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vannahfanfics · 2 years

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Stand Tall on the Summit

Word Count: 5590

Friendship, Hurt and Comfort, Fluff

Summary: Tadashi doesn't feel like he's a worthy member of the team, so he's training himself until he collapses. And Kei is not happy about it.

And here is my story for the TsukiYama Big Bang! Be sure to check out my partner’s lovely art, too!

Beep, beep, beep, beep—

The alarm had been droning on for nearly a full minute now, but Tadashi just couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed. He just laid there in the softness of his pillows and blankets with his eyes closed, the shrill beeping of the alarm unable to pierce the hazy twilight of half-sleep in which he was drifting. Weariness coated his body from head to toe; he just seemed to ache so much less when suspended in the cloud-like softness of his bed that it was just so easy to convince himself to continue lying there. When his mother shouted at him from down the hall to get up, though, he finally resigned himself to the fact that he would not be able to skip school without repercussions.

With a long groan, he snaked his arm out from underneath the bed—goosepimples immediately rising from his skin as it hit the cold bedroom air—and slapped his hand down on his alarm. He twinged as pain rocketed up his arm from his wrist. He recoiled, rolling onto his back while cradling his arm tenderly to his chest. His muscles pulsed with a dull pain, and once again, he considered just abandoning himself to a day of lazy recuperation instead of forcing himself through the arduous ordeal of getting up and around.

Ugh… I can’t skip practice today, though. That was the motive for him to finally drag himself into a sitting position, despite the achy protest of his back muscles. As he rolled his shoulders, they spasmed too, making his head involuntarily twitch to one side with the strong contraction of one of them that was attached to his neck. He whined loudly. He was hurting in places he didn’t even realize had muscles!

He didn’t know that committing to extra practice outside of Coach Ukai’s training would be so hard.

Tadashi looked down at his hand with a small pout. He slowly curled his fingers open from where they were clenched in a fist. They were shaking, the muscles straining to fight against the pain signals shooting through his nerves. He slowly drew them closed again, and his muscles rejoiced with the lack of effort, though dull pain still persisted as a reminder to not try his luck again. Tadashi closed his eyes with a sigh and rubbed at one of the aching spots in his palm with his other thumb.

Daichi is probably going to yell at me again today, he thought, his pout souring into a frown.

Tadashi had been meeting up every night with one of the local community volleyball players that had come to practice with them. Tadashi had been inspired after seeing the jump float serve. Since the beginning, all of his teammates had shined so brightly. At first, he had been happy to see his teammates succeed. It was good sportsmanship to encourage your teammates and celebrate their accomplishments! But more and more so, Tadashi was beginning to feel… lackluster. He wasn’t even a shadow that could make his teammates’ efforts shine all the more. He was just… nonexistent, completely obliterated by the luminance of the others.

He didn’t like feeling that way. He knew that not everyone could be on the court on a regular basis. But what would happen when Tadashi did get out there? What did he have to offer? That question had plagued him, eating away at him like acid pooling in the pit of his belly to slowly erode him from the inside out. When he had seen that jump float serve, though, he had finally felt it.

This. This is what I can do!

It had been a lot easier said than done, of course. Convincing the older man to train him had been easy enough—he seemed inspired by Tadashi’s dedication and willingness to grow. But the actual training? It was arduous. Don’t get Tadashi wrong, it wasn’t because the guy was some kind of drill sergeant. He was still low-key more scared of Coach Ukai. No, it was just that it required precision that Tadashi had yet to master, and the act of trying to train that was working his body in ways he couldn’t even imagine. Tadashi had never thought himself physically unfit, considering his years of playing volleyball—but this was making him feel like a total newbie!

“But I can’t give up,” he whispered quietly to himself. He opened his eyes again and then pulled his fingers back open. Despite the quivering, despite the pain, he kept them open. No pain, no gain, as they say!

