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„This is bad. This is really, really bad!“
Yachi knew that she was getting on everyone’s nerves, but she couldn’t help it. Her knees wouldn’t stop trembling as she followed her friends through the brush bordering the school grounds. There was no actual reason to sneak through the brush, as there was no actual reason for everyone to copy Kageyama’s awful baseball cap/sunglasses combo – it was purely done for the aesthetic. A really shitty aesthetic, Yachi found – as it was illegal!
“We’re gonna get in so much trouble!”
“Relax!” said Hinata, throwing her a 100 watt smile over his shoulder. Yachi was sure it somehow illuminated her face as she was illegally sneaking through the bushes, giving away her location for everyone to see. “This is our last day here, there’s no more trouble to get into.”
“Stop smiling at me, I’m gonna get arrested!” she accused, almost toppling over a root she didn't see because she was wearing goddamn sunglasses at night.
Kageyama caught her by the hood of her over-sized hoodie and almost choked her in the process. Well – that wasn’t so bad. She was sure that she was going to die tonight, so she would prefer it to be a quick death. The best-case scenario would be to leave this world before the dean stuffed his toupee down her throat in anger.
“Yachi – if we’re going to get caught, it’ll be because of your constant whining,” said Tsukishima. He was leading the whole gang, having thrown every ounce of common sense over board, along with the maintained image of reliability he had gained as their captain. At long last he was revealing his true colors, which were those of a troublemaker!
Poor, innocent Yamaguchi was helplessly caught in his trap. He was smiling at Yachi as well, albeit in a gentler way than Hinata had. “Don't worry, I'm nervous, too,” he said. “But we're no longer villager B's now. We're actual protagonists.”
“In time, you may grow to be the moon,” Kageyama said from behind her, making Tsukishima groan.
“For the last time – the moon is not a desirable part to have in a play!” he yelled over from the front. His yelling really made Yachi wonder why they were sneaking through the bushes in the first place.
“I wish all of you were moons right now, because moons are quiet,” she sighed. “Moons are nice and innocent. Moons don’t drink when they’re underage and they don’t get in trouble for breaking and entering at their own school.”
“It’s not breaking and entering when you have a key,” said Hinata. “Come on, Yachi. Live a little!”
“Why is this always said by people who are apparently so eager to die?” Yachi asked the real moon, since it was already prominently displayed on the night sky, looking down at her with its sad, disapproving face. Contrary to her expectations, it didn’t give any helpful advice. So the real moon was an asshole, too.
Tsukishima announced that there was no more brush to sneak through just then. “Get ready to sprint!” he said, catching Yachi off-guard. Sprint? Was he serious? There was no way she could keep up with either their giraffe-legs or the energy of a whole truckload of rabbits on speed compressed into two tiny feet. They didn’t give her any time to voice this fact – Tsukishima, Yamaguchi and Hinata were already shooting out of the bushes and although Yachi would have gladly dug a hole for herself and called these bushes her new best friends, she suddenly found herself in hot pursuit of her old best friends. Kageyama had simply scooped her up and held her like she was a baby with dangerously full diapers. Not that she was too far from being a baby with dangerously full diapers. She vaguely remembered that she was not supposed to scream for some reason, but she really didn’t have another option as she found herself flying past Tsukishima and Yamaguchi and almost catch up with Hinata by the time he had reached the gym doors.
“I win!” yelled Hinata, jumping excitedly.
Kageyama set Yachi down like a nervous Chihuahua with its legs trembling too much to stand up on its own. “That doesn’t count,” he told Hinata. “I was carrying Yachi and she’s heavier than she looks.”
Yachi made a mental note to be offended by that comment later on, when pictures of her life stopped flashing before her eyes. Seriously – he was also carrying a whole backpack full of beer – why hadn't he just commented on that?
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima finally reached them, too, and Tsukishima began fumbling for his keys. “Congratulations for the loudest secret infiltration in history,” he said as he turned the key in its lock.
