A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone! If you haven't read through the first three chapters to refresh yourself, please do so. I went through and changed some things. Let me know what you think!

He wasn't planning on going back. Really, he wasn't. But then something unexpected happened.

Yamaguchi yelled at him.

Yamaguchi. Yelled. At. Him.

Not only had he yelled at him, he had actually called him pathetic. He couldn't understand it. He had never been as…obsessed as those idiots when it came to volleyball. And Yamaguchi had always been right there beside him. But now, now even Yamaguchi had become sucked in. He didn't understand.

It was Akaashi that saw him first. He looked surprised for a moment, his eyebrows even quirking up as he let out a faint, "oh."

"Oh, what's this?" Bokuto questioned with a smirk when he stopped doing…whatever it was he had been doing and followed the setters gaze.

"What's this, what's this?" Kuroo cut in with a crazed look on his face.

Tsukishima took a deep breath and moved forward. He had actually been wanting to step back but something was pushing him forward. Since he was here, he might as well ask. "There is something I want to ask you. May I?"

"Sure!" Bokuto and Kuroo chorused in excitement.

Tsukishima blinked in surprise at the enthusiasm. Well, that was certainly different than how people usually talked to him. Most of them would probably be frightened if he wanted to ask them something, not excited. "Thank you very much," he said, bowing slightly. "Both of your schools are sometimes considered powerhouse schools, right?"

The duo instantly lost their smiles. Ah, yeah that was an expression he was used to. "Well, yeah," Kuroo snapped.

"Even if you were able to make it to nationals," Tsukishima continued, not even slightly fazed at the other boys tone. He was used to it. "actually winning there would be difficult, right?"

Kuroo scowled darkly as Bokuto's hand moved into a fist. "But not impossible!" he yelled loudly, causing Tsukishima to wince. He really was loud.

"Now, now, let's hear him out," Akaashi said lightly, glancing at his captain. "This is just a what if."

Seriously, how can the second year deal with these two? Tsukishima was fighting the urge to turn on his heel and walk away. "I seriously can't figure out how everyone can be so determined. Volleyball is just a club and maybe you'll get to write I worked really hard in high school on your resume, right?"

Bokuto glared, "Just a club?" he snarled. Tsukishima almost took a step back at the glare being directed at him. He had no idea the loud captain could look like that. He suddenly thought of the bitten down nails. He could suddenly understand how this person could be 'fated' to be with him. "It almost sounds like someone's name."

…what?

Well, there goes that thought.

Kuroo blinked, "Oh, like Mary Club?"

"What?" Tsukishima asked out loud this time, puzzled as the two began to argue. "Are they asking me to retort?"

"Nah, there'll be no end to it," Akaashi answered back as the two continued to stare at the arguing idiots. Tsukishima took the moment to look at the setter. He really was attractive. If he was the person in his Moment, he could understand why the girl had been staring at him.

"Say, four-eyes!" And there was the end of that argument.

"It's Tsukishima."

"Say, Tsukishima-kun," Bokuto restarted, though he blinked as soon as the words left his lips. He stared at Tsukishima for a moment. He then seemed to shake out of whatever thought he had drifted into and continued with whatever it was he had been saying. "Is volleyball fun?"

Is volleyball fun? What type of question is that? For the first time, Tsukishima actually thought about his answer to that question. Did he really get joy out of playing, like so many others seemed to? No. Did he look forward to going to the club room every day? No.

"No, not really."

"Maybe that's because you suck," Tsukishima scowled at the words. He did not suck. At anything. Ever. "I'm a third year and I've been to nationals," Bokuto continued, "and I'm better than you. Like, way better."

"You don't have to tell me that," he muttered.