The sooner he got through the day, the sooner he got to practice. And the sooner he got through practice, the sooner he could get through his training. With this in mind, he jumped out of bed and started ripping off his pajamas, a smile slowly worming its way onto his face…

It wasn’t even third period and Tadashi was slumped over his desk, feeling like his soul had been sucked out of his body. His usually bright eyes were dull, nearly lifeless, as he gazed soullessly at the chalkboard at the front of the room. His eyes followed the characters that the teacher was scrawling across it, but he wasn’t processing it; the white lines of chalk just blurred into meaningless smudges, not reaching further into Tadashi’s mind. Because it was far away, on a volleyball court and not in the classroom.

One would think that his body would be like putty with the way he’d draped himself across the desk, but that wasn’t the case. He felt keyed up; it was like all his muscles were contracting at once, tensing him up like coiled rope wound too tight. Even though his arms dangled at his sides and his legs were stretched out, it still felt like his muscles were behaving wrong. Every nerve in his body was ignited, making his desk rattle slightly with how much he was quivering.

He sucked in a sharp breath as one of his left arm muscles suddenly spasmed. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but oh fuck did it hurt. He bit down so hard on his bottom lip that beads of blood sprung up beneath his teeth. It felt like the muscles were twisting into knots, and all he could do was cradle it tenderly to his chest and try and ride it out. However, the people around him took notice of the way he jerked in his desk, making it scoot a few inches across the floor, and the way his body was wracked with pained tremors. After the pain slowly subsided, they were looking at him with their eyebrows knitted in confusion. He bashfully buried his face in his arm, hiding away from the world in the safety of the sleeve of his uniform.

Despite that, he still spirited himself back to the court. Whenever he couldn’t physically go through the motions, he replayed them over and over again in his head—the precise way that he had to guide his body to perform the serve, the amount of power behind the jump and the exact curve of his arm. And each time, his body reacted to the daydream in kind—twisting up one of his muscles somewhere in a desperate attempt to convince Tadashi to take a break. It was tempting; it really was.

But then that cold, crushing feeling would return—that nauseating acidic gnaw of uselessness. He’d tear his body to shreds, rip his muscles from his bones until he couldn’t move anymore, if only to avoid that chilling apprehension making its home in the pit of his belly again.

The day passed like that—Tadashi languishing in silence at his school desk. Though he’d hardly moved all day, when he finally pushed himself into a sitting position, it was like every muscle pulsed at once. They continued to throb with their own agonizing heartbeat while he slowly eased himself out of his desk. As he looked down at his schoolbag on the floor, he honestly debated just leaving it there for the day rather than put himself through the torment of bending down to get it. Just as he had about worked up the willpower to retrieve it, someone else beat him to the punch.

Tadashi looked at Kei owlishly as the taller boy pulled the strap of the bag over his shoulder, laying Tadashi’s bag over his own.

“Oh… Hey…”

“You look like shit,” Kei said blasely. Tadashi felt his cheeks ignite with an indignant blush—but other than that, his body honestly didn’t have the energy to muster any more of an angry response. He just gazed at Kei’s stern, stone-hard eyes with his own weary ones. Honestly, he should have known that Kei would challenge him on his overexertion sooner or later. Based on the terse frown that was pulling at his friend’s lips, he certainly wasn’t pleased about the whole thing, either.

“If you think you’re going to practice today, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“I’m not skipping practice,” Tadashi muttered. He went to step around Kei, but his friend matched his movement, using his tall body to block him. Tadashi growled, but it was weak, just like the rest of him. “Come on, dude. Just let me go.”

“No.”

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. Kei was assertive, yes, but he’d never been this firm with him. But Kei was serious, his hard gaze burning into Tadashi. It lit a fire in him, but not a good one. Tadashi felt all the negative feelings that had been broiling within him bubble over, like the lava that had been brewing in a volcano finally building up the pressure to burst forth in an awful and fiery explosion.

