Chapter Text
Why why why had he set it a minute early?! Ennoshita huffed in frustration and stretched his free arm above his head to feel around for the offending device. He tilted his neck back, trying to see where it was. It continued to beep loudly.
Tanaka grumbled and lifted himself up, reaching to grab the phone. Ennoshita felt chilly at the absence of contact, and his arm started to tingle as blood rushed back into it. Tanaka moved to sit up and the phone was silenced. Ennoshita looked away, embarrassed, unable to make eye contact with him while Narita and Kinoshita could be heard stirring, complaining about early rising, bright sunlight, cold floors, and no longer being asleep. Noya’s bedroll was already empty.
A few seconds later the rest of the team’s alarms went off, and during their shuffle to silence them, Tanaka leaned down and pecked a kiss on Ennoshita’s forehead.
“Later,” he promised.
Their practice matches that morning were a blur of wins and losses, though less of the latter than usual. Ennoshita performed receive after flawless receive, but the cheers of his teammates from the sidelines were nothing next to the synergy present on the court. Rather than distracting him, the conversation that morning had sharpened his focus. He amazed himself by not staring at Tanaka while the ball was in play.
Lunch was a different story.
The third year captains from Nekoma and Fukurodani had joined Karasuno’s table in the cafeteria. They sat on either side of Hinata, making him look even smaller than usual, comparing stories about dramatic plays and tournaments they’d been in. Hinata was starstruck. Kageyama looked like he was fighting the urge to take notes. The Nekoma captain was using dramatic hand gestures and kept flinging an arm over Tsukishima’s shoulder where he sat on his other side. Tsukishima repeatedly brushed the arm off without breaking his conversation with Yamaguchi.
Even with Nishinoya having swapped over to the Nekoma table to compare phone apps with their setter, there was less seating at the Karasuno table than there had been previously. While inter-team friendships were encouraged, Ennoshita hadn’t yet had the chance to make any connections with players from other schools, and he certainly wasn’t going to sit down next to a stranger and start up a conversation. Maybe he would get lucky and one of his teammates would leave.
“Oi, Chikara!” Tanaka was waving him over.
Ennoshita took his tray to the table, prepared to stuff a fistful of rice up Tanaka’s nose if he did anything stupid.
“Pull up a chair.”
Ennoshita looked at the small gap between Tanaka’s chair and Daichi’s. It was barely a foot wide. “I don’t think they make chairs that size.”
Tanaka heaved a dramatic sigh, and spoke a little louder than normal—a feat that was impressive in its own right. “Well, there’s no other solution, you’ll have to sit in my lap.”
Ennoshita looked at his plate of stir-fry pork. It looked much too tasty to waist dumping it over Tanaka’s head. Tanaka had always pushed his buttons, but now Ennoshita knew it was his way of flirting. With that realization came a feeling of a wicked glee. He grinned and narrowed his eyes at Tanaka. Oh, you’ve got it bad, don’t you? Fine, you want to flirt? Let’s flirt.
With an attempted replica of Sugawara’s winning smile, Ennoshita said innocently, “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to distract you from your meal, Ryuunosuke.”
Tanaka choked on his drink and water spilled down the front of his shirt. Ennoshita set down his tray to grab napkins, using them to soak up the water on Tanaka’s face and neck. “You’re a mess. I’m not sure I want water spilled on me. No lap for you, scoot over, we’ll split the chair.”
It was hard to share a plastic cafeteria seat without looking awkward, but Ennoshita did his best. Being right-handed, he kept accidentally elbowing Tanaka in the ribs until Tanaka had the brilliant idea of putting his arm on the back of the chair. It certainly wasn’t the worst position to be in.
Even better was the ability to hold a conversation without the rest of the noisy table being able to overhear it. Ennoshita barely heard Tanaka at first, mumbling about ‘throwing someone’s name around’ and ‘first time is supposed to be special’.
“It was,” Ennoshita said softly. “You were sleeping on top of me, remember?”