"But I only recently started thinking volleyball was fun," Bokuto said, surprising Tsukishima slightly. He had figured the older boy had been another Hinata. "Ever since my straight became usable in matches. Because my cross hits that I was really good at kept getting blocked. I got frustrated and practiced the hell out of straights. And, at the next tournament, the same blockers couldn't touch it. I got right past them. Just that one shot made me feel like my time had finally come." He laughed loudly, a grin breaking out across his face before he turned his gold eyes onto Tsukishima. The boy in question couldn't take his eyes away from the third year. Maybe he wasn't as much of an idiot as he thought. "It all depends on if you have the moment or not. It doesn't really matter what happens in the future, or if you can win your next match, the joy you feel beating the guy in front of you and when you're able to pull out 120% of your potential, is everything."

Seriously, how had this guy given him a speech like that? A speech that actually made him think and maybe understand exactly what his brother had been trying to tell him for so many years? He tore his eyes away from Bokuto and looked first at Kuroo, who was giving his friend an amused smile. He then looked over at Akaashi. His face, for once, actually showed something. Affection.

"Well, at least that's how it is for me," Bokuto continued and Tsukishima turned his focus back to the third year. "It doesn't mean it applies to everyone. I don't really understand why you say it's just a club but I don't think you're wrong. But once that moment arrives for you, that's the moment you'll be hooked on volleyball."

Tsukishima didn't know how to reply. That was the moment he'd be hooked on volleyball? This mystical moment he hadn't had yet? The moment that he might never have? Great.

"All right," Bokuto said loudly, clapping his hands and making Tsukishima jump. When exactly had the two thirds years moved on either side of him? "I answered your question, now help with blocking."

He placed his hand on Tsukishima's back and Kuroo slipped his arm down around his waist and pulled him onto the court, "come on, come on."

Tsukishima tried to protest but even as he did so, he knew it wouldn't do him any good. If these two had decided he was going to play, well, he was going to play. He was surprised at the fact that he didn't really want to leave. He enjoyed spending time with these three.

Yeah, he wasn't going to think about that too deeply.

They spent the next two hours in that gym with Kuroo giving Tsukishima pointers. Tsukishima was good at analyzing things around him but Kuroo pointed out differences in timing and other details that Tsukishima had never paid much attention to.

No wonder Nekoma had such a good defense.

Bokuto was beginning to get more and more annoyed as the night wore on and Tsukishima and Kuroo were able to block his attacks. At one point, Akaashi actually stopped tossing and walked to his captain, saying something in a low voice that perked the other boy up instantly. He once again wondered if it was a possibility.

Akaashi turned toward him suddenly and Tsukishima met the setters eyes. The second year seemed to be studying him closely and Tsukishima wondered what exactly it was he was looking for. But then Akaashi looked away, this time his eyes focusing on Kuroo and the third year captain quirked up his lips and nodded his head.

Okay, so he was missing something.

They practiced for at least another hour before Akaashi called it a night. Tsukishima was thankful. There was no way Bokuto would ever stop willingly and Kuroo seemed to indulge the other captain. The only way they were going to stop is when Akaashi stopped and refused to set the ball. Tsukishima saw the older boy send him a small smile when Tsukishima sent him a thankful glance.

Tsukishima couldn't believe that he went back the next night. He hadn't even attempted not to. While he still didn't think volleyball was particularly fun, he liked knowing that he was getting better at it. He didn't want to be the only person on his team that didn't improve. He had never been the dead weight and he wasn't going to start now. Plus, he really did somewhat enjoy the company of the other three boys. Not that he would ever admit to it.

They had all just finished stretching when Bokuto perked up. "Oh? Tsukki, did you bring a friend today?"

Tsukishima followed the third years gaze and scowled when he saw bright orange hair poking around the doorframe. A face appeared a moment later and Tsukishima rolled his eyes when that face morphed into shock when he saw that they had noticed him.

"What happened to your partner?" Tsukishima questioned the other middle blocker, a feeling of resignation over taking him. He knew the other boy wasn't going to leave. And he knew that once the three realized just how much talent Hinata had, Tsukishima would become irrelevant.