“Fine!” he snapped. His hand shot out to snatch the strap of his bookbag, and he yanked it forward, dragging it down the length of Kei’s arm until the bag flopped to the floor. The adrenaline surging through his veins seemed to numb the pain of his muscles spasming, at least temporarily, because he was able to sling it over his shoulder without much trouble. He used his other arm to push Kei in the chest; he hadn’t been expecting it, apparently, because though he was much bigger Tadashi was able to shove him back so hard he tripped over the desk and landed awkwardly in the seat. Tadashi stalked past him with a sniff, not looking back while he stormed out the room.

He was fuming, but not with Kei. The anger at him morphed into something else almost immediately. Now Tadashi was just angry with himself and too ashamed to do anything but keep walking. Bitter tears stung his eyes, dripping down his flushed face and down into the sweat-dampened collar of his uniform shirt. It didn’t take long for his overburdened body to overwhelm the effects of his ire, for as soon as he turned the bend of the hallway, his knees were buckling and he was stumbling into the wall.

Even just the thump of his bicep against the brick sent pain through his nerves, like fractals spreading across ice. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to pull back, instead sliding down the wall and grimacing at each explosion of pain that assaulted his already screaming nervous system. As soon as his rump hit the tiled floor, he just continued rolling forward down the wall. He ended up curled in a fetal position. It wasn’t really that bad; the cool floor felt real nice against his hot, inflamed, pulsing muscles. If he didn’t move a single inch, nothing hurt. He could just stay there. They’d find him Monday morning.

“So. I imagine that going to practice is no longer on your agenda?” came Kei’s dry voice accompanied by his slow, level footsteps. Tadashi just continued to lay there, eyes closed and focusing on breathing; he chanced cracking an eye open when Kei’s footsteps stopped in front of him. He half-expected it to hurt, but it didn’t.

Kei squatted in front of him, still stony-faced. But Tadashi could see the worry that had clouded over his dark irises. He’s worried about me, Tadashi thought, and then he slowly released a long, defeated sigh.

“No… I think not…” he agreed through clenched teeth. There was no way he could even crawl to the gym on his hands and knees right now, let alone do anything productive. If I try anything more, I’m gonna destroy my body, he finally admitted to himself. That didn’t mean he liked it, though.

He wasn’t going to practice, but he didn’t want to spend the weekend languishing on the hallway floor, either. Who knew how long it had been since it was swept or mopped? It took a few seconds of rapidly puffing breaths in and out of his cheeks to psych himself up, and then he swiftly pushed himself up on his hands before his body could complain about it. There was about a one-second grace period while his nerves processed what was happening, and then everything in his upper half screeched at once. He fell forward with a strangled gasp—right against Kei’s chest.

“Tch,” the blond muttered while gently wrapping his arms around Tadashi’s body to keep him steady. “You really went and did a number on yourself, didn’t you? Now I’m going to hear it from the captain, too.”

Tadashi was too busy reeling from the pain to process Kei’s statement. A cold sweat had instantly bloomed on his brow, and it smeared across the cotton of Kei’s uniform shirt as Tadashi slumped against him. After half a minute of sucking down deep breaths, he wheezed, “What?”

“Can’t take care of you if I’m at practice, now can I?” Kei grunted. Tadashi could only muster up a weak groan in protest when Kei grabbed him under the armpits and hauled him up. Kei hooked an arm around his middle, allowing Tadashi to lean most of his weight against him. Tadashi’s confusion must have shown on his face because after glancing down at him, Kei snorted, rolled his eyes, and huffed, “Home. I’m taking you home.”

“Okay, fine…” Tadashi consented wearily. Kei began to usher him along the hallway with slow, shuffling steps. He paused every few steps, allowing Tadashi to catch his breath while the pain settled back down to a tolerable level. “Just for a night, and then—”

“And then nothing. Even if I have to tie you to a bedpost, you’re not stepping foot on a court until I decide you’re good and ready,” Kei growled, and when he looked down at him, his expression was steely again. It caused Tadashi to wince; he’d never seen Kei this mad, not at him. Maybe it was time to admit that he had overdone it… If only just to spare himself the discomfort of being on his bad side.

