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There are two unchanging facts about Tsukishima Kei’s day.
One, his headphones, his pride and joy– broke. With almost a decade of having them in his possession, one might think they should've broken a long time ago. They’ve been broken for a while now, as he didn't have the time or money to go out with his mom or brother to get a new pair. So he’s been suffering for the past couple of however long it's been, without headphones. It was honestly tragic, and not having them present and easily accessible all the time had dampened his mood to an extreme. Maybe he should be embarrassed about a simple object not being within his reach affecting his mood as much as it did, but sue him! It was the one solid comfort in his life that wasn't complicated, unlike some of his peers and friends.
Two, it was his birthday today.
Now, Tsukishima never cared a ton about his birthday, and it was never made a big deal; sure, he’d get the occasional small gift from his family, a happy birthday here and there. Yamaguchi took it upon himself as a tradition to build his dinosaur figurine collection himself every time, and he never argued about it. That was really all he needed, as it was common knowledge to those who knew him that he didn't like surprises– he didn't like not knowing what was coming, and a birthday celebration was too over the top and excessive anyway. He’d get overwhelmed and hide in his room, what was the point if the birthday boy wasn't there for his own birthday party?
So that was the start of his day. Tsukishima got up, did his regular morning routine in the bathroom, went downstairs to have a simple breakfast as his mother wished him a happy birthday, and then he was off to go meet up with Yamaguchi to walk to school without the familiar weight of his headphones around his neck.
Today was gonna be hard.
“Happy birthday, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi greeted him with a smile and a birthday wish, to which he exchanged a fond look of his own and a nod as a thanks.
Yamaguchi seemed to gaze over his bare neck, no headphones to be seen. They haven't been there for a couple weeks now, and it was honestly sad they broke just near the beginning of the semester. “Still no new headphones?”
Tsukishima let out a deep sigh, like the reminder physically weighted on him. “Not yet. I haven't had time to go out and buy new ones. It's a hassle, they shouldn't have broken in the first place,” his tone betrayed how bothered he was by the lack of his comfort object, sad and devastated; something Yamaguchi didn't hear all that often from Tsukishima.
The other boy just hummed sadly, continuing to walk next to Tsukishima.
They were quiet for the rest of the walk, and if Tsukishima found Yamaguchi’s silence to be suspicious that morning, he didn’t comment on it.
— — —
Tsukishima cringed as the sound of the bell went off, signaling it was lunch time.
He let out a deep sigh before gathering his lunch and getting up, Yamaguchi doing the same and following him out of class to join up with the others.
Ever since Hinata and Kageyama’s exam debacle in their first year, they’ve sort of taken up spending lunch together as a group– with Yachi joining them every other day whenever she wasn't busy with workout schedules for the team or new posters for advertising.
Today, as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walked up to the others, he found the three all there. Hinata and Kageyama ate away at their food whilst Yachi was doodling on a notebook with her own food in front of her, picking at it.
Tsukishima didn't say a word as he sat down, but Yamaguchi made an effort to greet Yachi before cringing slightly at Hinata’s attempt at a greeting and what he can only conclude is a ‘Happy birthday, stinkyshima!’ with his mouth full of food.
“Please swallow before trying to speak, some of us actually want to keep our appetite.” Tsukishima begrudgingly commented in both the chaotic duo's direction, before making a move to open up his own bento to eat.
Hitoka perked up brightly then, as if remembering, raising her arms high in the air as she says: “Happy birthday Tsukishima!!” and he gives her a nod as a thank you. When he moves to look at Kageyama and make eye contact, the other just nods in his direction with an air of awkwardness, Tsukishima just goes back to his food with an understanding.
They all sat in silence for a while, eating their lunches before making an effort at any sort of conversation.
“Tsukishima, how come you don't have your headphones with you?” Hinata questioned as soon as he had finished his food, placing the box aside and leaning on the table with his entire upper body.
Tsukishima just frowned in annoyance, but it quickly turned into confusion once Kageyama elbowed the shorter’s side, which had him immediately cussing loudly at the other. “ What was that for?!”
Hitoka and Yamaguchi shared a panicked look over the other two’s antics that Tsukishima didn't look like he noticed. “They broke, Shrimp. They've been broken for a while now. Stop asking about things that don't concern you.” Replying to Hinata’s earlier question, his eyes locked with his half eaten bento, clearly not wanting to talk about it anymore. God, did it have to drastically drop his mood every time it's brought up? It really was embarrassing.
