"Have you seen the new trailer for that video game coming out?" Yamaguchi questioned, popping an omelet roll into his mouth.

"Yeah, that was released weeks ago. You're late on this, Yamaguchi." Tsukishima replied never looking up from scrolling through this phone; most likely looking for a song since his headphones were hanging around his neck.

Yamaguchi laughed, "You're always so on top of things like this, Tsukki," the blond only hummed in response. "I bet you're really excited for it. You did play that series' previous installment for almost three days straight. I bet you're even going to pre-order it."

"Yamaguchi, shut up," came the rather predictable and expected response. The freckled boy just laughed again, "Sorry Tsu—"

"Yeah, shut up Yamaguchi!"

The sudden addition of a sneering third voice in their conversation threw the two teens off, freezing them in place.

Directing his eyes towards the source of the third voice, Yamaguchi found one of their classmates (he couldn't remember their name though) standing next to Tsukishima's desk; an undeniable smirk plastered across his face.

Before Yamaguchi could even properly comprehend what just happened—let alone respond to it—there was an ear splitting screech of scratching metal that sliced through the air; drawing all eyes to focus on them—or rather—to focus on Tsukishima who was now standing at full height in front of the student.

The look on the blond's face was like the one that he usually kept reserved for intimidating others or when he was looking down on someone especially harshly (or when he just wanted to piss Kageyama and/or Hinata off). However, while Yamaguchi had seen this exact scenario several times in his life, he noticed that something seemed different this time around; though, he couldn't put a finger on it.

The student, who previously looked so smug about his "clever" interruption, now looked small—in both literal and figurative meaning—and insignificant compared to the towering height and presence of Tsukishima. If Yamaguchi was to compare the two to anything it would be a scared puppy and an enraged giraffe.

Time felt like it halted as everyone held their breath in anticipation.

But nothing in the world could have possibly prepared Yamaguchi for what happened next.

"Fuck off."

If the room wasn't silent before it certainly was now. A pin could be dropped down the hall and it would've been heard.

"What?" The other student stuttered once he regained part of his composure.

"I said 'fuck off,' " venom dripped from every word that was coldly said by the middle blocker.

Yamaguchi snapped out of his shocked daze and whispered urgently, "Tsukki, no. It's alright," his friend didn't budge a bit. Yamaguchi grabbed hold of Tsukishima's jacket hem and began tugging at it to urge him to sit back down, "Tsukki, people are staring."

Unlike Yamaguchi who was more sensitive to people's looks, Tsukishima didn't care at all about others who looked at him—especially if he didn't know or care for them. So Yamaguchi could only hope that he listened to reason and dropped it. And it turned out that luck was on Yamaguchi's side as Tsukishima did begrudgingly sit back down—not before giving another cold demon-like glare—and resumed scrolling through his phone more aggressively than prior.

The other student fled the moment Tsukishima was no longer paying him any attention and the rest of the room returned to their own business as well after it was clear that the spectacle was over; a few did cast some passing glances at the two.

Yamaguchi, while glad that his friend didn't start a fight that would surely have resulted in him being scolded by both the sensei as well as their senpai, couldn't help but to feel curious over why Tsukishima did react as strongly as he did. It wasn't like the "insult" was particularly nasty or anything (it was actually a rather pathetic one).

He contemplated asking, but Tsukishima looked like he need a few—or many—minutes to himself to calm down. Yamaguchi filed the inquiry away for later.

Well "later" ended up turning into "much later" as it was now after practice and Yamaguchi still had not questioned Tsukishima. Worst of all, the nagging curiosity affected his performance during practice. He missed and fumbled more balls than usual. Though, it seemed like he wasn't the only one. Tsukishima, while definitely calmer than he was during lunch, was still on edge. While he didn't miss any more balls then usual (he actually did better), his spikes were noticeably more aggressive.

It wasn't until after they separated from the rest of the team at the turn into their neighborhood that Yamaguchi had a chance to talk with Tsukishima.

"Hey, Tsukki?" A hum of recognition was his reply, "Why did you tell that guy to 'fuck off' before?"