“Fine, fine…” Tadashi laughed dryly. “I’ll behave. Please don’t tie me up…”

The hurting was already bad enough. He didn’t know if he could stand it trussed up like a rodeo cow. And knowing Kei, he would do it simply to make a point.

It took far longer than it ought’ve, but eventually, the two made it to Kei’s house. A short time later, Tadashi was lying on the floor of his friend’s bedroom. He wasn’t in the fetal position this time, but rather stretched out on a futon with a heating pad in-between the sheets. They had taped bags of ice to every major muscle they could think of. He looked like some budget version of the Michelin Man, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass because damn did it feel good.

“Feel better?” Kei asked as he walked in. He had several bottles of water bundled in his arms—presumably to make Tadashi drink them and help hydrate his overworked body. Tadashi didn’t want to risk throwing off whatever equilibrium he had with his muscles and nerves right now, so instead of nodding or even speaking, he just gave him a very pleased hum. Kei chuckled; Tadashi probably had a borderline euphoric expression on his face right now, being cradled in the dichotomy of heat and cold and living the first pain-free moments he had in a while. Kei let out a small sigh while he eased himself down into a sitting position next to his friend.

Tadashi knew that Kei wanted to talk. He could see it in the way he slowly set the water bottles down next to the futon, one by one, turning all the labels the same way. Kei had never been very good at the “talking” thing. He always ruminated too much over what he wanted to say, and he channeled the nervous energy through tics—fiddling with his fingers or, on more serious matters, being taken over by meticulousness. A quiet sigh breezed past Tadashi’s lips. He owed his friend for making him feel better, so the least he could do was save Kei the challenge of trying to start the conversation.

“You wanna ask how I ended up this way, don’t you?”

Kei glanced down at him. Relief flickered over his expression for a fraction of a second, followed by that same hardening of his features that had greeted Tadashi after class today. It made his belly swirl; he really didn’t like Kei looking at him like that. He was so used to being on the guy’s good side. But worse? He felt bad that he’d made Kei worry to the point of getting angry like this.

Kei looked back down at the bottles again, then flicked away a bead of condensation that was inching its way down to the floorboard.

“I don’t want to ask how. I want to ask why.”

Well. Tadashi supposed that made sense. Leave it to Kei to use linguistics to turn the discussion in his favor. Tadashi couldn’t help a little squirm of discomfort; it made the dull pain start up in the bellies of his muscles again, but thankfully lessened to a tolerable degree by the ice and heating pad. If he were going to tell anyone the truth, it would be Kei—but that didn’t mean it was any easier to admit.

Kei allowed him to chew on the inside of his cheek for a few seconds. He was trying not to seem too judging, Tadashi could tell—avoiding staring down at him with those hard eyes, now fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. It brought a little smile to his lips. Kei wouldn’t reign back his harsh tendencies for just anyone.

So Tadashi owed him the truth, at the very least.

“I just… I feel inadequate, you know? As part of the team.” It felt nicer than Tadashi wanted to admit, finally getting it out in the open to somebody. He felt… lighter, as if the words themselves had been a great weight he had been bearing all this time. Releasing them even made it easier to breathe, his small sigh rolling more easily over his lips. And when Kei looked down at him, it was with surprise.

“What do you mean?”

Tadashi squirmed again, and the bags of ice hugging his body crinkled and sloshed with the melted water within. It really wasn’t that complicated of a feeling, yet so hard to explain at the same time.

“I just… I mean, look at those two,” he huffed. Of course, those two needed no elaboration. “They’re stars! They have their awesome teamwork and all. And you—you’re a great blocker, Kei! Then our senpai are amazing, too. There’s just talent everywhere you look.” The next sentence caught in his throat. It felt like he’d swallowed a rock, and he was choking on it, his Adam’s apple bobbing repeatedly against it with his fruitless attempts to swallow. After half a minute of terse silence, he finally managed to croak, “And then there’s me.”