Tanaka reddened, not quite meeting his eye. “About this morning…”
Ennoshita’s heart thumped in panic. “You’re not trying to back out of your promise, are you?”
“What promise?”
“’Later’, you said.”
“Oh.” Tanaka fidgeted with a still-wet napkin. “I mean later as in, you know, if you wanted to later, then maybe later we could—”
Ennoshita pursed his lips. It looked like he would have to take the initiative. “How about this:” he said, taking a sip of Tanaka’s drink, “kiss me after practice, or I’ll punch you in the face.”
To anyone else, that statement would have been threatening. To Tanaka, it was downright lovey-dovey. Still, he looked away with a little pout. “I was gonna anyway…”
Ennoshita wiped his mouth to hide a short laugh. “You’re a regular tsundere, aren’t you?”
Tanaka regained his usual expression, ready to engage in his default teasing behavior. “That depends, do you like the tsundere type?”
“I like you, don’t I?”
Well, that was the lamest confession in the history of the universe.
“Tanaka, are you catching a cold?” Suga asked from two seats down, “Your face is all red.” Tanaka waved away his worry.
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Ennoshita was nervous that he’d moved things too quickly. He wasn’t sure what to say—or even if he should say anything—but he calmed immediately when he felt Tanaka’s hand move from the back of the chair to rest, loose, against his ribs. Every few seconds, his fingers would flex in a gentle caress. It tickled, but Ennoshita would die before asking him to stop. He searched frantically for a topic of conversation.
“Mine wasn’t either,” he said.
Tanaka looked at him, chopsticks in his mouth and eyebrows raised in a question.
Oops, context. Ennoshita tried again. “When you called me ‘Chikara’ for the first time the other day, it was out of nowhere.”
Tanaka looked offended. “We were walking alone at night, it was romantic!”
Ennoshita thought back, and smiled at the memory. “Yeah, ok, I guess it was.”
“WHO WANTS SOME EXTRA PRACTICE?” Nishinoya’s face suddenly appeared between them. Ennoshita jumped up, spooked, and the chair overbalanced with Tanaka’s weight concentrated on one side of it. He fell sideways into Asahi’s lap. Daichi glanced over from his other side, blinked once, and turned back to his conversation with Sugawara.
Asahi helped Tanaka right himself and set the chair back on its legs. Noya continued, unperturbed. “I’m going back to Second Gym after dinner tonight to practice setting with some of the guys from Nekoma,” he said, standing proudly with his hands on his hips. “And you two are invited.” He poked Ennoshita and Tanaka both, hard in the midsection before bounding back to the Nekoma table.
Ennoshita rubbed his stomach where he’d been jabbed. “Didn’t really give us much of a choice,” he said to Tanaka, who was still brushing Asahi’s leftover rice off of his shirt.
“Yeah,” he said. “Might be a nice walk back to the house after everyone else leaves, though.”
Ennoshita couldn’t agree more.
The rest of the day’s games ended in losses, but Ennoshita found that a few runs up the hill outside aren’t so bad when the target of your affection refuses to wear a shirt. He managed to find every divot on the slope by sheer measure of not paying attention to where he was putting his feet, and ended up rolling halfway down the hill during their second climb, taking a third of the team out with him. Nishinoya and Hinata had great fun jumping their teammates like hurdles—even discussed making a game of it during their free time, and Daichi didn’t even tell them off, though he may have just been winded from falling down the hill.
Once the team recovered most of their composure, they stood in the shade of a tree and took the water bottles offered to them by their managers. Tanaka was hunched over, hands on his knees, still panting from the heat and the exhaustion of the run. Ennoshita stood next to him. As he watched, Tanaka straightened and stretched, reaching his arms above his head and brushing a low-hanging branch with his fingertips. He glanced up at it and tilted his head to the side with a curious expression, as though planning to jump and grab it.
“Tanaka,” Daichi’s voice rang out. Tanaka froze, mid-crouch, and snapped to attention. “Put your shirt back on.
“But Daichi-san, it’s hot!” he whined.