"Because he was annoying me," came the reply that was said as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"A lot of people annoy you," Yamaguchi pointed out, "like Hinata, Kageyama, those two captains from the Tokyo teams, but you've never told them that; well, at least not in that kind of wording." Tsukishima didn't say anything so the two walked in silence.

It wasn't until they reached the fork in the road that divided the two's paths home that Tsukishima spoke again, "Only I'm allowed to tell you to shut up."

Yamaguchi stopped and stared up at his friend. He searched for some sort of sign that a joke was being told (even though he knew Tsukishima rarely told jokes), but he couldn't find any. Arching an eyebrow, he gave the blond a pointed look.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Tsukishima didn't answer right away so the two of them ended up just staring at each other in the middle of the walkway; which must have looked silly to anyone who might have come across them.

Seconds ticked by without Tsukishima elaborating his words and Yamaguchi was beginning to grow bored and slightly annoyed.

"Tsukki, are you going to—"

"I don't like other people telling you to shut up."

If anything, Yamaguchi was even more confused than before. "Because only you're allowed to do that?"

Tsukishima must have realised how ridiculous that sounded as his face flushed (an adorable) light pink and he fidgeted a bit, "I don't really mean anything by it, but that other guy did and I didn't like that. So I got mad and well, you know what happened after…" his voice slowly trailed off at the end.

Everything that Tsukishima was currently doing was so out of character for him that Yamaguchi was starting to think that it wasn't really Tsukishima who was in front of him., but rather some stranger that decided to take over his body and live his life as Tsukishima; not that Yamaguchi knew why anyone would want to do that.

As Yamaguchi continued to stare at Tsukishima as he thought about how to respond the blond tried to regain his stoic face, but it was hard to take serious as his cheeks seemed to redden with every passing second.

Slowly the gears in Yamaguchi's mind started to turn as pieces started to fit together. When realisation hit Yamaguchi he wanted to laugh; so he did—hard.

Gut bursting laughter rang through the air as the green-haired teen clutched at his stomach; tears began forming at the corner of his eyes. Yamaguchi wasn't sure how long he laughed for, probably a minute, but it was enough that he felt completely breathless and he could feel the warm flush of his cheeks.

Composing himself, with only a few stray laughs remaining, Yamaguchi looked up towards Tsukishima—only to have to resist the urge to laugh out again. The blond's nose was extremely scrunched up and his mouth was twisted into the harshest of scowls.

"I'm, I'm sorry, Tsukki," Yamaguchi stammered out still breathless from his laughter, "I didn't mean to laugh, but, my goodness, that is possibly the least romantic thing you could have said. Just what kind of confession is that supposed to be?"

Tsukishima bristled, "Well, forgive me for not living up to your standards—"

"So it is a confession?" Yamaguchi cut in, his lips twisting into an amused smile that screamed 'got you.'

"No—I mean, yes... Wait—you, you tricked me!"

Yamaguchi has no idea that someone could go as red as Hinata—let alone the dinosaur loving teen in front of him. It was a sight that Yamaguchi hadn't seen before and would never forget; if only he had a camera so he could capture this moment and hang it on his wall for all to see.

"Tsukki, you sound like you're some little kid," Yamaguchi teased.

"I do not," as soon as that childish phrase slipped out Tsukishima realised that he just contradicted himself and promptly shut up; Yamaguchi could only smile wider.

Reaching forwards Yamaguchi took Tsukishima's hand in his own, "I think it's perfect for someone like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're not very good with expressing your emotions, so it's no surprise that your confession sucked," Yamaguchi said in a matter-of-fact tone, a wide smile on his face.

"Yamaguchi, shut up," Tsukishima grumbled as he gripped the other's hand tighter.

Yamaguchi laughed, "Sorry, Tsukki."
-

A/N:

-this fic is available on ao3 and tumblr as well

-it was inspired by a comic that was inspired by some tweets

-betaed bymanen on ao3/elvevann on tumblr

-the game Yama and Tsukki are talking about is Fire Emblem: IF