't have any of your guys's parts figured out yet, but."

Kageyama pulled his headphones off of his ears and down to rest around his neck as he responded, "Honestly, I'm impressed you have anything written at all. Crap, that kinda came out wrong."

Hinata laughed and elbowed Kageyama, "Tobio, he gets it, he's not stupid like you."

As Tsukishima looked back to Yamaguchi, he could see that Hinata and Kageyama'a bickering was relaxing him. Yamaguchi took a deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling before he started playing.

As he played, Tsukishima found himself surprised at how good it was, and then he was surprised that he was surprised.

Yamaguchi had always been good with his words, and god knows how long he had been working on this. It only made sense that he'd be good at putting the words into music.

Hinata, naturally, was the first to react, and he did so loudly, "Whoa, Tadashi, that was really cool!"

Tsukishima saw Yamaguchi's cheeks turn a shade of pink as Hinata shouted his complement, and waited for Kageyama to say something.

Kageyama was leaning on the keyboard, his forearms crossed and resting on the keys, "Nice job."

Tsukishima took this as his window to add his own compliment, "Damn, you've really got it in you Tadashi."

Yamaguchi's face was practically glowing with a radiant smile as Tsukishima spoke, fiddling anxiously with one of his guitar strings, "Ah, thanks guys, I've been working on it a while."

"Now just get us a few more of those and we can have an album," Tsukishima added with a grin, which set Hinata off.

"Could we actually make an album? Like, we can do that? That would be freaking awesome!"

Yamaguchi laughed, and brushed his bangs out of his eyes, "I mean, I'd be up for the challenge. You guys would have to help me arrange your parts a bit, but yea, that would be awesome."

Tsukishima actually really liked the sound of being official and going public with things sometime soon, "Well if we're going public with this we'll need a name."

Hinata was the first to pipe up with a suggestion, "What about Clipped Wing Crows?"

Yamaguchi looked at Hinata and chuckled, "You've been sitting on that for a while haven't you?"

Hinata nodded, and looked towards the ground slightly, "Yea, a couple months. Since second year actually."

Tsukishima shrugged, "Anyone got anything better?"

Kageyama did the same, "I don't."

Yamaguchi grinned in response, "Then I guess we're the Clipped Wing Crows I guess. We should probably start heading to class, lunch is almost over."

After months of constant lunchtime rehearsals and staying way too late after volleyball practice in the mostly-soundproofed rooms, the Clipped Wing Crows had six more songs written, bringing their total up to the great number of seven.

Yamaguchi actually seemed quite proud of himself, he had spent day and night working on those songs, filling a few notebooks and covering his arms with song lyrics he thought of mid-practice with sharpie.

Tsukishima was proud of him too.

He had been sitting with Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Kageyama at lunch on one of their break days when one of the people in charge of planning the graduation after party, her name was Reiko, she had been in Yamaguchi's class for years, approached their table.

It really couldn't be called much of a break day, since Tsukishima was still drumming on the table with a pair of chopsticks, Kageyama was using the table as a keyboard, and Yamaguchi and Hinata were singing along to the recording that was playing from Yamaguchi's phone in the center of the table.

"Hey, do you guys have a second?"

She stood a little removed from the edge of the circular table, holding a folder to her chest.

Tsukishima quickly stopped, setting his chopsticks down and stopping the recording.

He was about to speak, but Yamaguchi had beat him to it, "Yea sure, what's up?"

"So, as you probably know, after graduation the school is hosting some sort of afterparty thing, just for the kids, and I'm on the planning committee for it," Reiko fiddled with the edge of her folder, "and we've been working on a playlist of songs to play. But someone brought up you guys, and we thought it would be cool if we had," she paused for a moment, "some of our own performing."

Yamaguchi paused and stuttered momentarily, and Tsukishima pondered stepping in, "I, uh—"

"Everybody would love it, I'm sure you guys have heard people talk about you," Reiko spoke confidently, attempting to convince them.

Yamaguchi shrugged, seeming to have found his bearings , "I mean, I think it would be pretty cool," he turned back to Tsukishima and the others, "What do you guys think?"

Tsukishima had to admit, that would definitely be a way to go out with a bang. They had already won nationals for the third time in a row, so they were already legends. The performance would just contribute to their status. Not that he cared about it very much, but it would probably matter to the others.

"I'd be down," Tsukishima shrugged, and looked towards Hinata, who surprisingly hadn't reacted yet.

"Oh my god, oh my god, that would be awesome!"

There it was.

Hinata stood up, and seemed to explode with energy, "Tobio-kun you've gotta say yes!"

"Jesus, chill out, dumbass," Kageyama elbowed Hinata, who sat down almost immediately, "I'm in if you guys all are."

Tsukishima went to talk, but Yamaguchi took over, again, "Guess we're all in then. Do you want us to stop by a meeting sometime, or?"

"Well, we probably don't need all of you there, so maybe just one of you guys could relay the info?"

Reiko made the suggestion somewhat nervously, and Yamaguchi quickly responded, "I uh, I could stop by, if it's good with you guys."

Yamaguchi turned back to Tsukishima, and he simply shrugged, as his well as Hinata and Kageyama.

"Ok, I'll be there then," Yamaguchi gave her a smile, "Just let me know when and where."

Tsukishima had to admit, he was a little impressed with how willingly Yamaguchi was taking charge. A few years ago he never would have been beating Tsukishima to speaking to someone like Reiko.

Yamaguchi said his goodbyes to Reiko, saying he'd see her in class later, and they went back to doing their thing, like always.

Graduation was growing closer and closer, and more and Tsukishima seemed to be spending more and more of his free time with the rest of the band.

And when he finally had time to hang out with Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi was sitting on his phone.

They were watching Jurassic Park, as they did almost every time they hung out, and Tsukishima would have gotten it, it could get boring after a while.

But he would've told Tsukishima if he was bored.

"Who are you talking to?" Tsukishima leaned over slightly to glance at Yamaguchi's phone.

Somewhat suspiciously, Yamaguchi angled the screen away from Tsukishima, "Reiko-san, we're making plans for graduation."

Tsukishima decided not to pry, if Yamaguchi didn't want him to know something he didn't need to know. If it concerned him Yamaguchi would say, "Hm, alright."

He sat back up, mostly satisfied with the answer. Yamaguchi had been getting fairly close to the girl lately. Maybe he was finally getting himself a girlfriend, not that Tsukishima cared much.

The idea of it was weird, but he didn't care much.

"You guys seem to be getting close," Tsukishima spoke without looking over at Yamaguchi.