Hitoka tried to lighten the mood: “It's okay, Tsukishima. You’ll get a new pair in no time!”
Tsukishima didn't grant her a response, and only grumbled as he went back to picking at his food like a hamster. Yamaguchi looked even more nervous at Hitoka’s words, but Tsukishima was too gone in his sulking to pay too much attention to the glances the four of them were making at each other right in front of Tsukishima.
Between Hinata and Kageyama’s mumbled background bickering, Yamaguchi’s loud voice and the way he slammed the table as he stood up from his seat was a surprise to everyone at the table. “AH! I forgot something! I'll be back– um, take my bento back with you if I'm late, okay, Tsukki?” and before Tsukishima could say anything about his sudden change of attitude, he was out the door and gone already.
Tsukishima looked really confused, and turned to Hitoka for any answers she might have. She only shrugged, completely innocent looking and went back to her doodling.
The blonde didn't even try to get an answer out of the other duo, making an effort to close Yamaguchi’s basically empty bento and keep it close so he can take it back to class with him on his way out.
— —
Yamaguchi was gone for the rest of lunch.
But when Tsukishima went back to class after bidding the others a hesitant goodbye, the other joined him not even two minutes before the bell rang, and thanked Tsukishima for taking his bento back like he asked him to.
“Where did you go?” Tsukishima asked him bluntly, still not going back to his seat and instead choosing to stand next to Yamaguchi’s desk while the other stayed seated, waiting for an answer.
Yamaguchi expected this question, and had thought of a lie way before this entire thing could occur. “Ennoshita-san needed me to help move things from the storage room to outside the gym for donation. A bunch of junk from other sports teams that we wouldn't use.” he replied easily, before acting nervous and rubbing the back of his neck in an anxious manner. “I didn't wanna just volunteer and not show up, that would've been rude.”
Tsukishima raised an eyebrow before shrugging, going back to his seat quietly and accepting his response.
He knew of his best friend's habit of being scared of disappointing those older than him– something he never found relatable, as he didn't really care what his seniors thought of him particularly. So Tsukishima didn't question him on it. Having heard this from Hinata as well, Ennoshita could be very scary when he wants to, but Tsukishima was also having a hard time imagining him yelling at Yamaguchi of all people.
Taking a deep breath, he registered the teacher walking into class with a greeting, and he made a move to grab his notebook and pencil to actually pay attention to class.
This was going to be a long day.
— — —
Breathing heavily, Tsukishima leaned on one of the walls of the gym.
Coach Ukai finally called the end of practice, and he couldn't be happier about not playing volleyball in his life.
He accepts a bottle of water from Hitoka, chugging it almost immediately. “You okay, Tsukishima?” she asks, always the worrywart, even if his stamina has always been drastically different and lower than the rest of the team.
Tsukishima just nods, leaning his head back and taking a second to calm his breathing.
Hitoka moves on to give the other volleyball players their bottles, and Tsukishima finally calms down enough to glance around the gym. His eyebrows frown slightly when he spots Yamaguchi talking to Ennoshita and Tanaka, with a smile and frantic hand motions. He’ll ask about that later.
As the team begins packing up the gym so everyone can leave, Yamaguchi slides up next to him with his signature bright smile. “Hey, Tsukki! Could you stay behind in the club room? I have something to show you!”
Tsukishima frowned deeply at this, as it was completely out of Yamaguchi’s ordinary to ask him such a thing after practice, when he knew Tsukishima would be tired and wouldn't put up with anything he deemed unnecessary. “Why?”
Yamaguchi’s smile falters a little bit, seeming to understand Tsukishima’s thought process before Tsukishima did so himself. “Pleaseee? You trust me, right? I wouldn't keep you behind if I didn't have a good reason to.”
That, unfortunately, is valid logic. Yamaguchi knew him too well to pull some bullshit, and he trusted the other to a T since they were in elementary school. So he just sighs, nods once, then moves to gather his belongings on the other side of the gym.
His best friend's presence switches from behind him to the other side of the gym, and the only reason he can tell without looking is because he says: “Thanks, Tsukki!” and it echoes farther and farther away from him.