Truth, thought Ennoshita, though not in the context of temperature.
Daichi tossed the previously-discarded shirt in Tanaka’s face. “You’re going to get a sunburn,” he said as he walked past Tanaka towards the other third years. “And,” Daichi leaned in so that only they could hear, “you’re distracting Ennoshita.” He smiled at both of them, but then clapped them each on the shoulder with a stern expression. “Don’t let it interfere with the team,” he said before walking away.
Ennoshtia was stunned. “What… what does he know?”
“How does he know?” asked Tanaka.
“We did share a chair at lunch.”
Tanaka crossed his arms, stubbornly. “There’s not even anything to know yet. You didn’t confess to me properly.”
Ennoshita punched him on the shoulder. “You first.”
“Okay,” Tanaka said, surprising them both, judging by his expression. He hid his face for a moment by putting his shirt back on.
“Really?” Ennoshita asked. A feeling reminiscent of Christmas morning made him incapable of repressing a grin.
Tanaka shuffled his feet in the grass. “Well, yeah,” he mumbled. “But you have to go right after.” He squared his shoulders, effectively shaking off his embarrassment, and assumed his usual ‘tough-guy’ persona. Ennoshita smiled at the transition.
You can’t fool me, you big softie.
As if in confirmation, Tanaka reached out and gave his hand a squeeze as the team walked down the hill and back into the gym.
Dinner was quick, as everyone was in a hurry to either rest or return to practice. The seating area was again jumbled together with players of different teams, but Ennoshita was relieved to see two chairs side-by-side at Karasuno’s usual table.
He and Tanaka ate together. Ennoshita was pleased to find that their friendship was unaffected, and relieved at not having to hide his emotions anymore. That, combined with Tanaka’s forthcoming confession, made him jittery. He twirled his chopsticks, and would have been bouncing his leg under the table if his thigh hadn’t been pressed to Tanaka’s own.
“You need to eat if we’re doing extra practice tonight,” Nishinoya said through a mouthful of rice from Ennoshita’s other side. “Second Gym, don’t forget.”
Ennoshita nodded. He suddenly recalled Noya’s empty futon that morning, and asked “so where did you sleep last night?”
Noya dropped his chopsticks, and scrambled quickly under the table to retrieve them. “Bathtub,” he said as he plopped back into his chair. He laughed loudly and continued, “nothing too exciting.”
“I almost slept in the bathtub the other night.” Ennoshita told his fellow second years about not being able to sleep through Tanaka’s snoring, and his fear of waking up with someone else in the bathroom. Kinoshita and Narita leaned in to listen, and by the end of his story, half the team was rolling with laughter and ribbing Tanaka for being unable to keep quiet, even when asleep.
Ennoshita felt good to have his team smiling and laughing around him, and he shivered pleasantly when Tanaka’s hand settled warm on his knee for the rest of the meal.
After dinner, the players spread out in all different directions. Some headed home, some back to dormitories, and some to the various gyms scattered around campus. Ennoshita and Tanaka walked together, slower than the rest, enjoying each other’s company and the brief reprieve from volleyball. By the time they reached Second Gym, they could already hear the soft pap pap of a volleyball being set back and forth. Strangely, the door was closed.
Tanaka reached out to open it, but it didn’t budge. Ennoshita tried knocking while Tanaka yelled, “Oi, Noya!”
A drum of running shoes approached, and the door slid open, Nishinoya leaning out from it with his hands on the doorposts. He flashed his most mischievous grin. “Sorry, setters only.”
Ennoshita could see Nekoma’s setter—Kenma? he reminded himself—setting up a net with one hand while texting with the other.
“You’re not a setter, and you told us to come!” Tanaka snarked at the libero.
An angelic look came over Nishinoya’s face, and he stepped out of the doorway to drape an arm over each of their shoulders. His toes barely brushed the ground as he stood on tiptoe. “You are absolutely correct. I did ask you to come.” He turned to Tanaka, “Loudly.” He turned to Ennoshita, “In front of Daichi.” He winked, then dropped to the ground and slipped back into the gym. “You guys have fun.”
