Chapter Text
Yamaguchi had never really had a pleasant life. He was bullied throughout his childhood and never had any friends. Well, he did have one, Tsukishima, but looking back, he had just been a nuisance to him. Sure, he seemed to care more for Yamaguchi now that they were in high school, but he was sure that he was still an annoying little brat.
The blade glided across his skin leaving a gash. His arms were littered with them. Cuts big and small. He was pretty good at hiding under a smile and a long sleeved shirt or some gloves. He winced in pain as he made a cut that was a touch too deep. He decided that was enough for that night, and he went to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for bed. He took a shower, wrapped his arms in some bandages to stop the bleeding, brushed his teeth and decided to tuck in for the night. Not that he was getting any actual sleep for another few hours yet.
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Yamaguchi woke up the next day to his blaring alarm. It almost felt like even inanimate objects were mocking him. He quickly got dressed for school, he didn’t want to be late to volleyball, it was one of the only things keeping him alive at the moment. The other things were his mother, and Tsukki.
Yamaguchi remembered to pack some long fingerless gloves. He had asked Daichi if wearing them was ok for practice, and he said it was fine, as long as they didn’t interfere with his ability to play volleyball, which they didn’t so he supposed it was ok. Not too long after he started wearing them, Nishnoya had also started to wear them. He said that they helped with the bruises he would get from doing so many receives, but Yamaguchi didn’t think that was the only reason. Not that he would ever approach Nishnoya about it, it was just a theory he had.
Before he knew it, he was walking with Tsukki to school. It was silent between them, but it was more of a comfortable silence, the one they were used to. They walked into the gym together. Daichi, Suga and Tanaka were already practicing, and it looked like no one else was here yet. Yamaguchi and Tsukki went into the changing room to change.
Yamaguchi has already taken his bandages off in the morning, so he didn’t have to worry about that. He put on his gloves before taking off his shirt, so he didn’t have to worry about Tsukki seeing his cuts either. People usually kept to themselves in the changing room anyway, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
Once he was changed, he went out to see that Tsukki had finished changing before him. He went and grabbed a ball and started working on his receives with Suga and Daichi. Not too soon after, coach Ukai came in, followed by Asahi, Kageyama and Hinata. Kiyoko and Yachi came in fashionably late, which make Tanaka simp for Kiyoko like his life depended on it.
That’s about when they realized that Nishinoya wasn’t there yet. Sure, he wasn’t usually early, but he was NEVER late for practice. They only waited about 2 minutes before Nishinoya burst through the doors. “Sorry I’m late!” He said as he bowed his head. “It’s fine Nishinoya. Go get changed and come practice with us.” Daichi replied as Nishnoya ran to get changed. Yamaguchi decided to keep working on his receives, they needed some work. Soon Nishnoya joined them and practice went on as usual.
“Remember that instead of doing afternoon practice like we normally do, today we will be going to a cafe together.” Suga announced before they left. ‘Oh yeah... we are going to a cafe together...’ Yanaguchi thought to himself. In all honesty, he had forgotten. “That’s right.” Coach Ukai said. “It’s my treat to you guys for working so hard these past couple weeks.” Everyone cheered in excitement. Today seemed like it would be a pretty good day for Yamaguchi.