When Tsukishima looks up in curiosity, he notices Yamaguchi huddled with Kageyama and Hinata, talking in hushed tones that even the gym’s usually echoey environment couldn't echo back to Tsukishima’s curious ears. He also notices that the majority of their teammates had either left to go change or are almost done with cleaning up, and Hitoka was nowhere to be found when she was usually with Ukai and Takeda.
Now, call Tsukishima as many names as you want– he’s anything but an idiot, and can tell something fishy was going on. Regardless, he moves on with organizing his stuff in his bag, choosing to see this through for Yamaguchi and his friends’ sake.
— —
The second he's walking up the stairs to the club room with Yamaguchi next to him, he picks up on some chatter coming from the room itself.
When he gives Yamaguchi a curious look and a raised eyebrow, the other just smiles widely and urges him to continue walking.
They make it to the door and Tsukishima is the one to open it, and that's when he gets hit in the face with the physical manifestation of unicorn vomit all around the club room, decorated in it.
Balloons were blown and let loose all around the room, some banners hung up here and there across the lockers, and a whole lot of confetti and the like all over the ground and stuck everywhere it could be stuck.
In the middle of all the colourful carnage– Hinata, Kageyama, and Hitoka sat in the middle of the room and in front of their low footed table, a strawberry shortcake in the middle of it, with smiles of differing degrees on their faces.
Tsukishima stood there in shock, before Yamaguchi walked ahead of him, dropped his bag in the corner, and began waving his arms at them dramatically. “Ta-da! Happy birthday, Tsukki!!”
Before Tsukishima could utter any words, Hinata stood up and began urging him to sit down so they could sing happy birthday– and before anyone could protest, four different voices of varying enthusiasm began singing Happy birthday to him.
He’s snapped out of his shock at the end of the song, where they all went quiet to gauge his reaction.
They.. got him his favourite cake, put in the effort to decorate the club room… and sang him happy birthday?
Eye contact was made with the cake in front of him, which looked delicious and lovingly made, before Yamaguchi began explaining frantically–
“Okay, okay you got me.. I didn't help Ennoshita-san during lunch, I was putting the cake in the mini-fridge to make sure it didn't melt and look or taste horrible!” He started, “I didn't mean to lie to you about it, but it would've ruined the surprise! My mom made it, it was such a hassle to transport though…”
Yamaguchi had entrusted Yachi’s help with making sure the cake was okay, boxed up, and pretty, and forgot about his plan to bring it to the mini-fridge that took shelter in the club room that lunch break– hence his sudden exit. He wasn't sure if it got ruined by the time he remembered it.
Tsukishima looked up at everyone, and for once in his life, felt the urge to say something back at their birthday wishes and happy faces.
He gulped quietly, ignoring the jitters that started taking over his arms and legs at formulating a response to them. This was really sweet, how does he make them understand that he appreciates it?
“...Thank you. This must’ve taken some time,” He says, making a point to look around the room before Hitoka cleared her throat.
“Yamaguchi got permission from Ennoshita-san and Tanka-san! They were actually happy we were doing something for your birthday, and didn't mind us ruining the room as long as we cleaned it up afterwards.” She explained happily, moving to hand out the paper plates they had prepared, then handing Tsukishima the knife to cut the cake with. “Ah…”
“Birthday boy gets to cut the cake!”
Tsukishima took the knife and with slightly shaking hands– why was he shaking?! –began to cut the cake into slices, making sure none of it fell apart too badly as he tried to the best of his ability to distribute the cakes onto the plates without making a mess. At some point, his shaking hands made it too difficult, and Yamaguchi took over the last two slices quietly.
They all took a bite together, and Yamaguchi giggled at how Tsukishima’s eyes sparkled.
Everyone also let out hums and words of joy, complimenting Yamaguchi’s mom’s baking skills. It truly tasted amazing.
Tsukishima ate in silence for a while, and when he was down to the last of his cake, he placed it on the table and took a deep sigh.
When the others looked at him, all they saw was a genuine smile and a look of intense appreciation.
“I… don't like birthday party celebrations. I never wanted one for my own birthday,” He says calmly, avoiding eye contact with the others at all costs, hands fidgeting with each other in his lap.