The door slid shut behind him.
“Did he just—?” Ennoshita started, but the door slid open again almost immediately to reveal Kenma, expressionless and still staring at his phone.
“There’s a park across the street with a walking trail,” he informed them, before Nishinoya’s grinning face reappeared to slam the door shut again.
“He’s the best friend I ever had,” Tanaka sniffled, staring at the closed door.
Ennoshita was suddenly nervous at the prospect of this unexpected alone time and tried to keep the quiver out of his voice when he asked, “Want to try the walking trail?”
Tanaka flashed that feral grin of his and said, “Nah, I want to go climb that tree we were under today.”
But the tree was occupied by either a large owl or a family of argumentative squirrels, so they continued around the back of the gym, side-by-side, neither speaking, knuckles brushing occasionally as they walked. Right before they turned the corner again, Tanaka flung out an arm, smacking the wall next to Ennoshita.
Ennoshita pulled up short, then giggled. He looked at Tanaka. “Really? With the kabe-don and everything?”
“Look, everything I know about romance comes from manga, ok? I have no idea what I’m doing or what I’m supposed to be doing or how to explain what I’m feeling right now, I just—“ He covered his face with both hands, “I— I like girls.”
Ouch.
Ennoshita fought the urge to cry with frustration. He balled his hand into a fist, with every intention of beating the crap out of Tanaka for leading him on. Tanaka must have felt the daggers he was glaring, because he dropped his hands and held them up, pleading.
“Oh god, that’s not—“ he pounded his fists on his close-cropped hair and gave a frustrated groan. “I mostly say what I’m thinking and I’ve been trying to not say this for so long that it… Please, just hear me out.”
Ennoshita eased some of the tension out of his shoulders, but still set his teeth so hard his jaw muscles flexed.
“Where was I?”
“Girls,” Ennoshita reminded him through clenched teeth.
Tanaka’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, girls! They’re short, and their clothes are cute. Their skin looks so soft, and they always smell nice. But—“ Tanaka licked his lips nervously and scrubbed a hand through his short hair. He didn’t quite meet Ennoshita’s gaze. “But when I think about kissing and holding hands, and dating, you know that kind of stuff?” he trailed off.
This wasn’t the confession that Ennoshita had expected, but Tanaka coming out to him was still a really big deal. He knew how hard it was. “You think about guys?” he prompted.
Tanaka locked eyes with him. “I think about you.”
Oh. Oh.
“You still look like you’re going to punch me,” Tanaka said.
Ennoshita was reeling, but managed to respond. “You have five seconds to change my mind.”
Tanaka smiled, leaned in, and kissed him.
Nothing, no second-hand story, no heresay, no anything could have prepared Ennoshita for the sensation of kissing his long-time crush. He barely had time to register the smell of skin and the feel of soft lips against his before Tanaka pulled away, far too soon.
“Your turn,” Tanaka said.
“For what?” Ennoshita asked. More kissing? He hoped it was more kissing.
“To confess!” Tanaka said, mock offended, “I had a whole speech and everything!”
Ennoshita shoved him playfully, “Yeah, but you started it with ‘I like girls’.”
“It ended good.”
“Yeah, it did,” Ennoshita agreed, and finally did what he’d dreamed of doing for so long.
He ran a hand over Tanaka’s scalp, feeling the tickle of close-cropped hair on his fingers. “I like you,” he said, directly. “I like your spontaneity and impulsiveness, I like the energy you bring to the court, I like your muscles, I like your dedication to your team, and I like your face.” He stroked Tanaka’s cheek, and Tanaka leaned into his palm. “I like that you’re loud and I like that you want respect from your kohai and I like that you like me too. And I really liked kissing you, so we should do that more often.” He closed their remaining distance by grabbing a fistful of Tanaka’s shirt and pulling him down.
