Chapter Text
The 5 of them had ended up just going to get some pizza. It was only a few blocks away, and nobody objected. Nishinoya had still come along, even though he didn’t get anything.
Noya was sitting on top of Asahi’s shoulders next to Daichi, while Suga and Yams we’re behind them, enjoying each other’s company. The silence was mostly filled by Asahi and Daichi talking mostly about serves, with an odd quip from Suga on the matter every now and again. Yamaguchi was content to just listen, happy to be with some of his friends.
It didn’t take them long to get to the pizza place, and they filed into the shop with Noya jumping of it Asahi’s shoulders so hey could fit through the door.
It was a nice little place, with two people eating their pizza at one of the tables by the windows, and one other person waiting for their meal at the side of the counter. There were two employees at the front counter, as well as a few more that were visible every now and then through a small window looking into the kitchen. The store smelled of grease and cheese, and had an almost homey vibe to it.
On the ceiling was a fan that was spinning, with a light attached, caking the store in a friendly yellowish light, with a few other lights hanging down from the ceiling in various places.
In the store were red tabletops with duller orange placemats, as well as dark wooden chairs to accompany them. The counter with cashiers behind it was a dull purple colour, with bright red flowers to match the colour of the tables, and the colour of the counter also matching the apron that all the employees were wearing as a part of their uniforms.
The five of them walked up to the counter, where a friendly looking cashier greeted them. “Hello! Welcome to Almaz’s pizza, how can I help you?” She asked in a cheery voice. Most of the time, Yamaguchi can recognize the fake happiness often presented by employees, but this person didn’t really give off that same energy.
She had darker skin with long black hair tied back in braids with some blue and purple mixed in as well. She had large hoop earrings with ripped jeans and a dark blue shirt underneath her uniform.
Daichi ordered their pizza (which Yamaguchi was actually pretty glad at seeing as he wouldn’t have to participate in any social interaction for the time being) and they walked over to the other side of the store to await their pizza.
Sugar had convinced them that it was too nice of a day to waste, so once they had their pizza they could eat outside at a park or something.
Yamaguchi agreed, seeing as he had no reason to object the offer.
Their pizza didn’t take too long to be ready, and once it was they began filing back out the door with Suga holding the box containing all their pizza. Yamaguchi himself got two slices of plain old cheese pizza, and if he was being honest he wasn’t really paying attention to what anyone else ordered.
They found a small park just across the street with a few picnic tables and decided it would be a good place to eat.
On one side there was Daichi and Suga with poor Yams sandwiched in the middle, and Asahi and Noya were on the other side of the picnic bench.
Suga began handing out their respective slices, and Yamaguchi hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was. All he had really eaten that day was some toast he had snagged before heading out to the school, and volleyball games, even just a two-on-two, were really tiring.
After finishing about half of his first slice of pizza, Yams remembered Noya, and shot him a sympathetic glance. Nishinoya noticed, giving him a thumbs up, even though his expression was pained. Yamaguchi felt terrible for Noya, but knew it was for the best this way until they could figure out some sorta solution.
Until then, it was going to get worse until it got better, and they could only try to hope they didn’t get lost on the way.
———-
8:00am ~ Monday ~Yamaguchi pov
Yamaguchi walked to school with Tsukishima like any other day.
Apart from his meetup with the third years and Noya on Saturday, nothing else had really happened over the weekend.
He had texted Tsukki a few times on Sunday, but the blond had blatantly ignored him the whole day, except for one text at 11pm saying and I quote:
...
Tsukki: shut up
Yamaguchi knew (or hoped at least) that Tsukki wasn’t trying to be rude, per say, but that, put simply, the other had almost no filter and just ended up saying whatever would piss people off the most.
Apparently, “people” included Yamaguchi, but y’know what? He was fine with that.
...mostly...
And sure, maybe sometimes he wished that he was an exception and MAYBE sometimes he wished that Tsukki could see him as something more. Something worth keeping...
But alas, Tsukishima would be Tsukishima, and sadly, there really wasn’t much Yamaguchi could do about it. As much as he wanted to.
———
The day past by exceptionally fast, and before he knew it Yams was at volleyball practice once again.
Before their warmup while everybody was still waiting for people to show up, Noya had come up to Yams thanking him for helping. Yamaguchi was partly confused to what he had helped him with, but with a nervous laugh had accepted the complement all the same.
This somehow morphed into a detailed conversation of the anatomy of fish, as well as Noya somehow forgetting that fish couldn’t drown.
This caused Yamaguchi to double over in laughter, unable to contain himself at the ridiculousness of the statement, before he felt a volleyball hit his shoulder. Not enough to hurt, but he still felt it.
“Warm up is starting.” He saw Tsukishima say before turning around sharply and going to the approximate middle of the gym.
Yamaguchi was taken aback by the encounter, sure sometimes Tsukishima could be a bit salty, but Yams had never seen him like this before.
Yamaguchi began to get a sinking feeling as he walked towards the centre of the gym.
‘Does Tsukki even like me anymore?’
‘What did I do...?’