The room grew just slightly dimmer as Yamaguchi switched off his phone and responded, "Yea, I like Reiko-san. She's nice to talk to."

Tsukishima frowned and over-exaggerated being hurt by this, "Aw, and I'm not nice to talk to?"

Yamaguchi laughed and leaned into Tsukishima, gently shoving him with his shoulder, and staying there, "Come on Kei, you know that's not what I mean."

"Jeez Tadashi, I'm joking," Tsukishima laughed and casually threw an arm around Yamaguchi's shoulders, "You'd think after being my friend so long you'd recognize sarcasm when you hear it."

He reached over with his other hand and ruffled Yamaguchi's hair with it on the last part.

Yamaguchi giggled and slapped away Tsukishima's hand, "Hey, you're messing up my hair!"

"Pfft, who cares about your hair," Tsukishima dodged Yamaguchi's hand and rested it on the couch behind him, "It's just us here."

"I care," Yamaguchi argued, "It's a pain in the ass to get it pulled back, I can't even get it all up yet, let alone half of it!"

"Hey, you're the one who decided to grow it out," Tsukishima teased, raising his free arm in his defense.

"Oh, didn't realize that my wanting to grow my hair out offended you so much," Yamaguchi continued the banter playfully, mimicking Tsukishima's constant sarcasm.

"It doesn't," Tsukishima reached over to ruffle Yamaguchi's hair again, though Yamaguchi grabbed his wrist before he could get close, "You've got nice hair, it's soft, it works long."

"Aww, thanks," Yamaguchi teased, "I'm glad my hair has your approval."

"Like you'd listen to me," Tsukishima responded with a grin.

"Kei, Kei, I can't do this," Tsukishima was standing behind the small outdoor stage the school had set up for graduation with Yamaguchi, who was currently panicking, "I'm— I'm freaking out, I can't fucking do this, what if I fuck up? Or what if everybody hates it? Everybody knows I wrote those songs, I'll never hear the end!"

Tsukishima could see the sweat beading on his forehead from the summer heat, and his cheeks were growing red quickly.

"Hey, hey, Tadashi," Tsukishima grabbed him by the shoulders, "You've heard what Reiko says, people love us."

This didn't do much to console Yamaguchi, who was quickly tearing up, "Kei, what happens if we suck?"

"Tadashi, we're not going to suck," Tsukishima took his hands off Yamaguchi's shoulders and unbuttoned his suit jacket, "Come on, take your jacket off, you look like you're about to die."

Yamaguchi allowed Tsukishima to pull his jacket off for him, "Kei, seriously, what if we're terrible? If we can't impress Miyagi how the hell are we supposed to make it work up in Tokyo?"

"Roll up your sleeves and dry off your face, we're going to knock Miyagi's socks off and then when we move up to Tokyo tomorrow we're gonna kill Tokyo too," Tsukishima set the jacket down by where Kageyama and Hinata had left theirs, "Alright?"

Yamaguchi nodded and reached a hand up to wipe his face dry of tears, "Y-yea. We're gonna kick Tokyo's ass."

Tsukishima smiled, and unbuttoned his own jacket, shrugging it off and dropping it with the others, and rolled up his sleeves, "Miyagi first."

Yamaguchi grinned, and did the same, "Yea, Miyagi first."

Tsukishima relaxed now that Yamaguchi had stopped panicking, and the pair walked up onto the stage.

He was thankful that this wasn't a concert type setting, consoling Yamaguchi would have been near impossible if it was.

Instead it was just background music, music to be played while people danced like idiots and had fun on their first day of being freed from high school.

Tsukishima took a breath and sat down at his drum set Yamaguchi had helped him set up earlier that morning.

Yamaguchi plucked his strings quietly, double checking to make sure it was tuned, probably anxious. It was perfectly tuned twenty minutes ago, Tsukishima highly doubted it would have gotten worse.

But as he looked towards Kageyama, and Hinata, and to Yamaguchi, he wasn't going to lie. He was excited.

They had decided on starting with a cover instead of an original, just to kick things off. He watched Yamaguchi's shoulders rise and fall from behind, and Kageyama was cracking his knuckles. Hinata shifted his weight from his toes to his heels, back and forth, clearly excited.

He heard Yamaguchi clear his throat, amplified by the microphone, "Uh, hey, how are you guys enjoying your freedom?"

A collective cheer rose from the audience, and Tsukishima could see the tension in his shoulders slowly evaporate.

"Yea, us too, it's a nice day for freedom, so should we get going? I'm sure you guys will recognize this one, not much need to introduce it."

Tsukishima couldn't see Yamaguchi's face, but he could hear it in his voice that he was happy, and his confidence was growing steadily.

He could tell that there was a massive grin on Yamaguchi's face, because there was one on his own as well. If he was grinning there was no way Yamaguchi wasn't. This thing they had built from the ground up in junior high was coming together, they were doing this, for real.

As he spoke, another cheer rose from the audience, and Yamaguchi looked back at Tsukishima, confirming his theory about the radiant grin on his face.

He was distracted momentarily, and then he remembered that was his cue to start them, and his brain jumped into action.

He tapped out the beat, and they started playing. It was the start of everything.

He didn't think he had ever been as proud of Yamaguchi as he was, standing up on the stage with him and the others. He had been standing there, a few people between him and Yamaguchi during the ceremony just earlier that morning. He was proud of him now, and he was proud then.

They were really going to Tokyo tomorrow. They were picking up everything, driving four and a half hours to Tokyo together.

They were making a life for themselves, and this performance was the first step.

"Oh my God, we fucking killed it!"

Tsukishima was sitting with the rest of the group after the performance, near the stage the school had yet to take down. It was dark, and they were alone.

Tsukishima was sitting next to Kageyama, on the edge of the stage, and Hinata and Yamaguchi were jumping around on the grass.

Yamaguchi had ran up near the stage as he yelled, planting his hands on the edge firmly, "We killed it, Kei!"

Tsukishima smiled, partially because of Yamaguchi's smile, partially because they really had fucking killed it, "Hell yeah we did."

Hinata was next to yell, "Tokyo here we come! Kicking ass left and right!"

He jumped up onto the stage with ease, and leaned down to rest his forearms on Kageyama's shoulders, "Come on Tobio-kun, you've gotta be more excited than this!"

"Hey, I'm excited," Kageyama defended himself quickly, leaning back gently into Hinata, "Just not jumping around like you idiots."

"I'm not jumping around, don't include me in these idiots," Tsukishima laughed and nudged Yamaguchi gently.

"Hey, we just totally kicked ass at our first performance, I deserve a little jumping around!"

