𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜..
parings: kei tsukishima x fem! reader
summary: a terrible start to tsukishima's morning leaves him stuck with you without your peacemaker yamaguchi.
warnings: enemies to lovers, mutual annoyance/bickering, teasing/bullying (playful), embarrassment humor, flirting disguised as insults, physical closeness/tension, use of idiot.
notes: characters are aged up and of age! reader is said to be tall because all fics i see its like she stops at his ankles! lower case intended and slightly proofread!
wc: 4.1k
tsukishima had known you since middle school.
unfortunately.
that was the exact word he'd use too.
unfortunately.
to say you and tsukishima couldn't stand each other was an understatement, It was a mutual hostility.
the only saving grace of the entire dynamic was yamaguchi.
yamaguchi was an angel. he loved you, always making sure you were included, walking with you, and constantly playing the referee between your arguments and tsukishima’s sarcasm.
but this morning, yamaguchi had stayed home sick with a fever, leaving you to walk to the bus stop alone.
your headphones sat around your neck, your bag hanging lazily off one shoulder.
as you rounded the corner, you spotted a tall, lanky figure on all fours in the grass, frantically swatting at a bush.
"what in the world…" you muttered, slowing your pace.
when you got closer, you recognized the blonde hair and the uniform.
It was tsukishima.
he was squinting so hard his eyes were practically shut, his face filled with frustration and humiliation, upon closer inspection, there was a very obvious, very gross white smudge on the shoulder of his jacket.
you stopped a few feet away, crossing your arms. "tsukishima? did you finally lose your mind, or are you just hunting for worms?"
he flinched at the sound of your voice, his head snapping up. he glared blindly in your general direction, his eyes unfocused. "go away," he snapped. "i don't have time for your stupidity today."
"are you… crying?" you asked, leaning in a bit.
"i am not crying, you idiot! i can't find my glasses," he snarled, his hand swinging out and missing a patch of weeds entirely. "and don't look at me!"
a once in a lifetime miracle like this… tsukishima, pooped on by a pigeon and a swatting bushes.. it could not be wasted.
while tsukishima was still blindly swatting at the bush, muttering curses under his breath, you slipped your phone out of your blazer pocket.
"why did you stop talking?" tsukishima snapped, he turned his head, his blurry, unfocused eyes trying to track you. "why is it quiet? what are you doing, idiot?"
"nothing," you said, calmly as you tapped your screen.
you opened your camera app, switched it to video, and hit record. you zoomed in perfectly on his intensely miserable face, capturing the exact second he accidentally slapped a dandelion. then, you panned the camera upward to his shoulder, showing the pigeon poop on his shoulder while stifling a laugh.
"are you breathing loudly? stop breathing near me," he muttered, completely unaware of the camera tracking his every move.
"i'm just appreciating the view, tsukki," you stifled a snort, keeping the camera perfectly steady. "you look like a newborn giraffe trying to find its mother."
"shut up! just… go away!"
you let the video run for another five seconds, getting a shot of him tripping over his own long legs while still on his knees before finally saving it.
giggling quietly to yourself, you slid the phone back into your blazer pocket.
the blackmail was secured. now, it was time to address the giant, blind nuisance currently flattening a patch of clover.
"alright, alright," you sighed, stepping off the pavement and into the grass. "move your hands before you face plant into a pile of dirt."
"i don't need your charity," he spat, though his body froze in place, his hands hovering over the dirt. "just keep walking to the bus."
"and leave you here to get run over by a bicycle? tempting, but yamaguchi would never forgive me," you said, rolling your sleeves up a bit. "come on, stand up. let me help you look."
"i told you, i'm fine-"
"tsukishima, you're looking at a tree trunk while talking to me. you're not fine." you rolled your eyes, stepping right into his personal space.
you reached down, grabbing him firmly by the forearm. "up. now." he let you pull him to his feet, even though you were remarkably tall yourself, easily clearing the height of most girls in your class and reaching right up to his shoulder, tsukishima still managed to tower over you.
but without his glasses, his usual imposing posture was completely gone. he looked lost…. it was cute!
"don't pull so hard," he muttered, his face flashing with irritation as he leaned slightly into your height to keep his balance.