“But this is… this is nice. I’m glad I get to call you guys my friends. Thanks for doing all of this for me. I never asked for it,”
The room was stunned into silence before Yamaguchi tackles Tsukishima from beside him, almost nailing both of them to the ground with the force of it. The hhck– he lets out at practically being choked by Yamaguchi sends the other three into a laughing fit– and he hopes for all their sakes that it was just because they were happy about his corny appreciation speech and not laughing at his misery.
“Tsukkkiiiii– of course you wouldn't need to ask for it!!” Yamaguchi whines, arms wrapped around his best friend in a normal hug now that they've calmed down slightly. Tsukishima just huffed, a little bit of pink dusting his cheeks at everyone’s eyes on them.
“Y-Yamaguchi, I think you're forgetting something.” Hitoka mumbles between breaths and laughs, and he raises his eyebrow at her. She was serving as a reminder for something Tsukishima doesn't know about.
Yamaguchi, though, seems to know exactly what she means, as he immediately lets go of Tsukishima to get up and shuffle through his locker. When he seems to get a hold of whatever it is, he looks over his shoulder at Tsukishima in anxiousness, blocking his view of whatever he was handling with his body.
“C’mooonn, Yamaguchi!” Hinata exclaims, jumping in his seat and seemingly excited for what's about to happen. “It’s present time!”
Tsukishima perks up at that, and his eyebrows raise a little higher on his forehead. “Present?” he echoes.
His best friend just takes a deep breath before slamming his locker door roughly, and shoving a box with a bright blue bow on top into Tsukishima’s arms, before sitting back down in his spot from earlier himself.
The blonde has little time to react to it falling in his arms, but the second he registers the packaging and the stuck on bow on top, he freezes up immediately.
It's… it’s…
“Headphones?!” Tsukishima wildly says, voice going up one or two octaves from his usual talking tone. He inspects the packaging and– it’s brand new. It’s… it’s–
“We realized it was probably hard to go without your headphones for long periods of time– like if I didn't practice volleyball for a month or something,” Kageyama mumbles, looking down at their differing degrees of eaten plates of cake on the table with certainty. “So we all came together and paid for a new set of headphones as a present.”
Tsukishima looked up with a wild expression on his face to make eye contact with Kageyama, who held a straight face before giving him a small smile. “Happy birthday.”
As if Kageyama’s explanation made complete sense to everyone in the universe– “This must’ve been a lot of money... I– I can't accept this.” Tsukishima mumbles, looking at the box in his hands again, complete distress on his face. He was sweating.
Squawks of surprise and annoyance rang out through the room at his words, and Tsukishima just looked up in discomfort.
“What?! No! This was your present, you have to!”
“What do you mean ‘can’t accept this’?!–”
“It doesn't matter how much they costed! C’mon, Tsukki–”
“We can't return them, Tadashi lost the receipt.”
Kageyama’s blunt excuse stopped their complaining, and even made Hinata and Hitoka giggle a little. All Tsukishima could do was just deflate after that one.
Maybe it didn't look like it on the outside, but Tsukishima’s throat hurt and his eyes stung slightly. He refused to cry in front of them, however. Even if this meant the world to him.
“You guys don't get how much this means to me,” He echoes his thoughts vaguely, mumbling under his breath into their silence. Everyone’s eyes softened at him from various points in the room. Tsukishima couldn't take his eyes off of the box.
(Maybe because if he did, he’d begin balling his eyes out at their sincere faces– he wouldn't be able to handle such raw kindness from them.)
“We do, Tsukishima. It's okay.” Hitoka mumbled back, a smile heard in her tone. And somehow, he knew they understood why he needed them to begin with, just from her words alone.
He hugs the box to his chest tightly, and not even a few seconds later does Yamaguchi move to hug him close himself.
No one else moves to hug him, and Tsukishima pretends he doesn't hear himself sniffling slightly, as Yamaguchi just squeezes him into one of the warmest hugs he’d ever received.
None of them say anything for a couple of minutes, letting Tsukishima catch up to the situation properly. The silence isn't awkward between everyone, however, as Hinata finally begins talking again–
“Hey! You should try them on!!”
Tsukishima perks up in Yamaguchi’s hold, then slowly pulls and looks away from them to fix his face– it wasn't like he needed a moment to calm down because he was overwhelmed with care. Nope. You’re imagining things.