Yamaguchi grinned, and pushed himself up onto the stage, sitting on the edge next to Tsukishima.

In response, Tsukishima wrapped an arm around Yamaguchi's shoulders and pulled him into his side, ruffling his hair, "And it's totally thanks to you that we did, you're the one who kicked ass Tadashi."

Yamaguchi grinned and swatted Tsukishima's hand away, "Hey, hands off the hair! I spent time on that today!"

"Well, I'm here to mess it up for you, don't want you to look too nice," Tsukishima said with a grin, going back to attack Yamaguchi's hair again.

"Hey," Kageyama stood up, dislodging Hinata from where he rested on his shoulders, "Shoyo and I are gonna get going, see you guys tomorrow when we pick up the equipment?"

Tsukishima nodded, and waved with his free hand, "Yep, see ya."

In a few moments, Kageyama and Hinata were gone, disappearing into the darkness.

It was just him and Yamaguchi now, sitting in the darkness.

Tsukishima leaned backwards, letting go of Yamaguchi's shoulder, and laying back on the stage, his hands folded behind his head, "We really graduated. We're actually doing this."

Yamaguchi quickly joined him, laying back in a similar position, "Yep. It took a lot of planning, but we're moving to Tokyo."

Tsukishima found himself chuckling, "A lot is an understatement."

"Yea," Yamaguchi agreed with a chuckle, and sat back up, "I'm bored of planning, let's do something stupid and impulsive."

Tsukishima did the same, leaning back on his elbows still, "Like what?"

He watched as a devilish grin appeared on Yamaguchi's face, and Tsukishima quickly grew worried, "Let's get matching tattoos."

Tsukishima laughed in response, "Yea, no. I'm not letting someone stick a needle in my skin."

Yamaguchi frowned and fell back onto Tsukishima's lap, looking up at him with a pleading expression, "Come on, please? It'll be fun!"

Tsukishima chuckled and brushed Yamaguchi's bangs out of his face, and for once Yamaguchi didn't shove his hand away, "Nope. Maybe someday, but that day is'nt today."

Yamaguchi seemed like he was about to say something, but his phone began ringing and he quickly sat up, "I should get that."

As Yamaguchi sat up, Tsukishima realized that his heart was racing. It was weird, and he pushed the feeling aside.

He watched as Yamaguchi spoke on the phone, "Oh, hey— Yea we're leaving tomorrow — of course, we'd be happy for the extra set of hands! — tomorrow morning, at like nine — Yea, thanks again, see you then!"

Yamaguchi hung up, and before Tsukishima had a chance to speak Yamaguchi did, "It was Reiko-san, she's gonna help us get our stuff from the school tomorrow morning."

Tsukishima smiled, they really could use the help, "Oh, nice, that'll help us get out quick."

Yamaguchi nodded, "We'll be able to stop in and say bye to the team too, they're practicing tomorrow."

"Yea," Tsukishima agreed. He was having a little trouble believing it, "We're actually doing this, we're moving to Tokyo tomorrow. We're leaving and moving to Tokyo. Freaking, Tokyo."

"Yea, I can't believe it either," Yamaguchi leaned over so his back rested against Tsukishima's shoulder, "It's kinda surreal."

It really was.

"Do you think Shoyo and Tobio are having the same conversation as us?"

Tsukishima laughed at Yamaguchi's words, "They're idiots, I doubt it. They're more likely staying up all night because they're so excited. This has been their dream since first year."

"Ah, yea," Yamaguchi leaned forward and stretched his arms out with a quiet groan, "Makes sense."

As Yamaguchi stretched his arms out, Tsukishima stood up, "We should probably get going."

Yamaguchi stretched his arms above his head and nodded in agreement, "Yea, we probably should."

He reached a hand out towards Tsukishima, "Help me up."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes with a grin and took Yamaguchi's hand, pulling him to his feet, "Lazy ass."

Yamaguchi simply responded with a snarky grin, "You know you love me."

"You'd have been strangled in your sleep long ago if I didn't," Tsukishima added with a laugh, and jumped off the edge of the stage, landing quietly in the grass.

Yamaguchi followed quickly, as always.

"I'll walk you home," Tsukishima offered as they started walking across the grass, "It's dark."

"Keiiii," Yamaguchi whined, "I'm not a scrawny little kid anymore, haven't been for years, I don't need you to walk me home! I'm almost taller than you, if anything, I should be walking you home."

"Yea, sure," Tsukishima said with a laugh, elbowing Yamaguchi gently, "I'm walking you home."

"Aw, Tsukki don't be mean," Yamaguchi elbowed him right back, and the sound of his old nickname warmed Tsukishima's heart.

"Hey, Reiko-san!" Tsukishima was sitting in the practice room with the others, packing their stuff into cases to load into the van and take with them down to Tokyo and Yamaguchi was leaning out into the hallway to wave Reiko down, "In here!"

She appeared in the doorway moments later, her face bright and beaming, similar to Yamaguchi's.

"Hey, good morning guys!"

She greeted them with a wave and a smile, and Tsukishima lifted a hand in greeting, "Hey."

"So, uh, what can I help with?" She rocked back and forth from her heels to the balls of her feet.

Kageyama was first to speak, "I could use some help lifting my keyboard so I can get it into the case."

Reiko nodded enthusiastically, and trotted over to help Kageyama.

"So are you guys excited to move out? Get out to the big city?"

She was making small-talk, something Tsukishima didn't appreciate much. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night, and wasn't exactly in a talking mood.

Thankfully, Yamaguchi was there to pick up the slack, "Yea, we found a pretty nice apartment for a good price downtown. We'll have to share rooms, but we can make it work."

"Oh, cool," Reiko walked over to Yamaguchi as Kageyama waved her off, not needing her help anymore, "So you're not bothering with dorm rooms?"

Yamaguchi shook his head, "No, it's too weird with the instruments and noise. We can soundproof the walls in one of the rooms at the apartment, I talked to the landlord."

Eventually Tsukishima began to tune out Reiko and Yamaguchi's voices, until they stepped out of the practice room together.

He couldn't help but wonder where they were going, but that really wasn't any of his business.

They were taking a few of the speakers with them, so Tsukishima assumed they were bringing the stuff they could to their van that was parked out front.

That was what they seemed like they were doing anyways, at least until Yamaguchi came back alone.

He said that Reiko had gotten a call from her parents and had to leave suddenly. Tsukishima figured it really wasn't a big deal anyways. They had to bring Kageyama's keyboard and the drum set out, but after that they were pretty much done.