It would have worked beautifully, if Tanaka hadn’t taken a step forward at the same time. Overbalanced, Ennoshita was slammed roughly into the wall, and Tanaka slipped on the slick grass, falling flat on his face.
Winded, Ennoshita still chuckled as he nudged Tanaka with the toe of his shoe. “Get up so I can kick your ass.”
“This is not going how I thought it would go,” Tanaka mumbled into the dirt. He sounded genuinely embarrassed.
“Hey,” Ennoshita said, reaching a hand down to help Tanaka to his feet. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Tanaka smiled, the wicked twinkle in his eye giving Ennoshita only the barest of warnings before he was tugged to the ground, landing in a heap next to Tanaka, who sprang and pinned him at the shoulders. “And the Fighting Crow defeats his seventh consecutive opponent,” he said in a would-be announcer voice, “becoming the world record holder for—”
But he was cut off as Ennoshita wrested his arms free and hauled him down into their second kiss. This one they took the time to enjoy. “You’re a dork,” Ennoshita said between breaths.
Tanaka nuzzled into his neck. “You like it,” he said, and nipped at Ennoshita’s earlobe.
Ennoshita squeaked in surprise and playfully shoved Tanaka for laughing at him, which started a brief tussle in the grass over ear-biting. They ended up flat on their backs in the grass, looking up at the stars, arguing over who won and whether or not Daichi-san would notice the teeth marks the next day.
“I think you gave me a piercing,” Ennoshita said, rubbing his right ear.
Tanaka rolled over, propping himself up on his elbows and leaning in “Here, I’ll check.”
“Oh no you don’t!” Ennoshita grinned and covered his ear completely, refusing to fall for the ploy.
“You’re really cute when you laugh,” said Tanaka, resting his chin on one hand.
Ennoshita covered his face with his arms, vehemently hiding his blush. “Oh my god, Tanaka, you can’t just say stuff like that!”
“Why not?”
“It’s embarrassing!”
“So? If I’m gonna have a boyfriend I wanna do it right.”
He said ‘boyfriend’ He said ‘boyfriend’ He said ‘boyfriend’, was playing on repeat in Ennoshita’s head and he missed Tanaka’s next few words.
“—like Daichi-san and Suga-san.”
Ennoshita uncovered his face, still bright red, “what?”
“I was asking, how long have they even been together? Since they started high school, right? And they never talk about it. You’d never know unless someone pointed it out.”
“Yeah, like he said today, ‘Don’t let it interfere with the team’.”
“So why don’t they act like a couple when they’re not with the team?”
Ennoshita shrugged, “Maybe they do. We’re part of the team, so how would we know?”
“Oh,” Tanaka conceded. “Right. Well, I don’t want to do that. What’s the point of going out with someone if you can’t brag about ‘em and give ‘em cutesy nicknames and—” he paused.
“And?” Ennoshita asked.
Tanaka pulled up a handful of grass and let it fall. “I want to hold your hand at school.”
Joy and terror made Ennoshita’s heart race. Tanaka would be proud to go out with him. Wanted everyone to know they were together. All the same, there were other students that would target them for the smallest sign of affection.
“Aren’t you—” he didn’t want to use the word ‘afraid’, “—worried? You know that someone’ll, I don’t know, say something or—”
Tanaka gave a snort and said seriously, “Not if they want to keep all of their teeth.”
“Delinquent.”
“You like that, too,” Tanaka pointed out.
“A little bit,” Ennoshita admitted. “One thing though.”
“Yeah?”
“’Cutesy nicknames’?” he asked.
Tanaka focused once again on pulling up tufts of grass. “I mean, if you want,” he mumbled.
I got your ‘cutesy’ right here, tough guy. Ennoshita sat up and leaned forward, nudging Tanaka’s forehead with his nose. When Tanaka looked up at him, he said “Whatever makes you happy, Ryu-kun.”
It was Tanaka’s turn to flush a brilliant shade of scarlet, and he stuck his face in the dirt between his elbows. “Nevermind!” he yelled into the ground. “I can’t handle it!”
“Not your thing?”