“And then there’s… you?” Kei echoed. Was he kidding? Looking down at him with narrowed eyebrows pinched in confusion—there was no way he didn’t get it, right? Tadashi wanted to scream, but apparently, Kei was going to pry it out of him.

“I suck, okay?” Tadashi finally snapped. Despite himself, he slammed his hand down against the futon. White-hot pain immediately shot up his nerves, into his shoulder and neck to make him do that weird head-cock spasm again. Through gritted teeth, he growled, “I’m nothing compared to you guys. I have nothing to contribute. I thought maybe if I trained hard then I would have something to offer.”

Kei stared down at him, his expression stony and blank. It made Tadashi’s skin begin to crawl with anxiety. He would have preferred him to explode and begin aggressively gassing him up, or to sullenly provide him sympathy, or even to get up and start dancing the hula. But this? The absolute nothingness, no hint of what was going on in his head? It made Tadashi nervous.

Then Kei got up to grab his cellphone off his desk.

“Uh… What are you doing?” Tadashi spluttered. He’d known Kei for a long time and had come to accept his lack of social graces—but jumping on the phone after such a heavy conversation was a little jarring, even for Kei. Kei just plopped down into his computer chair, not looking at Tadashi but at his phone screen. His taped fingers flew across the screen—he hadn’t bothered to untape them even though he hadn’t gone to practice today, too busy helping Tadashi settle into his new life in the futon.

“You’ll see,” his friend quipped vaguely. Though Tadashi was still laying flat on the floor, the overwhelming sense of vertigo was still immense. He reeled in the wake of whatever the hell it was that just happened. Of all the ways that Kei could have reacted to him pouring his heart out, whatever this was had never crossed the far reaches of Tadashi’s mind.

At this point, Tadashi had no idea how to reasonably continue the conversation. It didn’t look like Kei had any interest to do so, anyway, for he was still engrossed in… whatever it was he was doing on his cellphone. So Tadashi just relaxed back into the futon, shutting his eyes with a quiet sigh. Despite the exhaustion lacing his bones, sleep was seemingly out of the question; a strange dissatisfaction was swirling in the pit of his belly, making him just nauseous enough for him to squirm in discomfort.

Getting his feelings off his chest did make him feel a little bit better, but… it felt unfinished. They were just hanging in the air now, unresolved, like soap bubbles that were just short of acquiring enough tension to burst. Admitting his uncertainties aloud didn’t exactly make them disappear. And… His gaze slid to Kei, who was now staring intently at his phone screen with his fist pushed deep into his cheek. Tadashi knew that Kei wasn’t exactly the best person to go to for comfort, but he would have thought his best friend would have at least attempted. Even the shittiest, most awkwardly-phrased stab at sympathy would have been better than just completely dodging the issue like Kei apparently had.

Tadashi had to know. Was Kei refusing to talk because he believed that Tadashi had nothing to offer, too? With tears of frustration and apprehension burning in the corners of his eyes, Tadashi cleared his throat before hoarsely asking, “Kei?”

“What?” his best friend asked, his eyes flicking down to where Tadashi still lay covered in half-melted bags of ice on the floor. Tadashi could feel his skin burning against the cold as an embarrassed flush bloomed along the length of his body.

“Does… does everyone else know it, too? That I’m—”

“Stop talking,” Kei growled. Whatever intentions Tadashi had of getting it out of him immediately fled in the face of the obvious irritation etched into Kei’s hard expression. “You’ll find out in a second, okay?”

“Wh-what?” Tadashi stammered. He was whiplashed into that strange sensation of vertigo as the conversation once again took a very strange turn. Before he could even begin to make sense of it all, there came the sound of rapidly-approaching footsteps in the hall.