Yamaguchi and Hinata could carry their guitars, and they'd fit easily in the backseat of the van, they didn't really need to go in the trunk. Kageyama's tiny car was already full of boxes of their clothes and stuff, so there was no room for the guitars.

Tsukishima figured it would take about a half hour until they were on the road, maybe more if the team prolonged their goodbyes and good-lucks.

As he had predicted, it had taken about a half hour. There were plenty of tearful hugs from the younger kids, and eventually Ukai had shooed them away with good luck wishes of his own, and promises to keep an eye out for them on television.

He and Yamaguchi were in the van with the instruments, and Kageyama and Hinata were driving separately with the rest of their stuff. They had most of the clothes boxes, at least as much as could fit in the trunk and backseat of their car.

Conversation was lacking, and a comfortable silence hung over the pair. Tsukishima was driving, and Yamaguchi was in the passenger side, his knees pulled up to his chest and his elbow resting on the center console as he slept, cheek pressed into the palm of his hand.

It was quiet, until Yamaguchi's phone started ringing.

When Yamaguchi didn't answer in the first few seconds, Tsukishima reached over and ruffled his hair with his right hand, "Hey, Tadashi, phone."

Yamaguchi lifted his face from his hand, sleepily at first, but once he realize his phone was ringing he snapped back into his senses, "Oh, sorry!"

He reached over to where his phone was sitting and picked it up, "Hey Reiko-san, what's up?"

Tsukishima could just barely hear Reiko's voice through Yamaguchi's phone, but he tried not to eavesdrop.

Yamaguchi also clearly didn't want him hearing, because a moment later he grabbed his earbuds and plugged them into his phone, and he continued speaking, "You're fine, it's alright — yea, we left a little while ago, we're about an hour out of Miyagi — Mmhm, yea, talk to you later."

"Reiko?" Tsukishima questioned, though he already knew the answer.

Yamaguchi nodded, "Yea, she was apologizing for leaving so suddenly earlier."

Tsukishima nodded, "She was helpful while she was there, it was nice to not have to lift everything ourselves. How'd you sleep?"

Yamaguchi shrugged, and stretched his arms out in front of them, a small squeak of a noise escaping his throat, "Meh, I feel gross. My face feels all warm and nasty. Still tired too."

"Well then go back to sleep," Tsukishima added simply, glancing over at Yamaguchi.

"Alright, move your hand then," Yamaguchi elbowed Tsukishima's hand off the center console, replacing it with his arm, which he leaned over and rested his head on, "Night, see ya in an hour or so."

Tsukishima laughed and reached over to run his fingers through Yamaguchi's hair, "Night, sleep well."

Yamaguchi fell silent quickly, and the rate at which his shoulders rose and fell quickly slowed, yet Tsukishima kept running his fingers through Yamaguchi's hair.

"Hey, sleepy head, wake up." Tsukishima leaned in the passenger side door, holding onto the outside of the opening with one hand as he shook Yamaguchi's shoulder with the other, "We made it to Tokyo. Shoyo and Tobio got stuck a while back, the idiots, so they'll be here soon."

The van was parked in the parking garage connected to their apartment building, and that was where Tsukishima stood.

Yamaguchi sat up and brushed his bangs out of his face with a small groan, only for them to fall back into his face, "Mm, g'morning."

Tsukishima laughed and pushed himself back into an upright standing position, instead of leaning into the car, "Morning sunshine."

Yamaguchi staggered out of the car moments later, grabbing Tsukishima's shoulder as he regained his balance, "Let's get started on moving stuff up I guess."

Tsukishima nodded in agreement, and went around to the back of the van, opening the trunk up.

As he did so, he realized that packing up the instruments last was probably a bad idea, because now they had to drag those to the apartment first.

But they had to deal with it now, so Tsukishima sighed and tried to figure out the best way to do this. It would have been tons easier if Hinata and Kageyama were there on time, but whatever.

He grabbed Yamaguchi's guitar and handed it to him, who quickly slid his arms through the straps so he could carry it without using his hands, "Here, I can take more."

Tsukishima laughed as he did the same thing with Hinata's guitar case, loosening the straps to fit his larger shoulders, "Be patient Tadashi, jeez."

"Sorryyy," Yamaguchi apologize without really apologizing, finally waking up fully, "I just can't believe we're actually here, we live in Tokyo!"

He smiled at his enthusiasm, and handed him Kageyama's keyboard case, "Yea, well if you're gonna be a spaz at least use your energy and carry more stuff."

He himself grabbed one of the cases his drums were in, and set it down on the ground so he could close the trunk and lock the car.

When he had finished this, he picked it back up, and looked towards Yamaguchi, "Let's get going then."

Yamaguchi nodded, and with a noticeable spring in his step he led Tsukishima towards the elevators, directed by the numerous signs.

When they stepped onto the elevator, there were about five other people on it, and between their instruments and themselves, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi barely fit. Thankfully their floor arrived quickly, and they got off as quickly as they had gotten on.

Yamaguchi led Tsukishima down the hall confidently, not seeming to tire at all from the weight he carried.

Suddenly, he stopped outside a door, apartment 912, and he pulled a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door.

He pushed it open, and switched on the light, revealing a neat and tidy living room, with three doors leading off of it and a kitchen to the left side.

Tsukishima stepped in after Yamaguchi, and set down the cases he was carrying, "It's bigger than I expected."

Yamaguchi nodded, "Yea, the landlord said that one of the rooms doesn't have a bed in it, so we'll go with that for the practice room. Gotta soundproof the walls before we do anything though."

Tsukishima nodded, "Yea. We can probably wait until Hinata and Kageyama get here to unpack the rest of the stuff, so we've got the extra hands. Let's just hope they don't take too long."

Yamaguchi nodded in agreement, "Yea, while we wait I wanna go talk to the neighbors. Introduce ourselves, let them know about the noise, that kind of thing."

As Yamaguchi spoke, Tsukishima mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that, if they wanted to avoid noise complaints introducing themselves was probably a good idea. Yamaguchi was charming too, if he did the talking the neighbors were more than likely to love them, "Oh yea, that's probably a good idea. Do you mind going alone?"

Yamaguchi nodded, and stretched his arms above his head, "Yea, I don't mind. I probably don't need to go any farther than the people right next door, between the soundproofing and actual walls the sound shouldn't reach much farther than there. Plus you should probably wait for Shoyo and Tobio."

Tsukishima had to admit, he was a little surprised at how willingly Yamaguchi was suggesting he talk to people, "Alright, I'll be here when you get back then."