"then move your giant legs," you grumbled.
fortunately, right next to the patch of grass where he’d been searching was an old, weather worn wooden park bench.
you only had to guide him a couple of steps to the side before the back of his calves hit the wood. "sit," you commanded, gently pushing his shoulder.
tsukishima sank down onto the bench with a heavy, deeply defeated sigh.
he crossed his arms tightly over his chest, his head turning blindly toward the street while you remained standing in the grass right next to him. "are you happy now? i'm sitting. go find them so i can stop looking at your blurry outline."
you turned on your heel, taking a wide step deeper into the tall grass. your eyes scanned the overgrown clover, your long legs parting the weeds as you looked for a glint of plastic. "for a volleyball player, your depth perception is tragic."
"where did you even say they went?" you muttered, shifting a thick patch of weeds aside with the toe of your flats.
his voice drifted over from the bench with irritation. "they bounced. just look near the base of the telephone pole. and stop kicking the dirt, you're going to scratch the lenses."
"yeah, yeah, whatever," you grumbled. you bent your long frame over, hands on your knees as you thoroughly scanned the area. you checked around the rusted base of the pole. nothing.
you moved a little further back, parted a cluster of yellow dandelions, and squinted into the overgrown hedge. still nothing.
"are you sure a pigeon didn't just fly off with them?" you called out. "because i'm looking right where you told me and there's literally nothing here but bugs and dirt."
"they didn't grow wings and fly away," tsukki snapped, sitting rigidly on the bench, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. he was staring blindly ahead, "you're just not looking properly. as usual."
"oh, excuse me for trying to do you a favor!" you shot back, taking a large, annoyed step backward to try a different angle. "at least i'm not the idiot who managed to lose my gl-"
crunch.
you froze dead in your tracks, your stomach dropping instantly. slowly, you lifted your right foot.
there, pressed directly into the dirt, were tsukishima’s black rimmed glasses. miraculously, the lenses hadn't shattered or even cracked, but the frame itself was ruined. your foot had come down dead center on the bridge, snapping the glasses completely in half right over the nose piece.
you were looking at two separate, completely disconnected eyepieces resting in the dirt.
"what was that?" tsukishima demanded from the bench, his head snapping instantly toward the sound. his eyes widened in absolute panic. "hey. what did you just do?"
panic surged through you. you leaned down and snatched up the two separate halves of the glasses, shoving them behind your back as you straightened up to your full height.
"nothing!" you yelled back, your voice squeaking just a fraction too high. "just… a really big twig! man, nature is crazy out here. these twigs are getting out of hand."
"don't lie to me!" he braced his hands on the edge of the bench, leaning forward aggressively, though he stayed seated, too blind to risk running into the bushes. "you stepped on them, didn't you?! i heard plastic snap!"
"i didn't step on anything, i swear!" you lied through your teeth, keeping your hands firmly hidden behind your back. "you told me they rolled into the bushes, remember? i'm not even near the bushes yet. you probably just heard my shoe hitting a rock. or a really, really crisp leaf."
"a crisp leaf doesn't sound like a cracking skull, idiot," he hissed, his eyes narrowing at nothing. "If you found them, just give them to me already."
"well, i did just find them," you mumbled, shifting your weight from one foot to the other as a twinge of genuine guilt finally started to eat at you.
you walked back over to the bench, the tall grass rustling against your shins, and slid onto the wooden slats right beside him.
because of your height, your shoulders were nearly level as you sat together, though you leaned away to avoid the poop on his sleeve that he still didn't know about.
slowly, you brought your hands around from behind your back, holding out the two completely detached pieces of his frames. "but… they were already like this when i reached down. totally split down the middle. must have been a manufacturing defect. or something."
he reached out, his long fingers blindly brushing against your hands until he grabbed the two separate halves. he held them a mere two inches from his nose, staring at the perfectly clean break right over the nose piece.
his entire face went blank. "a manufacturing defect," he whispered, his voice dropping, make an actual made a shiver run down your spine. "my glasses, which i have worn for a year, decided to perfectly split in half the exact second your foot came down?"