Kei hopped to his feet and snatched Shouyou by the back of his tee-shirt while he was still in the middle of leaping at Tadashi from the doorway.

“Lemme go!” Shouyou protested as he dangled from Kei’s grip, flailing his limbs every which way. “First I’mma give him a hug, and then I’m gonna beat the snot outta ‘im!”

“What?” Tadashi bleated.

“You idiot!” Tobio appeared in the doorway. He took the opportunity provided by the redhead’s compromised position to kick him hard in the rump, making Shouyou yelp. “Didn’t you pay attention to the conversation? He’s hurt!”

“That’s right. There will be minimal hugging, and certainly no ass-kicking,” Daichi chuckled, walking up behind the first-year with an amused smirk on his face.

“What?” Tadashi asked again, since no one had been kind enough to explain what the hell was going on.

“Whoa, look at him!” Yū cackled as he ducked under Daichi’s arm so he could scamper over to the futon and squat down next to Tadashi’s head. His eyes twinkled as he drank in all the bags of ice taped down to his form. “You look like a cheap knock-off of the big marshmallow tire dude!”

“Come on, that’s not nice,” Asahi sighed from the doorway with a shake of his head.

“Yeah!” Koushi chirped, holding up his finger like a scolding mother. “He’s in a lot of pain right now. Don’t make fun of him.”

Tadashi looked the picture of a confused baby, eyes owlish and head bobbling on his neck when he looked at Kei to once more pitifully squeak, “What?”

“I asked them to come here. Duh,” he said while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, as if it was obvious. When Tadashi just blinked stupidly, Kei snorted, rolled his eyes, and then elaborated, “So they could all tell you in person that you do bring something to the team. Dumbass.”

“Totally!” Shouyou cried as he pulled his arms in through the sleeves of his shirt and wiggled out of it, dropping down into a crouch on the floor. Kei grimaced at the now-empty shirt and promptly flung it into the corner. Meanwhile, Shouyou scampered over to Tadashi to sit cross-legged at his side. “How could you even think that you don’t have anything to offer the team? That’s totally crazy!”

Blushing, Tadashi wiggled down underneath the cover of the futon until his face was buried up to the bridge of his nose. It made him happy, the fact that everyone had totally abandoned practice to come cheer him up—but…

“Come on, guys… Let’s face it. I’m pretty mediocre compared to the rest of you…” he mumbled. A hot flush of shame pulsed through him, another bitter reminder of the truth of his feelings. “I’m not particularly skilled in anything. I don’t have this one amazing thing that the rest of you have. ”

“Sure you do,” Daichi shrugged, and despite himself, Tadashi peered over the edge of the blanket at him. “Everybody on this team contributes in some way, even if it’s not obvious.” He walked around the small crowd in the doorway to kneel at Tadashi’s side opposite Yū and Shouyou, then smiled kindly. “It’s easy to feel inadequate when everyone else around you seems to shine. Sure, a lot of us are really good at a particular thing. We’ve got talent all around,” he said with a gesture around the room. “But talent alone doesn’t make a team. Without glue to hold it all together, it would fall apart in a heartbeat.”

“Glue?” Tadashi echoed. Daichi was usually pretty good at pep talks, but being compared to an elementary’s schooler’s favorite arts and crafts tool was pretty disheartening.

“That’s right!” Koushi chirped while clapping his hands together. He smiled brightly as he walked to stand behind his best friend. “The glue is the most important part of a team. And, plot twist, it’s not Daichi, despite how amazing he is at pumping everyone up.”

Daichi laughed and rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. Meanwhile, Tadashi scrunched up his face in doubt. Him, the glue of the team? That couldn’t be true…

“None of us could imagine the team without you.”

Everyone looked at Kei with wide eyes when he said that, not just Tadashi. He was leaned up against his bedroom wall with his arms crossed. To everyone else, he probably looked unbothered, like he believed he had merely been stating fact. But Tadashi knew him way better than that—enough to see the faint haze of pink across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. And Kei obviously didn’t give a damn about pleasing anyone else in the room. He was staring right into Tadashi’s eyes with an intensity that made Tadashi’s body begin to grow warm.

