Chapter Text
Hinata Shoyo has not known Tsukishima Kei for more than a school year. But in that short time, he’s learned one thing: the tall, salty middle blocker almost never smiles. And when he does, it’s usually mocking—most often aimed at Hinata himself.
It’s reflective of his less-than-optimistic and welcoming attitude—an attitude that might be the reason why he didn’t join the Karasuno volleyball club’s members on their weekly Saturday coffee runs.
The coffee runs themselves became a sort of habit a month or so ago. They’d pick a new cafe every week. Staying at just one spot was a struggle, the team’s overly energetic attitudes being a bit too much to handle for more than 2 hours, let alone more than a day.
This week’s pick is Kumo Cafe. Apparently Suga found it on one of his walks. It’s a nice cafe: not many people, cool drink selection, comfy seats, big tables. It’s also pretty quiet. (Well—not for long).
Plus, it’s not too far of a ride from any of their houses.
It’s a cool morning when Hinata exits his house, bidding farewell to his mom and sister, and waits in front of the steps for one of the third-years cars to pull up to the driveway. This time, it’s Asahi’s car—though he’s way too scared to drive it, so Daichi’s in the front seat instead.
“Good morning!” Hinata announces, slipping into the backseat next to Kageyama— who’s here because he got lost last week and the seniors don’t trust him to get there on foot anymore. The ride is smooth. Nothing much happens, though there was an unusually long red light. As a result, the first years in the back start an extremely nonsensical argument over God-knows-what as Asahi nearly has a panic attack in the passenger seat while telling his fellow senior the story of him almost hitting a cat the first time he tried to drive.
When they arrive at the front doors of the cafe, Tanaka and Noya are already racing down the street—in typical Tanaka-Noya fashion—as Suga tries to get them to calm down as to stop scaring people away.
A chorus of, “Good mornings!”, rings out as the team meets up. Hinata finds himself getting his hair ruffled by far too many people, as usual. Once everyone decides to calm down, they can finally have a conversation in peace. Suga scans the small crowd and immediately notices the absence of the other two first years.
“Oh?” He asks. “Are the other two not coming again?”
Hinata and Kageyama both shake their heads ‘no’. The two rarely ever go. Besides, Tsukishima would rather die than spend an extra—voluntary— minute around the volleyball club members, and Yamaguichi wouldn’t come if he wasn’t there anyways.
Tanaka clicks his tongue in disapproval.
“That little jerk, always thinkin’ he’s better than us.”
The other—much shorter— second year nods vigorously beside him.
“Well, if they’re not coming then I guess we have everyone here.” Daichi directs them inside. “Come on, you all are blocking traffic standing here like this.”
The group manages to enter the coffee shop rather easily. It’s nearly empty inside—save for a few weekend workers picking up a few orders.
Suga—of course— already ordered a few minutes ahead, so all of the team’s orders are already resting at the counter when they enter. Hinata picks up his and Kageyama’s drinks. He keeps the vanilla frappe for himself and passes the setter the milk coffee beside it.
They move around the cafe, searching for a table just big enough for all of them—with a charger— and without too many tables next to it. They learned their lesson after Hinata and Noya decided to race in one of the cafes and got kicked out after they knocked over the table next to theirs. There’s a nice table in the front, but it’s not a great idea to put them (aka; the overly chaotic quartet that doesn’t know how to stay still) next to a window. There’s one near the wall, but there’s only one charger—and both Hinata’s phone and Daichi’s laptop are in need of charging. And there’s one at the very back—but—no— there’s already two people sitting there.
Wait.
Who’s sitting there?
Kageyama taps him on the shoulder and leans down to meet his ear.
“Please don’t tell me that’s who I think that is.”
Soon, the others start to catch on as well.
“You’re kidding.” Suga chimes in—he sounds kind of—offended?
Tanaka and Noya are not too happy either. But they’re more… confused if anything.
Confused— and rightfully so. Because sitting unbothered on the table in front of them are Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi themselves.
But no, that’s not the most confusing part of it all. Because yes, there is something crazier than Tsukishima Kei—the most ice cold, boring, and relentlessly annoyed person alive—drinking a strawberry tea in a cafe with his best friend on a Saturday morning.
Because not only is he not insulting the closest person to him—
He’s smiling.
Tsukishma Kei– the salty asshole who makes it his mission to torment Hinata every chance he gets– is actually smiling.
Noya is the first to talk, barely above a whisper, dripping in awe.
“Holy shit.” He sucks in a breath. “I did not know he could do that.”
Suga squeals beside him, a hint of a laugh underneath.