“You’re so fucking cute! If you did that on the court I’d turn into a puddle!”
Ennoshita laughed and pulled his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms over them. “Guess Daichi-san was right about not letting it affect the volleyball team.” He saw Tanaka’s pout and added, “We’ll work up to it.”
Brushing grass and dirt off of his face, Tanaka said, “Fine, but I’m calling you Chika-chan.”
“Whatever makes you happy, Ryu-kun,” Ennoshita repeated, smiling at his boyfriend.
They headed back to the dorm house, discussing how to best tell the rest of the team about their relationship. Ennoshita was pleased at how natural it felt to walk with Tanaka’s arm flung over his shoulder, and his own arm sat casually around Tanaka’s waist. It was so comfortable that he almost dozed as they made their way back. Just as he was getting the hang of walking with his eyes closed, Tanaka yanked him into the hedge right outside the house. Their faces were inches apart.
“Ouch, Tanaka, what the hell? If you want to kiss me just ask, don’t throw me into a bush!”
Tanaka waved a hand to shush him and pointed.
Daichi and Suga were sitting on the front porch.
Very closely on the front porch.
In fact, Suga was sitting between Daichi’s legs, his back pressed to the captain’s front, and they appeared to be stargazing. Ennoshita thought he heard his name mentioned, but he couldn’t keep up with the sounds of their low conversation.
“Guess they are different off-court,” Tanaka whispered beside him.
“This is weird,” Ennoshita agreed. “Like walking in on your parents or something.”
Tanaka nodded. They continued to watch their captain and co-captain in morbid fascination. Ennoshita was stunned by the obvious intimacy between the two, but still had to hide a snicker when he heard Daichi use the name ‘Kou-chan’. He looked over to see Tanaka biting down on his knuckles to keep from laughing.
“You were wrong about the nicknames, then.” Ennoshita said with a grin. Tanaka nodded fervently, eyes full of mirth. Ennoshita knew they had only seconds to get their laughter under control before they were found out. He used his hands to motion that they should take a couple of deep breaths, and was about to say they could sneak around back, when movement caught his eye.
Suga had tilted his head back against Daichi’s shoulder, exposing his neck, which the captain took full advantage of. Ennoshita and Tanaka watched in horror as Daichi leaned down, and they shared identical looks of disgust when they saw him licking and mouthing at Suga’s neck, strong hands reaching inside his shirt.
As the two onlookers shared simultaneous revolted glances, they heard clearly a moan of, “Oh, Daichiin…”
Ennoshita clamped his eyes shut, trying to physically block out what may or may not be going on in front of them, and was rescued by a tug on his arm from Tanaka, whose grip slid down to grab at Ennoshita’s hand as he dragged them both running in the opposite direction. He was nodding to himself. “Off the court, got it.”
“Yes. Definitely,” Ennoshita wholeheartedly agreed.
They were halfway back to the gym when Tanaka’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He fumbled with it left-handed for a few seconds, then gave up, switching their positions on the sidewalk so that he could text with his right without interrupting their hand-holding. It was the cutest thing Ennoshita had ever seen.
After thumbing through a few missed texts, Tanaka stopped and turned again back towards the house.
“Noya says the window in upstairs bathroom is unlocked, and you can get to it from a tree in the backyard.”
“That’s… awfully specific information to have,” Ennoshita said.
Tanaka just shrugged. “Maybe he climbed down it in his sleep, who knows?”
“Is that all he said?”
Tanaka was silent for a few seconds before passing his phone over to Ennoshita, who read:
Noya: bathroom window open w tree access
Noya: don’t fall
Noya: again lol remember last year at field day
Noya: hope your a better kisser than a tree climber
Noya: guess ill have to ask future-captain-san
Noya: phone dying, be back late, see you 2morrow morning
Ennoshita laughed. “Well, I’ve never seen you climb a tree, but you’re a pretty good kisser.”
“Yeah?” Tanaka asked.
Ennoshita tugged him closer mid-step and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Yeah.”