"hey, stranger things have happened!" you shrugged, crossing your arms. "i definitely didn't crush them. but since i'm a nice person, i'm going to fix them."
before he could protest or drop the pieces, you snatched them right back out of his fingers. you unzipped the front pocket of your school bag and dug past your wallet and your keys until your fingers brushed against exactly what you were looking for.
you pulled out a small, bright roll of decorative washi tape. it was neon pink and covered in tiny, smiling hello kitty faces.
tsukishima couldn't see the exact design, but the sheer, blinding brightness of the pink in your hands made his jaw tighten. "what is that. tell me that isn't what i think it is."
"it's structural engineering, tsukki," you said with seriousness. ignoring his glare, you set your bag down and got to work.
you lined up the broken bridge of the frames on your lap, pinching the two halves tightly together with the fingers of your left hand.
tsukishima sat silently beside you, his chest brushing against your shoulder as he leaned in close, blinking uselessly at your lap to try and see what you were doing.
using your teeth, you ripped off a long, sticky strip of the neon pink hello kitty tape. balancing the frames, you began tightly wrapping the tape right around the center of the bridge.
you went around once, twice, three times, binding the two halves back together. the sweet, innocent faces of hello kitty were now tightly bound directly over the nose piece, completely secure.
when you finished taping, you noticed a bit of damp grass and a smudge of dirt clinging to the lenses from their time in the weeds. pulling a soft cloth from your bag, you carefully wiped the glasses off until the glass was completely clean.
"alright, hold still," you said. shifting your weight, you turned fully toward him on the bench, pulling one leg up onto the wooden slats to face him directly.
because you were sitting side by side and both tall, your faces were practically level as you leaned into his personal space.
you carefully unfolded the arms of the newly customized glasses, and slipped them over his ears. your fingers briefly brushed the warm, flushed skin near his temples as you adjusted them onto the bridge of his nose.
tsukishima blinked, the very first thing he saw was your face barely inches from his, a smug grin plastered across your features.
but worst of all, when he looked down his nose, a massive, bright pink blob filled his vision.
you didn't pull away. instead, you tilted your head, your eyes scanning his incredibly irritated face. a massive, teasing smile broke across your lips. "aw, look at you," you cooed, your voice full of exaggerated sweetness.
you reached out, gently tapping the tip of his nose right beneath the bright pink tape. "you look absolutely precious, kei-chan. it really softens your sour personality."
tsukishima's jaw dropped slightly, his eyes widening behind the lenses. his ears instantly turned a deep shade of scarlet.. partly from annoyance, and partly because having you this close and calling him that, was doing dangerous things to his composure. "do not call me that. and get out of my face."
"why? are you getting flustered?" you giggled, leaning in just a fraction closer to admire your handiwork, secretly thrilled by how much you were getting under his skin.
"honestly, the pink is totally your color. it makes you look so cute and approachable! the little volleyball club other first years might actually think you're a nice person now. oh, kageyama is going to love this."
"i will bury you in the gym floor," he hissed.
"see? adorable," you laughed, quickly whipping your phone out of your pocket.
before he could react, you held the phone up, lining up the camera perfectly, the shutter sound was loud.
"delete that," tsukishima said immediately, lunging forward to swat the phone out of your hand.
you took another selfie, this time it was the two of you, your beaming smile was a hilarious contrast to his murderous, bright red face, the neon pink hello kitty tape sitting right between his glaring eyes.
"i am going to smash your phone into pieces," he muttered.
you slid the phone into your blazer pocket just as the loud screech of the bus brakes finally echoed down the street.
you stood up, laughing to yourself, you smoothed down your school skirt and turned toward the curb. "now let's go. we have a bus to catch, and everyone at school needs to appreciate my beautiful art."
behind you, tsukishima let out a low, shaky exhale, he adjusted his ridiculous pink glasses, a small helpless smirk finally tugging at the corner of his lips as he stood up to follow you.
"oh, by the way, kei" you said turning to face him, walking backwards.
he paused for a sec before walking again, his hand frozen near his glasses as he glared at you. "what now?"
"i forgot to mention," you giggled, pointing a finger directly at his shoulder.