“He’s right, though!” Shouyou chirped, and when Tadashi glanced at him, he was grinning broadly. “You always know the most encouraging thing to say!”

“Yeah, totally!” Yū agreed adamantly. “And you’re always so supportive! You always make sure to be the first one to greet us when we come off the court, with water and towels and everything.”

“And,” Daichi added when Tadashi narrowed his eyes in doubt, “we know that you believe in us one-hundred-percent. There’s no better feeling than knowing that you have your teammates’ confidence to succeed. That means more than even the fanciest moves on the volleyball court. It can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”

“... That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Tadashi laughed, trying to deflect from the fact that he was about to break down in tears. It didn’t work; they leaked out when he pulled the covers down off his face to give them all a watery smile.

“Look, if you want to train hard so you feel like you have more to offer, that’s fine,” Daichi smirked down at him. “But I will not condone working yourself to death, especially because you feel like you don’t have anything to offer at all. Understood?”

“Yes, Captain,” Tadashi laughed while he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I hear ya loud and clear.”

“Great! Now that this is all settled… I’m hungry,” Shouyou groaned, curling up to hold his rumbling belly tenderly. He shuddered, then looked up at Kei pitifully. “... Hey, your mom can cook, right?”

“Get out of my house and never come back.”

Despite Kei nearly throwing Shouyou out his bedroom window (three times), the whole team ended up staying at Kei’s house until deep into the night. It was approaching midnight before the last of them shambled out, and when Kei came back into his room, it was to fling off his glasses and collapse face-first into his bed.

“Socializing is exhausting,” he moaned into his pillow. Tadashi, who was feeling much better now, laughed as he rolled onto his belly to boost himself up onto his elbows and smile in amusement at his absolutely drained friend.

“Yeah, but even you must have had just a teensy bit of fun. Come on, soda came out of your mom’s nose ‘cuz she laughed so hard at Shouyou sticking chopsticks in his mouth and pretending to be a walrus,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

Kei flipped him the finger, and Tadashi just laughed again before flopping down into the futon. A few minutes of comfortable silence settled between them. Fearing that Kei may actually fall asleep, Tadashi piped up, “Thanks, by the way.”

Kei heaved a sigh, then rolled onto his side to face Tadashi. He was clinging to his last shreds of consciousness, eyes lidded to small, hazy slits and a yawn splitting his face.

“‘M not good at the whole comfort thing,” he mumbled, “but I didn’t want you to keep believing you were worthless. You’re not.” He paused, then added in a smaller voice, “Never have been.”

“Well, you did a pretty good job of it today,” Tadashi smiled at him. He propped his arms up on the pillow and laid his cheek across his forearm, just smiling contentedly up at Kei. He really did have the best friend in the whole world, Kei’s quirks aside. “So, um… When I’m all healed up, you wanna see the technique I’ve been working on?”

“Mhmm,” came the drowsy reply. “But take a few days, or…”

“Right, right, you’ll chain me to the bedpost,” Tadashi finished with a snort. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I promise I’ll take it easy.”

He said that, but as his eyes slowly began to close, visions of the court began to dance in his head again. This time, though, it wasn’t because he felt a desperate need to do better to feel like he belonged. No, he knew now that he had plenty to offer. This time, he was determined. Sure, he was damn good at being the glue—but he wanted to keep striving to be better, and he wanted to see the look of pride on everyone’s faces when he hit the mark.

He wanted to take all that encouragement and use it to fly higher and higher, right alongside the rest of his team until they reached unprecedented heights. Together.

#tsukiyama #yamatsuki #tadashi yamaguchi #yamaguchi tadashi #tsukishima kei #kei tsukishima #haikyuu #haikyuu!!

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