Do you ever think of how tsukki was worried about his brother? I mean, look at his face. He knew before they talked that akiteru was on a volleyball team again, after all he did recall that infor first and brought it up. He knew and his most pressing question was “why? why would you do this after what happened in high school? why do this to yourself?”
He was so concerned about what was happening with his brother and in the end when he heard his brother had reached the same conclusion as him, he was happy but he must have also been so relieved that akiteru was doing okay. Tsukki was convinced that his brother’s dreams had been shattered back in high school (thus his fear of following in his footsteps). But now akiteru’s told him that that wasn’t true. Imagine tsukki’s relief. Not only was he finding out that the story had a happy ending, he was also finding out that his brother’s story had a happy ending.
11-13-15
Prompt: As an Apology (The Ways You Say I Love You ch 8)
Pairing: n/a (Tsukishima Brothers)
Rating: G
AO3
“Nii-chan?” Akiteru looked up warily to see his brother standing in the doorway. Kei had grown so much while Akiteru had been in college; it seemed like every time he came home to visit Kei loomed taller and taller, and his expression was harsher and sharper. Not right now, though. Now Kei was watching the ground with anxiety dancing in his eyes, twisting his fingers together in front of him.
“What is it, Kei?” Akiteru asked. Kei flinched and glanced up, then back to the floor.
“There- there’s a documentary on tonight about the stegosaurus,” Kei answered. “I was wondering if you- if you wanted to watch it with me.” Akiteru stared at Kei, his head spinning. It had been five years since the last time Kei had wanted to do something with him, five years since he had shattered his baby brother’s heart. And now Kei was inviting him not only to recreate a lost pastime of their childhood, but to see a side of him that Kei had only let Yamaguchi see in the last five years. Akiteru nodded, his mouth gone dry, and stood.
Akiteru sat at the end of the couch closest to the tv, expecting Kei to take the armchair across the room. To his surprise, however, Kei flopped down at the other end of the sofa, propping his feet up in Akiteru’s lap while he fiddled with the remote.
“Kei, wha-” Kei glared at him and held a finger to his lips, pointing at the screen. Akiteru snorted and turned to watch.
It didn’t take long before they were both enraptured. Every few minutes there would be an especially remarkable factoid and Kei would dig his heel into Akiteru’s thigh, or else Akiteru would nudge Kei’s calf in excitement. Neither said a word throughout the entire program, preferring to watch and absorb all the information presented to them.
When it was over, Kei turned the tv off and they sat in silence. Then,
“Nii-chan, you know I love you, right?” Akiteru started and looked at his brother. Kei was watching him calmly, a far cry from his earlier nervous self.
Akiteru could see it all then. All the lies he had told to keep that smile on Kei’s face. The disastrous game where he had caught sight of Kei and Tadashi across the court. The terse silences that followed, and five years of tension between them. And there was Kei, sitting on the other side of the couch, holding out an olive branch. Akiteru smiled.
“I love you too, Kei,” he said.
“Good. Then you can pay our admission to the new exhibit opening in Sendai,” Kei said, settling back against the arm of the couch and raising an eyebrow.
Akiteru stared, then cracked a grin. “Alright, you enterprising little brat. How’s Sunday?”
ahhh so I haven't been able to read the manga, but I was hoping you could explain to me or sum up what happens between Akiteru and Tsukki?
Sure thing friend.
Spoilers ahead, so I’m putting it under a readmore.
Basically what happens is a betrayal of trust, from Tsukki’s point of view. When Kei was a little boy, he idolized his big brother, who was a big bad volleyball player. Akiteru told Kei all these stories about how he was Karasuno’s ace, and he was the coolest person on the court.
Only problem was Akiteru went to Karasuno at the same time as the Small Giant. So he wasn’t the ace. He wasn’t even a regular on the team.
Kei doesn’t find this out until he’s bragging about his super cool big bro one day and a classmate calls him on it. He tells Kei there’s no one on the team named Tsukishima, and Kei and Yams go to the game to prove him wrong.
Cue Kei seeing his nii-chan not on the court, not on the bench, but in the stands.
Little Tsukki’s heart breaks.
So the reason Kei is so cynical and tries so hard not to be caught up in volleyball is because he sees where it got his brother. Akiteru practiced so hard, but it didn’t even get him on the bench. After that happened he pretty much stopped trusting people who weren’t Yamaguchi, and only kept up with volleyball to go through the motions.
In the later chapters Kei has the beginnings of a reconciliation with Akiteru, and Akiteru is currently attending the prefectural finals, unbeknownst to Tsukki.