Yamaguchi nodded, and within moments he was out the door.

When he found himself alone in the apartment, Tsukishima was finding he was fairly uncomfortable. It wasn't like his own house, or Yamaguchi's, where he was comfortable.

He supposed it would take a while to feel like home.

Tsukishima had been just about to fall asleep a few days later, laying on his stomach with his face smashed into his pillow (a habit he had picked up when Kuroo insisted that it was comfortable and he should try it) when Yamaguchi crawled over to the bed, and rested his chin and forearms on the edge near Tsukishima's face.

He hadn't noticed Yamaguchi was there until he poked Tsukishima in the shoulder.

"Tsukiiii," Yamaguchi whined quietly, "Can I pleeease have the bed tonight?"

Tsukishima groaned into the pillow, and grumbled without even lifting his face, "No, go back to sleep 'Dashi."

"Please?" Yamaguchi stood back up and fell back on top of Tsukishima, "My butt hurts."

Tsukishima groaned at the added weight on his back, "I'm not the one who decided to try and slide across the kitchen floor in socks and fell on my ass."

"Ok, to be fair, I'm usually way better at sock-sliding," Yamaguchi quickly repositioned himself so he was laying on top of Tsukishima, parallel to his body instead of laying across it, "I don't usually fall on my ass."

Too tired to really protest, Tsukishima shoved his face farther into his pillow with another groan, "Ugh, fine."

Yamaguchi didn't answer, and he stayed where he was.

With Yamaguchi's chest pressed to his back, Tsukishima could feel his heart pounding through his t-shirt.

The feeling was relaxing, and it quickly lulled him to sleep.

The next thing he was aware of was Hinata giggling quietly, and Kageyama shushing him.

He heard a camera shutter, muffled swearing, and as he peeled his eyes open he saw a flash of bright orange hair leave the room, shutting the door quietly.

Yamaguchi, a much heavier sleeper, hadn't heard any of this. However, he did wake up when Tsukishima shoved him off of his back and towards the wall as he jumped out of the bed to chase down Hinata.

"Shoyo I swear to god!"

He sprinted out of his room, turning the corner as quickly as possible, placing a hand on the doorframe and swinging around it as he ran into the kitchen.

"Tobio I swear, get Shoyo under control!" He could feel his face growing warm quickly as he stood on the other side of the counter, where Hinata and Kageyama were giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey Kei, how'd you and Tadashi sleep last night?" Hinata asked through his laughter, leaning over the counter holding his stomach.

"No different than you and Tobio I'd assume," Tsukishima responded mostly calmly with a snarky remark, having relaxed slightly now that he had regained his footing. If it was a battle of insults there was no way he'd lose, "I've seen you at training camps, don't think you could get any closer."

"Yea, well it's different for you guys!" Hinata argued, "Tobio-kun and I have been sleeping together for years!"

Kageyama quickly elbowed him, and Hinata flashed him an apologetic glance.

"Sorry Tobio-kun!" Hinata quickly apologized, and that was when Yamaguchi walked into the kitchen, pulling his hair back, feet sticking slightly to the linoleum floor.

"G'morning Kei," Yamaguchi pressed his palms gently into his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them.

Hinata quickly jumped for the opportunity to tease Yamaguchi as he had Tsukishima, "So how'd you sleep Tadashi?"

Yamaguchi simply shrugged, "Pretty good, at least until Kei shoved me against the wall."

Kageyama stifled a snicker, and raised his eyebrows at Tsukishima, "Oh, so Kei likes it rough, huh?"

Tsukishima quickly felt his cheeks heating up again, "Oh fuck off Tobio."

Kageyama's comment sent Hinata into another fit of giggles, which conveniently allowed Yamaguchi's lack of a reaction to go unnoticed.

"Aw come on Tobio, give him a break," Hinata managed to speak through his laughter, "He's clearly very sexually frustrated, don't attack the poor guy."

"Wow Shoyo that's a big word," Tsukishima retorted quickly, with more grace than he had reacting to Kageyama, "Did Kageyama teach you that one?"

This seemed to hit a soft spot, and Hinata instantly went red, seeming to have no explanation.

With Yamaguchi and the others in the apartment, the small place was quickly feeling like home. They had finished unpacking all their boxes the previous night, so it helped even more.

He could definitely get used to living like this, despite the stupid jokes.

They had just gotten done playing their first actual gig some weeks later, at some no-name bar in the middle of Tokyo, when two giant idiots barreled into Tsukishima around the back where they were putting their instruments back in their van to get them home.

Unlike graduation, Yamaguchi had seemed to experience little anxiety about the performance, and it went perfectly, save a few tiny mistakes.

They had gone with the same thing they did at the graduation party, a combination of covers and originals, enough recognizable songs mixed in to hold interest with enough of their stuff for people to get to know what it sounded like.

Tsukishima quickly found himself smothered by Kuroo and Bokuto, who were easily lifting him off the ground in a joint effort of a hug.

Tsukishima wiggled his arms out of the vice grip of Kuroo and Bokuto, and flashed them an annoyed look paired with a grin, "You know, a hello would do just as well."

"Well you coulda told us that you were in a band!"

Bokuto was first to pipe up, his voice loud in Tsukishima's ear.

"I forgot, alright, jeez!" He found himself stifling a bit of a laugh, despite the fact that his entire rib cage was being crushed, "Can you put me down?"

Bokuto and Kuroo quickly released him, and Tsukishima felt his feet hit solid concrete once more, "How long have you been down here?"

Kuroo was next to throw questions at Tsukishima, and he answered somewhat shamefully, though he did his best to not let this show, "Almost a month? Maybe a bit longer?"

"Tsukki what the hell!" Kuroo punched him in the shoulder with a laugh, "We could've showed you around!"

"Let me guess, you forgot to tell us you moved halfway across the country too?" Bokuto added with a snarky grin, and Tsukishima nodded.

"Well, Bo and I have gotta get goin," Kuroo reached over and ruffled Tsukishima's hair like Tsukishima often did to Yamaguchi, "The next bus gets here soon, and we've still gotta walk to the bus stop."

Tsukishima ducked away from his hand quickly, "See you later then."

Kuroo then proceeded to punch him gently, "Call me, idiot"

Tsukishima winced and rubbed his arm, getting punched by Kuroo twice in the same spot hurt, "Then stop punching me, idiot."

Kuroo flashed him a grin, "Yea, yea, alright. See ya Tsukki."

He waved as Kuroo and Bokuto walked off, "See ya Kuroo."