"while you were busy having your little blind panic attack back there, a bird completely blasted you. there is a massive, pile of bird poop sitting right on your shoulder."
tsukishima froze. his entire body went still as your words registered.
slowly, he turned his head. his eyes locked onto his own shoulder, and his face instantly twisted into a look of sheer, unadulterated horror as he finally saw the white poop staining his school blazer.
"you-" he choked out, his voice cracking with absolute betrayal. "you knew about this the entire time?!"
"yep! it's in all the photos too!" you cheered, offering him a cheerful thumbs up as you stepped backward up the bus stairs.
he frantically reached into his bag for a tissue, he looked like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole. "i hate you. i hate you more than anyone else on this planet."
a moment later, tsukishima practically stomped up the stairs behind you.
the bus driver gave him a long concerned look, staring first at the bright neon pink hello kitty tape holding his glasses together, and then at the furious, frantic way tsukishima was aggressively dabbing at his left shoulder with a crumpled tissue.
kei completely ignored him, keeping his head down and his jaw tightly clenched.
naturally, because the morning commute was packed, there was only one row of empty space left, the long bench seat at the very back of the bus.
you slid into the window seat, hugging your school bag tightly against your chest as you scrolled through your phone.
tsukki dropped onto the seat right next to you, his long legs cramping into the tight space.
every time you shifted your weight, your knee knocked against his, sending a familiar, electric jolt up your spine.
tsukki groaned, tugging off his blazer.
you opened your gallery and tapped on the video from this morning, you leaned in close, your shoulder pressing firmly against his, and nudged his arm with your elbow. "hey. look."
"leave me alone," he muttered, keeping his eyes glued straight ahead. "i am ignoring you for the foreseeable future."
"oh, come on, tsukki. you're missing out on some incredible cinematography," you teased, turning the phone screen directly into his line of sight and hitting play.
the volume was down to a faint, low whisper, but the quality was clear. the video opened with a zoomed in shot of him on all fours in the grass, squinting blindly.
and the exact second his hand came down and slapped a dandelion, your own muffled, wheezing laughter echoed quietly through the phone speaker. then, the camera smoothly panned upward, capturing the massive white pile on his shoulder in all its glory.
tsukishima’s breath hitched. "you are an absolute demon," he whispered.
"look at your little squinty eyes!" you chuckled, clamping a hand over your mouth to stifle a loud laugh so the rest of the passengers wouldn't look back at you.
you leaned in closer, your shoulder pressing firmly against his as you pointed at the screen. "you looked so helpless! and the pan to the shoulder? truly iconic. i'm keeping this forever."
"delete it. right now," he ordered.
he lunged across the cramped space between the seats, his hand reaching down to snatch the device right out of your lap.
but you were already anticipating the move. you pulled the phone back against your chest, leaning away from him with a grin.
"no way! this is blackmail gold," you whispered back loudly, your eyes dancing as you looked up at him. "i might even make it my lock screen."
"i am going to throw your phone out the window," he hissed, but he didn't pull back. instead, he trapped you.
tsukishima planted his left hand firmly on the seat right next to your thigh, and his right arm reached completely over your lap, his fingers wrapping tightly around your wrist to pin it against your school bag.
because of his massive frame, he effectively blocked out the entire bus aisle, crowding your tall frame completely into the corner of the back seat. your breath caught in your throat.
he was barely inches away, the sudden proximity made your heart do a flip.
you could feel the heat of his body, and smell the clean, faint scent of his laundry detergent around you.
from this close, you could see the blush creeping up his neck and dusting his cheekbones. his eyes, completely focused and unblinking behind the ridiculous taped glasses, locked directly onto yours.
"give me the phone," he murmured. his voice lost its sharpness, replaced with a breathless tone that made your pulse spike.
"make me," you whispered back, your voice coming out a fraction of a second too late, completely failing to maintain your usual tough exterior.
tsukki's gaze flickered. for a moment, his eyes dropped down to your lips, lingering there for what felt like an absolute eternity.
his grip on your wrist tightened, his thumb lightly brushing the soft skin right over your racing pulse.
the fake animosity between you completely evaporated, leaving nothing but the suffocating warmth of the packed bus and the undeniable, terrifying truth of how much you wanted him to just lean in the rest of the way.
he swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and his eyelashes fluttered as he slowly began to close the tiny remaining distance between your faces.