“Good.” Tanaka said. Was it Ennoshita’s imagination, or had Tanaka’s grip tightened? “I mean I never kissed anybody before today.”
“Me neither,” Ennoshita admitted, lifting their clasped hands in the air as they skirted either side of a parking meter. “I really liked it, though.”
“Yeah, kissing you was amazing.” Ennoshita felt his hand being squeezed tighter again as Tanaka spoke. “I mean, ‘cause it’s you, you know?”
Ennoshita’s heart soared. He wasn’t sure how to respond, but was saved by the alert tone that chimed from his pocket. He checked the text preview.
Nishinoya Yuu: he a good kisser? need 2 kno for science
He swiped through and responded:
Ennoshita Chikara: Best I ever had.
Tanaka snorted (‘science’ yeah right) when Ennoshita leaned the phone sideways to show him. As they read, one last message popped up on the screen.
Nishinoya Yuu: nice receive ;)
The front porch was, thankfully, empty by the time they returned. They snuck in the door quietly, grateful that they didn’t have to climb a tree. Doubly grateful, even, when they heard Coach Ukai singing to himself in the bathroom as they passed the door.
Ennoshita was exhausted by the time they finally lay down, having changed quickly after stepping over the sleeping forms of Kinoshita and Narita. Tanaka reached out his hand as they got settled, but when Ennoshita took it, Tanaka said simply, “Other one.”
That’s not going to be very comfortable, Ennoshita thought, but the instant Tanaka had hold of his other hand, he tugged, and suddenly Tanaka was in his arms and craning his neck around to kiss him goodnight, and nevermind, this is wonderful.
It took a few minutes to get comfortable, but once Tanaka had his head pillowed on Ennoshita’s arm and Ennoshita had his face buried in Tanaka’s neck, they both started drifting off to sleep.
Ennoshita had just enough energy to say, “Goodnight, Ryu-kun.”
Tanaka nuzzled against his arm in response. “’Night, Chika-chan.”
The next-to-last day of training camp boasted glorious weather and one last rematch against Nekoma. Ennoshita was talking to the third years about possible strategies for defeating their rival while valiantly trying to ignore the hickey on Suga’s neck. Behind them, the banter between the teams was reaching an all-time high. Both Hinata and Nishinoya were yelling at the Nekoma setter, still absorbed in his phone. Hinata was on Kageyama’s back for some reason. The other team’s spiky-haired captain was nudging Tsukishima with his elbow, and Tsukishima himself looked about ready to throw a punch. But at center court were Tanaka and Yamamoto, both more fired up than usual, trash-talking each other for all they were worth.
“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?” Nekoma’s ace made, what (Ennoshita assumed) was supposed to be a threatening face.
“How about I rip that squirrel tail off your head and beat you with it?” Tanaka responded, imitating Yamamoto’s expression.
“Ha! Try it, Karasuno.”
Tanaka stepped up so they were nose-to-nose. “You wanna go, City Boy?”
Yamamoto thumped his chest. “Bring it on, Little Spoon!” he yelled.
Everyone in the gym froze. There was a thunk as Kenma dropped his phone on the wood flooring. Both teams turned as one to look at Ennoshita, who was wondering fervently how quickly he could change his name and flee the country.
A sharp laugh from Tanaka diverted everyone’s attention. He grinned, all teeth, and the whole gym heard as he leaned forward and asked: “Jealous?”
Yamamoto flung his arms around Tanaka, dramatically sobbing into his shoulder. “I want to date someone cute! Why won’t anyone go out with meee…!”
The tension in the room broken, all members of both teams returned to their previous activities. Tanaka stood patting his friend’s back, but looked over at Ennoshita and winked.
“Ennoshita,” Daichi’s voice came from beside him.
“I know, I know.” Ennoshita ran an exasperated hand down his face. “‘Don’t let it interfere with the team’.”
Daichi nodded and gave a small chuckle. “Good luck with that.” To the gym at large he yelled, “Karasuno! Let’s play some volleyball!”
“HAI!”