When Tsukishima got into the passenger side of the van, he found that Kageyama and Hinata seemed to have already fallen asleep despite the fact that it wasn't even that late.

"So you really didn't tell Kuroo about any of this stuff?"

Yamaguchi questioned him almost as soon as he got in the car, and Tsukishima shrugged as he shut the door, "It just never occurred to me I guess, I don't really tell people things."

"Well you tell me things," Yamaguchi simply shrugged in response as he started the car.

Tsukishima scoffed lightly, "Yea, well you're you Tadashi. You're different than Kuroo."

Yamaguchi smiled and threw a snarky remark at Tsukishima, "Aww, I'm special?"

He rolled his eyes with a grin, "Of course you're special, don't be stupid."

"Right right, sorry," Yamaguchi apologized with a light chuckle, and for the rest of the way home it was quiet. Peaceful almost.

When they got back to their apartment building, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi almost had to literally pull Hinata and Kageyama out of the car, and when they got to their apartment they quickly disappeared into their room.

Tsukishima found himself stifling a chuckle at how quickly the pair had fallen asleep, especially considering Hinata's usual energy levels.

But a moment later he was as hit with the reality that his eyelids were heavy and now that he was still he felt was about to fall asleep on his feet.

Yamaguchi seemed to notice this, because he glanced over at Tsukishima and grabbed his wrist gently for a moment, pulling him forward just slightly before letting go, "You look like you're gonna fall asleep right there, come on, let's go to bed."

Tsukishima followed without hesitation, bed sounded really nice.

He was just about to fall back onto the bed and get under the covers when Yamaguchi scolded him, "Hey, change first, you smell like the bar. I don't want you making the bed smell like it too."

Tsukishima groaned and got back up. He had been so ready to fall asleep.

But he did what Yamaguchi said anyways, he didn't want the bed to smell disgusting either.

After putting on a clean shirt and shorts, tossing his dirty ones into the laundry basket, Tsukishima fell back onto the bed once more.

He had moved towards the wall side, assuming that Yamaguchi was going to bed too, but he was walking out of the room, "I've got some stuff to finish up, so I'll be there soon. Night Kei."

He frowned, he could tell Yamaguchi was worried about something, "You did really well tonight Tadashi, really. Don't worry about it."

Yamaguchi nodded in response, "Yea, I know."

Tsukishima was mostly satisfied with this, and grabbed his pillow from where it had fallen earlier, "Night Tadashi."

On his way out, Yamaguchi pulled the door shut behind him, effectively blocking most of the light that leaked in from the rest of the apartment.

Yamaguchi had said he'd go to bed soon, but it was almost three hours later when he climbed into bed and slipped under the covers with Tsukishima.

Tsukishima figured it would be best to not bother him about it, so he stayed quiet as he felt Yamaguchi move into his side and draped an arm over his back.

When he woke up again the next morning, Yamaguchi wasn't there.

Tsukishima frowned as he got out of bed, pushing the door to his room open.

As he stepped out of his room, he saw Yamaguchi in the kitchen, and then he remembered. It was Yamaguchi's turn to make breakfast, so that explained why he was up before Tsukishima.

"Morning Tadashi," he rested his elbows and forearms on the counter, and looked towards Yamaguchi. He was standing at the stove, with his back to Tsukishima.

He jumped slightly, but as he turned around he smiled, "Morning Kei."

He had been humming a tune Tsukishima didn't recognize earlier, and Tsukishima decided to question it, "You working on a new song or something?"

Yamaguchi seemed puzzled by his question, "Why do you ask?"

Tsukishima shrugged in response, "You were humming something, so I wondered."

Yamaguchi relaxed slightly at his answer, "Ah, yea. I'm kind of messing with an idea, probably won't turn into much though."

Tsukishima hummed quietly in response, "Hm, cool. Let me know when it turns out."

"If," Yamaguchi quickly corrected, "If it turns out."

Tsukishima frowned at how quickly and easily Yamaguchi corrected himself, but quickly changed it to a teasing grin, "Yea, sure. You want me to get the other idiots up?"

Yamaguchi nodded, and turned back to the stove, "Yea, that would be great. Thanks."

Tsukishima nodded and made his way over to Kageyama and Hinata's room. He went to push the door open, but was stopped by the lock.

He rolled his eyes and knocked on the door, yelling to the pair who were probably still asleep inside, "Hey, dumbasses, breakfast!"

When there was no response he added to his statement, "Tadashi made food!"

At this, he heard a thud as one of them fell onto the floor, probably Kageyama, and moments later Hinata was pulling the door open, running his fingers through his hair as if he was attempting to tame it, "You could've led with that, we'd have been out in seconds."

Kageyama quickly appeared behind Hinata, shoving him not so gently, "Try not to throw me on the floor next time, dumbass."

Tsukishima kind of envied the comfortable dynamic Hinata and Kageyama's friendship had. He and Yamaguchi had that, for the most part, but Yamaguchi had felt kind of distant for a while.

Nothing that anyone besides Tsukishima would pick up though, so he figured it couldn't be too concerning.

At least that's what he had hoped.

Close to a month later, Tsukishima was really growing concerned for Yamaguchi.

He wouldn't go to bed until almost four in the morning sometimes, and seemed to be waking up earlier and earlier. He had been spending what felt like too much time in the practice room, either on the phone or practicing with his headphones plugged into his guitar.

He felt distant and isolated, and Tsukishima couldn't seem to figure out how to get through the wall Yamaguchi was building up.

His concern only grew as Yamaguchi started going out on his own, he rarely did anything without Tsukishima.

Maybe he had met a girl. With his charisma and the amount of time they spent hopping from bar to bar to perform, it wouldn't be surprising.

For whatever reason Tsukishima found himself hoping Yamaguchi hadn't met a girl.

His concerns were mostly put to rest, however, when Yamaguchi marched triumphantly into the apartment one day, "Guess who just made our careers!"

Tsukishima had been sitting on the couch while Hinata and Kageyama sat at the table, and all heads turned to Yamaguchi immediately.

"What happened?"

Tsukishima was first to speak, turning so he sat on his knees and his elbows rested on the back of the couch.

Yamaguchi shut the door, still beaming, and walked over to the table, setting his laptop bag down, "I just got us the opportunity of a lifetime, I got us into an actual concert!"

Hinata quickly reacted to this, jumping up, "Really? Where? When?"

Yamaguchi's grin grew even wider, he was practically glowing with happiness at this point, "There's this absolutely massive outdoor stage downtown, and we're opening for like, one of the biggest bands ever!"

He yelled the band name enthusiastically as he set his phone down as well.