Screech!
the bus hit a massive pothole in the road, the violent jolt tossing the entire back row upward.
you both flinched violently, breaking apart as if you’d been struck by lightning.
tsukishima ripped his hands back, slamming his spine against the seat and throwing his head down, his entire face, ears, and neck turning a shade of crimson.
you scrambled backward against the window, your face burning so hot you thought your skin might actually melt.
───〃★
the rest of the bus ride passed in a tense, hyper aware silence, the heat of his shoulder pressed against yours, made it impossible to focus on anything else.
every time the bus took a sharp turn, your long frames shifted together.
by the time the bus came to a halt in front of karasuno high, you were practically bursting out of your skin.
the doors hissed open, and you scrambled out of the seat first, eager to escape the suffocating closeness.
kei trailed behind you, your tall figures drawing immediate, bewildered stares from the passing students.
the morning sun illuminated the pink hello kitty tape right on his nose, casting a pink shadow across his cheek.
"hey! tsukishima! what is on your face?!"
you spun around just in time to see hinata and kageyama jogging up the campus walkway, their club bags swinging.
hinata was pointing a trembling, dumbfounded finger at tsukishima’s face, his jaw practically dropping to the pavement.
"is that… hello kitty?" kageyama muttered, squinting in disbelief.
tsukishima’s entire face darkened. he stopped dead in his tracks, his golden brown eyes flashing with a mix of murderous rage and pure humiliation behind the lenses. "it's none of your business. move."
"did you let a toddler customize you?!" hinata wheezed, clapping a hand over his mouth as he tried.. and failed to stifle a massive laugh.
before tsukishima could actually commit a double homicide right on the school lawn, you smoothly stepped into the space between them, crossing your arms and looking down at the two other first years.
"hey, show some respect," you lectured, your voice dripping with faux seriousness, "that is high grade structural engineering. if it wasn't for my artistic genius, your middle blocker would be blind today and crashing into the net during practice."
kageyama's eyes darted from you to tsukishima, a sudden, knowing smirk breaking across his face. then, hinata spoke. "wait… you did that to him? and he let you?"
"he didn't have a choice," you chimed in, throwing a grin over your shoulder at tsukishima, whose ears were now turning red again.
"i hate both of you," tsukishima muttered under his breath, his fingers tightening so hard around the straps of his school bag that his knuckles turned white.
he aggressively brushed past the group, his shoulder catching yours as he passed, sending a jolt right down your spine. "i'm going to class."
"wait up, kei-chan!" you called out, not noticing the suspicious looks hinata and kageyama were exchanging behind your back.
you jogged a few steps to catch up to his long, angry strides, falling into a familiar rhythm right at his side. as you entered the shoe locker area, the cool shade of the building felt great compared to the morning heat.
tsukki slammed his locker door shut, changing into his indoor slippers with unnecessary force.
"you're enjoying this way too much," he muttered.
"obviously," you laughed, leaning against the wall right next to his locker. "it's not every day i get to see you walking around looking like a sanrio mascot."
he finally snapped his head up, slightly looking down at you through his glasses.
the fake annoyance in his eyes, turned into that intense, heavy gaze that always made your breath catch in your throat.
he took a single step closer, trapping you slightly against the wall, his shoulders blocking out the hallway traffic.
"if you think this means you win," he whispered, "you're completely delusional. i'm going to make your life a living hell for the rest of the week."
"i'd like to see you try, four eyes," you mumbled, your voice coming out a little softer than you wanted as your heart hammered against your ribs.
a small, smile finally tugged at the corner of his lips.. he reached up, his long, warm fingers briefly brushing against the side of your neck as he adjusted your blazer collar, the heat of his touch leaving your skin tingling.
"just wait," he murmured, before turning on his heel and walking toward his classroom.
you stood there for a second, gripping the straps of your school bag, waiting for your burning cheeks to cool down, completely helpless to the ridiculous crush you swore you'd never admit to.