Hinata doesn’t think he’s ever seen Tsukishima smile before. Ever. Not in photos, not when Hinata makes embarrassingly stupid mistakes in the middle of matches, not that one time when Kageyama tripped over air and fell face first into the cement sidewalk. All that the team ever gets in a huge, condescending and annoying smirk across the blond’s face.
He hears Tanaka scream-whispering to Noya– except the older boy clearly doesn’t know what whispering is.
“Take a picture, Noya, now!”
And of course, the shortest member of the team is trying–and failing– to hide the flash of his phone as he clicks away on Tsukishima’s face. All the excited color drains from the libero’s face as he feels the firm hand of their captain on his back.
“C’mon, before those two notices and Tsukishima hunts you both down.” He drags them–and the rest of the team– to the door, as silently as a group of seven teenage boys can.
The team’s just barely reached the second coffee shop on the block when someone else opens their mouth to say something.
“What was that?” Kageyama asks, the question seemingly directed at the sidewalk he’s staring down at.
Hinata responds, equally confused and in shock.
“I have no idea.”
“It’s a bit uncanny seeing that asshole smile. Happiness and him don’t exactly fit well together.”
Tanaka chimes in, saying his words like secrets.
“That– that looked like a date to me. Did that look like a date to anyone else?”
Nishinoya nods along to his friend’s words aggressively.
Hinata rejects the idea– Tadashi would’ve told him if they were dating.
“No, no. Yamaguichi is single! He complains about it literally all the time!”
“I cannot imagine Tsukishima dating anyone.” Suga adds, and all the team nods in agreement. The quiet and smart middle blocker had never shown interest in anyone. Girls had came to club room more than once to ask him out, but he’d sent every last one of them away.
Daichi sat with himself for a while, the urge to agree and gossip with the team and the duty to be responsible and keep them under control going to war in his mind. Finally he says– in his designated ‘captain’ voice–
“Look, even if they are actually dating– or even if one of them has a crush– it’s none of our business.”
The team is quiet for a bit– until the person who’s been silent the entire time finally speaks up.
“I might know something...”
Every head in the small crowd turns to face the tall, brown haired ace.
“Asahi,” Noya starts, craning his neck to look up at the taller boy. “What do you know?”
“You did not hear this from me, alright.” He gets that tell-tale anxious look in his eyes, “Please don’t tell Yamaguchi I told you this, he’d actually kill me.”
“Just get on with it!” Suga urges, waiting patiently.
“He might have a crush on Tsukishima. He’s always– and I mean always looking at him. Not that ‘friend’ way, like the way Coach looks at Takeda-sensei. ALWAYS. You can barely get his attention whenever Tsukishima’s around.”
The group stares at the ace for a beat of silence. Noya halts his jumping, Tanaka wipes that grin off his face.
Hinata notices as the team’s youngest member opens his mouth to speak for one of the first times that day.
“They’re always like that, aren’t they? You can’t really find one of them without the other. I mean they ride to school together, walk home together, and get to practice together–”
“They basically live together,” Hinata finishes. Kageyama was right, the two were a matched set. They’d known each other forever, and Hinata got the sense that it would kill them to be apart.
“If that’s all true, and Yamaguchi really does have a crush…” Tanaka starts, and Noya picks up where he left off, using that same mischievous tone he and Tanaka always use when plotting something.
“Then we obviously need to help them get together!”
At that moment, the captain, in all his intimidating and terrifying glory, seems to teleport right behind the two.
“Absolutely not.”
Suga rises to defend the two troublemakers.
“C’mon captain, sometimes people just need a little… push.”
“No, if they really like each other, they can get together without us interfering. No meddling, got it?”
The team looks at each other for a minute, and Hinata can see the gears spinning in all of their heads.
“Okay okay. We won’t interfere.” Suga holds up his hands in self defense, but everyon–including Daichi– can see he means the exact opposite of his words from that grin on his face.
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
Tanaka swings an arm around his senior’s shoulder,
“C’mon captain! Promise, we won’t scheme, not at all.”
Daichi shakes his head in disapproval, but Hinata can see the silent desire to meddle like the rest of them.
In the team’s defense, how could you not want to help those two? It was obvious–to Shoyo specifically– that they probably wouldn’t get anywhere without an outside push. Tsukishima was too uptight, and no matter how academically smart he may be, the emotional side of his mind was way too underdeveloped–second to only Kageyama. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, was just a bit too emotionally aware. He took things to heart and he hated change and action more than anything. If left alone, the two will continue to dance around the circle of their feelings forever, because to them, they’re ‘just friends’.
Behind the glass of the coffee shop, Yamaguchi says something. Hinata catches the small, electric spark in Tsukishima’s eyes when he hears it.
Hinata can tell, by the way Tsukishima is looking at Yamaguchi over the smoke of the latter's coffee, that he wants them to be more than that.