Tsukishima was surprised by this, and he leaned just slightly farther over the back of the couch, "How the hell did you manage that Tadashi?"

Yamaguchi turned to him and grinned, "Their band was at one of the bars we played at a while ago, not performing, just hanging out, but their lead singer reached out to me a few weeks ago and said he really liked our work! So we talked and worked something out, and we're playing in three weeks, right near the end of the summer!"

Kageyama was the only one to have not reacted yet, but he seemed just as excited, "Are you serious? You're not fucking with us, right?"

Yamaguchi shook his head aggressively, "No, it's one-hundred percent true!"

The initial shock having worn of slightly, Tsukishima sat back on his heels, "Holy fuck Tadashi, you're the best."

"I, uh, thanks," Yamaguchi's energy faltered slightly, and his ears went pink as he brushed his bangs out of his face.

He quickly looked towards Hinata and Kageyama, almost seeming to be avoiding Tsukishima's gaze, "We should probably up our rehearsal times, they're releasing the info for the concert, so people are probably gonna be expecting a lot. So we'll probably have to cut back on the smaller gigs for now too."

Kageyama and Tsukishima quickly nodded in agreement, Kageyama beating Tsukishima to speaking, "Sounds like a good idea. Let's kick Tokyo's ass."

Yamaguchi simply grinned in response, "That was the plan from the start."

A few weeks had passed, and Yamaguchi was still distant. This only concerned Tsukishima more.

The fact that the wall was still up meant that it hadn't just been his planning to get them into the concert that he was guarding. It couldn't be stress about the concert either because when Yamaguchi got stressed he got clingy. He was anything but clingy at the moment.

He had taken up residence on the floor again, and he continued going to sleep way too late and waking up way too early.

Tsukishima decided to finally confront him about it one night, when Yamaguchi was coming in to go to bed. Hehad stayed up to wait for Yamaguchi, and when he opened the door Tsukishima set his phone down and looked towards him, "Tadashi, we need to talk."

Yamaguchi looked towards Tsukishima, and due to the darkness he couldn't see his expression well, but what he could see was incredibly tired, "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm exhausted."

Tsukishima shook his head without hesitation, "No, we've gotta talk now."

Yamaguchi sighed and sat down on the bed next to Tsukishima, turning to face him, "Alright, what is it?"

Tsukishima quickly did the same, sitting cross-legged to face him, "What's up with you? You've been distant."

Yamaguchi simply shrugged in response, "I don't know. I've been in a weird place lately, I think the concert is just getting to me."

Tsukishima frowned, he doubted that was it. He knew his best friend, and he could tell when he was lying. But prying never got him anywhere, if anything, it made it worse, "Okay, I'm just worried about you you know."

Yamaguchi nodded, "Yea, thanks Kei."

Tsukishima was about to say something else, but Yamaguchi interrupted, "Do you mind if I sleep up here again tonight?"

Tsukishima simply nodded in response, "Yea, of course. I've been getting cold."

Yamaguchi smiled, and within minutes he was asleep, curled up in Tsukishima's side, an arm draped over his back.

It was the day of the concert, and Tsukishima was so excited he was having trouble finding something to keep him busy until they had to leave. He wasn't someone who often got excited about this type of thing, so it was hard to admit it, but he couldn't wait.

They had already rehearsed for hours that morning, and now they were just waiting.

Kageyama and Hinata had gone out to get groceries, since they were running low on food, and Tsukishima was laying on the couch trying to bore himself to sleep with the reading his first semester language arts class had assigned for the summer.

He thought it was stupid that he had to read Shakespeare before school had even started, but it was useful for killing time. Or falling asleep if he needed it.

Yamaguchi was the only one who still felt the need to rehearse. He had shut himself in the practice room with his guitar, practicing with his headphones pulled over his ears.

He had been doing that a lot lately, and Tsukishima just figured he was self-conscious about practicing on his own for other people to hear. He could be like that sometimes.

So he didn't worry.

Eventually Kageyama and Hinata got home and made dinner. The smell of food finally lured Yamaguchi out of the room, and he was fairly quiet as he stuffed his face with rice.

They were all quiet as they stuffed their faces with rice, though, so it wasn't concerning.

Kageyama and Hinata has gotten home later than planned, and so they had less time to eat and get ready than they had thought. So that meant eating quickly, without speaking.

Yamaguchi was first to leave the table, putting his dishes in the sink and disappearing into his room.

Kageyama and Hinata quickly did the same, and soon Tsukishima was the only one left at the table.

He quickly shoved the rest of his food in his mouth and stood up to put his bowl in the sink with the others.

Tsukishima pulled the door to his room open, where Yamaguchi was pulling on a pair of black jeans that were ripped at the knees and faded to the point of being a dark gray.

He flashed Yamaguchi a teasing grin and hip-checked him out of the way of the dresser so he could pull a clean t-shirt and pair of jeans of his own out, "Move it, I've gotta change too."

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes and returned the grin as he began tucking his shirt into his jeans, "I would've, had you asked instead of shoving me."

He punctuated the sentence by shoving his hip into Tsukishima's in return.

"Yea, yea, now let me put my pants on," Tsukishima said with a laugh, and pulled his shorts off, replacing them with the jeans he had pulled from the drawer.

Yamaguchi simply laughed in return, and grabbed a hair tie off of the dresser. He began pulling his hair back as Tsukishima changed his shirt.

As usual, he had troubles with this, and Tsukishima laughed and stepped behind him, "Here, let me help."

He moved Yamaguchi's hands from his hair and grabbed the hair tie, and slipped it over his hand around his wrist.

Tsukishima ran his fingers gently through Yamaguchi's hair, allowing it to fall over his shoulders. He did this a few more times, and then pulled it up, securing it with the hair tie.

"There, that's better," he grinned to himself, laying a hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder.

It was only then that he realized how much Yamaguchi had changed in the past few months. Before graduation, he had complained about not being able to get his hair all the way up. He had looked like the kind of guy a girl's parents would approve of. And now he had about a billion piercings in his ears, five to be exact. There also a tattoo of a snake wrapped around his right arm, crows on his collarbone, and a star behind his ear. Tsukishima had a similar one, Yamaguchi had talked him into it.

He was part way through his sudden realization about his best friend when Hinata barged into their room, "Hey, you guys gonna help us get the instruments in the van or what?"

Both of them seemed to jump into action at this, and Tsukishima stepped out of the room first, "Yea, sorry."

Yamaguchi lagged behind, grabbing a few extra hair ties from the dresser and slipping them onto his wrist.