"Kageyama's practicing on his own again," Hinata explained and he shuffled into the room. "I was trying to get Kenma to throw me tosses but he ran away after the fifth one." Of course he did. Even Tsukishima knew the Nekoma setter wouldn't put in the time of extra practice without his best friend being involved. And usually not even then.

"It's amazing that you got Kenma to even give you five during practice," Kuroo chimed in with amusement. Tsukishima felt envious that everyone just accepted the fact that Kenma wasn't going to do anything extra. Obviously, Tsukishima hadn't been successful as of yet.

"So," Hinata continued brightly, completely oblivious to the internal battle Tsukishima was fighting. "Please let me practice with you!"

Those words weren't only shouted out by Hinata. They were echoed by a familiar half-Russian as well, both of them standing in the doorway and staring imploringly into the gym. Tsukishima fought back a groan. One exuberant personality put him at his limit. He was fine with Bokuto and Kuroo for some reason, maybe because Akaashi was there to even everything out, but adding in these two…

"Lev, I thought you were practicing receives with Yaku," Kuroo cut in as the two idiots began to argue with one another.

"He said I was doing well today, so he let me go."

Lie.

"Really? You sure you didn't run away?" Kuroo questioned, his eyes narrowing. Tsukishima sighed once more and turned his back on the conversation. He knew where this was going. He didn't know why Kuroo was dragging it out.

"No, of course not!"

"Well, whatever," Kuroo gave in. "Then we have the right number of people so let's play some three on three."

"Yay!" Shoyo and Lev shouted.

Akaashi had made his way over to Tsukishima and was frowning at the scene in front of him. "Is this alright?"

Tsukishima turned to him with a frown. "What?"

But Akaashi's eyes were focused on Hinata, "Is it fine with you if Hinata joins us for the night?"

…

"It would be impossible to stop him at this point."

It wasn't an affirmative. And Akaashi knew it. His lips pinched momentarily and he bowed his head slightly. "Well then, I suppose we should see what Kuroo has planned."

A few moments later, Akaashi was standing with an annoyed glare on his face. Tsukishima felt his lips twitch at the expression on the normally stoic boy. Apparently he was no longer the only person annoyed. "Ah, isn't this just a bit unbalanced?"

He was, of course, correct. Bokuto, Akaashi, and Hinata, the three shortest players, had somehow ended up against the three tallest, Tsukishima, Kuroo, and Lev. Of course, they had an actual setter and Tsukishima had gotten stuck with Lev, so Tsukishima would be glad to trade places with Hinata.

"It's fine!" Kuroo soothed, "Let's do things we can't do during the day!"

Akaashi visibly wilted at the words. Hinata and Bokuto started yelling loudly, obviously loving the idea. Lev began to do the same on their side of the net, but one glare from Tsukishima had the other first-year whimpering instead.

Maybe he was fine where he was. He really didn't envy Akaashi at this moment.

The game started and Tsukishima felt himself bite back a smile when he saw the stoic setter getting more annoyed as time went on. The more annoyed he became, the more sarcastic he became. Apparently, the boy wasn't so stoic after all. He was just as sarcastic and 'salty' as Tsukishima. Even Hinata seemed to notice the resemblance as he kept shoot glances between Tsukishima and Akaashi.

Tsukishima could honestly say he hadn't been aware of how much time had passed until two managers stopped by the gym to warn them that they were going to miss dinner. Bokuto cried out in alarm and ran out of the doors with Lev right behind him. Tsukishima and Akaashi moved after them at a slower pace while Tsukishima heard Kuroo assure Hinata that they would continue tomorrow.

Well, apparently it wasn't going to be a onetime thing.

"I would apologize but I think I have the worst end of this situation," Akaashi muttered as the boys began to follow after Bokuto.

Tsukishima felt his lips twitch. "Did you not enjoy the game, Akaashi-san?"

Akaashi sent him a glare that had Tsukishima bringing a hand up to hide his smile. "Maybe we should switch positions tomorrow, Tsukishima-san."

"Don't count on it, Akaashi-san."