The box is pulled into his lap once more and he begins opening it, staring white headphones in the face again before taking them and putting them on his head and over his ears slowly, as if scared to break them somehow.
They're soft on his ears, and don't dig his glasses into the sides of his head. He figures out how amazingly noise cancelling they are when Hinata begins talking again, and he can barely make out what he’s saying.
Tsukishima pulls at one of the sides to rest behind his ear as he goes to test them with his phone– an almost giddy expression on his face. None of them think they’ve ever seen this side of Tsukishima towards anything other than when he does a nice play on the court and wants to act nonchalant about it when they hype him up.
When the music connects, Tsukishima’s face lights up at the sound quality and begins playing with the audio levels. This is… this is amazing.
After some time, he sets down the headphones back in their box for safe travel from here to his house, and keeps it on his lap as he recognizes what just happened once again.
…
“So who’s bright idea was it to spend a lot of money on a new pair of the newest generation of my old headphones?” He says in a way that hints that whoever gets snitched on has consequences by his own hands. His normally slightly agitated attitude slips into his words, and even if they are said to threaten all of them, the four find that they relax a little bit. Their Tsukishima is back.
Everyone begins sweating, looking away from him. Hinata even starts whistling. Of course he’d notice they're newer!
“W-Well!” Hinata stutters, “You’ve seemed douchey and depressed without them! And none of us knew what to get you for your birthday so really– really this was us trying to fix your attitude towards us!”
“Huh?” Tsukishima glares at the ginger, and Hinata just cowers in his place at it.
“Eek!”
— — —
Everyone works together to clean up the mess they made of the club room, Yamaguchi making sure to lock the door behind them and eventually goes down to help Kageyama carry all the trash out to the dumpster nearby.
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima bid goodbye to the other three at an intersection, as they went opposite ways to their respective homes.
That just left the two to walk in relative silence, hands brushing every now and again.
“Thanks for doing all of that.” it was so out of the blue and loud in the silence of the streets they were walking in that Yamaguchi actually jumped.
Tsukishima just smiled at his misery, while Yamaguchi clenched his chest where his heart would be. “You scared me! God, I thought we were just having a quiet walk this time around!”
The blonde then began to… giggle, before taking a deep breath and walking slightly ahead. Yamaguchi gaped a little at it.
With no more words to be said between them, Yamaguchi followed after him with a smile on his face that mirrored the others.
— —
“Oh! Before I forget!!” Yamaguchi brightens, digging into his bag quickly and hastily before pulling out a small dinosaur figurine with a bright blue ribbon wrapped around its body. It’s a brachiosaurus, Tsukishima’s brilliant but tired brain supplies, eyes slightly wide while admiring it in Yamaguchi’s hands.
Tsukishima brings his own hands up to take it into his palms gently, admiring the detail in its PVC plastic model up close. “Happy birthday, Tsukki!” He says for what feels like the ten millionth time that day. “I could never forget tradition!”
“Your tradition is giving me dinosaur figurines until I grow old and senile?” Tsukishima teases, looking up at his best friend's eyes with a taunting look on his face, clearly having appreciated the small gift from his best friend.
“Obviously! Goodnight, Tsukki! See you tomorrow!”
Yamaguchi waves goodbye before heading the other way, leaving Tsukishima to take the last couple steps before landing at his houses’ front door.
He stops at it for a moment, lifting the brachiosaurus figure up to look at it one more time before he smiles.
Well, that was fun.
Maybe surprises aren't so bad after all.
— — —
When Tsukishima is seen wearing brand new headphones that week, and the other weeks that follow, he doesn't hesitate one bit to tell and brag to everyone that a couple of his friends bought them for him for his birthday.
His mother and brother looked overjoyed when he told them, and they cooed and cried– talking about when Tsukishima’s only friend was Yamaguchi, how much he's grown, how he has other friends now– and other embarrassing shit that Tsukishima didn't bother tuning into properly with a proper blush on his face.
Life was always quieter and more bearable with his headphones, and they realized that and gave it to him. They helped him.
He’d never admit it to them, but it felt nice to depend on people for once. Ones that get him and understand him as he is.
It was just him and Yamaguchi for a while– and while he still believes Yamaguchi will forever be his person…
The others aren’t so bad to have around either.
("Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace." –Kahlil Gibran)