It didn't take long for them to get their instruments in the van, and before Tsukishima had even registered any time passing they were on their way to the stadium. Kageyama and Hinata were yelling in the backseat, and Yamaguchi was joking around with them while Tsukishima sat at the wheel.

The time from when they left their apartment to when they stepped on stage felt like it passed at a thousand miles an hour.

The lights were blindingly bright, and Tsukishima had to squint to see against them, almost like he wasn't wearing his glasses.

He could see the muscles in Yamaguchi's shoulders tense up, and relax again moments later. The people who were in the crowd to see the band they were opening for cheered for them, even though most probably hadn't ever heard of them before they were announced to be opening for them.

He really really hoped they'd do well.

Yamaguchi gave them a quick introduction, and they were off.

Things had gone more smoothly than Tsukishima had hoped, and before he knew it they were done. They had gone through the songs they had written, and the countless hours of rehearsal had definitely paid off.

Or he had thought they were done.

Yamaguchi spoke again, and Tsukishima had assumed it was to say some sort of a goodbye. But to his surprise, it was to introduce another song.

"So we've got one more song for you guys," his voice was loud and clear due to the microphone, and Tsukishima was only just getting used to it. He sounded confident, like he belonged there, "We're gonna kick my friend Kei off the drums for this one, and Shoyo's gonna take over there."

Tsukishima was beyond confused, but he moved out of his spot, and let Hinata sit down. He wasn't sure where to go, so he just stood off to the side.

As Yamaguchi started playing, Tsukishima couldn't help but focus on the lyrics.

He realized that this is what Yamaguchi had been destroying himself working on, locking himself in the practice room at all hours of the night.

The only question was, why hide it?

As he listened to the words, he thought he knew. The song was about something like unrequited love, and it could've been him. But that couldn't be right, right? It just didn't make sense. Part of him hoped it was him, but the logical side of his brain won out there.

It had to be Reiko, or somebody. Maybe Yamaguchi had told her something about his feelings the day he left, and that's why she left quickly. That sounded right, and it made sense. A lot more than it being about Tsukishima at least.

But to his own surprise, and for the first time in his life, his hope was beating out the logic.

That was when it hit him.

The things he did with Yamaguchi, the way he felt about Yamaguchi, house weren't normal best friend things.

The fact that he didn't want Yamaguchi to have a girlfriend, the way he worried about him constantly. The fact that he couldn't sleep without Yamaguchi near him, it made sense.

Before he knew it, the song was finishing, and Yamaguchi was closing their part of the concert.

He finished speaking, and the crowd was cheering at a deafening volume.

Yamaguchi turned back to look at Tsukishima, and despite the tears dripping down his cheeks, his smile seemed to glow brighter than the spotlights that blinded him.

They had decided to wait around backstage to listen to the other band perform, but Yamaguchi disappeared for almost the whole performance, only coming back as they were closing.

They left shortly after that, but not before thanking the other band for the opportunity.

Tsukishima had been stuck in his thoughts since Yamaguchi's last song, and he wasn't sure what to do with them.

On the way home he attempted to block them out with a pair of headphones and loud music.

This proved to be a fruitless effort, and he found himself staring out the window instead.

It was dark outside, late. Around 11:30 last time he had checked. The stars were out, and the moon shone brightly in the sky.

Hinata and Kageyama were sound asleep in the backseat, at least Hinata was.

His music was suddenly lowered in volume as a notification went off in his headphones, quickly followed by two more.

He wondered who the hell was texting him, and he pulled his phone from his pocket.

On the screen were three messages from Kageyama, and he wondered why Kageyama hadn't just said something instead of texting him.

When he read the messages, however, he realized why.

The messages were sent in quick succession, three in a row. The first read, "You're really fucking stupid."

He was offended for a moment, but he read the second before the feeling could last, "He wrote that song for you."

He felt his heart stop in his chest as he read the second, and he barely registered the third as he read it, "At least talk to him."

He glanced over to Yamaguchi, who had been silent, and then back to his phone, where he quickly typed out a response.

"I'm not gonna do it with you here," it said, short and simple.

He heard Kageyama sigh in the backseat, and Tsukishima put his phone away.

He needed a game plan for when they got home, otherwise he'd risk ruining everything.

They got home a little over ten minutes later, and Kageyama carried Hinata on his back into the apartment and into their room, shutting and locking the door like usual.

When the door shut, Yamaguchi headed towards his own bedroom, avoiding direct eye contact with Tsukishima, "I'm gonna go to bed. G'night Kei."

"Tadashi, wait," Tsukishima stepped towards Yamaguchi's retreating figure, and reached out to take his hand.

He gently turned Yamaguchi back around to face him, and rested his hands on Yamaguchi's hips, pulling him just a bit closer to him, "You're really fucking brave Tadashi, you know that right?"

Yamaguchi didn't respond, he seemed to still be processing what was happening.

Tsukishima reached up with both hands, resting them on either side of his face. He stepped in ever so slightly closer as he felt Yamaguchi's hands on his hips, gently pulling him forward, more of a suggestion than a pull.

"You got up there and pretty much confessed your love to me," Tsukishima continued, resting his forehead on Yamaguchi's, "That's pretty damn brave."

His voice dropped to a low whisper as they stood there, in the middle of the living room, "This is okay, right?"

He felt Yamaguchi nod, and when he finally said something his voice was hardly more than a breathy whisper, "Yea. It's okay."

"Ok, good," Tsukishima breathed, and he didn't have time to question what he was doing before he was angling his face just slightly to fit against Yamaguchi's and press their lips together and fuck, they were kissing.

It took only a split second for Tsukishima to regret what he was doing, and almost pull away. Then it took another split second for Yamaguchi to return it, leaning into Tsukishima's lips just slightly for a short moment that really wasn't all that short. After the not so short short moment, Yamaguchi pulled back just slightly, his forehead resting against Tsukishima's still.

"Still okay?"

Tsukishima questioned again at a low whisper, and he felt Yamaguchi's shoulders shake slightly as he let out a breathy laugh, "Of course you idiot."

Before Tsukishima had a chance to reply to this Yamaguchi pressed his lips to Tsukishima's once more.

Out of all of the dreams of fame and fortune that had been circulating through his head for the past three years, this was probably the only one he really cared about in the end.

It had taken a while to realize, but this was what he wanted. He was sure of it now.

A/N: So I'm really stupid lmao. I completely forgot I had this one finished. Punk Yamaguchi gives me life so naturally, I had to write a band au. I had a lot of fun with this one (I wrote it in less than a week) and I hope you guys like it too ;0

~Niki