Kageyama bumped into him on purpose as he shouldered past him into the gym. “Shut up!” he said. “You’ve been yelling at me all night long.”
“It’s my last day as your captain, I need to exploit my status for as long as I still can,” Tsukishima said, following him into the gym. Yamaguchi and Hinata were right behind them and left Yachi standing in front of the door, questioning all her choices in life. If she really were to make this step - well, three steps, she had short legs – over the threshold, there would be no going back. She would have broken the rules for good. The dean would yell at her. Her mother would yell at her. The moon would probably yell at her.
“Would you come in already?” yelled Tsukishima, and Yachi realized that it was too late for her to stay an innocent, un-yelled-at person. It was time to grow up. To “live a little”, as Hinata had said.
So she stepped over the threshold and lived.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“I really hate beer!” complained Yachi as she was chugging her third bottle this night. “But I’m too drunk to care.”
“We know,” said Tsukishima. He was sitting next to her, leaning back against a big crash mat and frowning at his own beer. “This is only the fifth time you’re telling us.”
They had built a huge fort out of whatever they could find in the equipment room and Yachi had to admit that it was really comfortable to lie here and work on the buzz in her head to numb her nerves. At some point, she had even stopped worrying about how they would clean this up again.
“Where’s Kageyama?” she asked after she had carefully eyed every bespectacled and behoodied and bebaseballcapped form sitting around her and didn’t see a single one with the tell-tale black bangs.
“Probably in the storage, making out with all the volleyballs,” said Tsukishima.
Hinata just cackled, but Yamaguchi actually got up to check. He didn’t need to leave the fort, though – he apparently spotted Kageyama from inside. “Ah!” he said. “You’re almost right, Tsukki. But he’s making out with the floor.”
“Did he pass out already? What a lightweight!” laughed Hinata, jumping down from the crash mat to where Kageyama was probably laying face-down on the floor.
“I didn’t pass out,” she heard Kageyama grumble. “I’m just saying goodbye.” The statement was followed by a choking sound as Hinata sat down on him.
“To the floor?”
“To the gym, dumbass. This is the last time we’ll ever be here!”
“You can come here anytime, it’s not like it’s forbidden,” yelled Tsukishima.
Yamaguchi rolled off the mat with a giggle. “Yeah, and there are better ways to say goodbye to the gym than to lick the floor!” He shuffled over to the dynamic duo, and by the sound of it, he tried to pull Kageyama off the floor with Hinata still sitting on him. “Get up, this is really unsanitary.”
“Idiots,” huffed Tsukishima, taking another sip from his beer. Yachi let him be condescending for now – everybody knew that he didn’t mean these things anymore. Well, he probably did mean that they were idiots, but… in the nicest way possible.
Yamaguchi returned with the two afore-mentioned idiots under each arm, catapulting both of them inside their fort, which was already liable to collapse and didn’t need to be bombed with two almost fully grown teenagers.
“Careful!” Yachi screeched when one of the roof-mats almost fell down on her. “This is dangerous!”
“Sorry Yachi!” came Yamaguchi’s good-natured apology, followed by the guy throwing himself after the two idiots with little finesse and completely tearing down the roof. Yachi and Tsukishima were thankfully spared, as they had already shuffled out of the way in foresight of a drunken Yamaguchi's antics. The mats forming the roof fell down on top of Kageyama, Hinata, and Yamaguchi, coaxing a round of groans from them.
“Nice going!” Hinata barked. “Now I feel like puking.”
“If you puke in our fort, I will decapitate you with a hockey stick!” threatened Tsukishima. His words projected a rather colorful image in Yachi's mind, and she suddenly felt like puking, too.
“No puking, no decapitating, no whining!” she ordered. Ah – the alcohol finally started to unfold its magic. Good! She was sick of being so anxious all the time.
“There she goes,” grumbled Hinata. “Bossyachi.” He had somehow accepted his fate and stayed buried underneath the mats instead of digging himself out. His hair shone orange from where it stuck out of a crater between the mats, like a poisonous sort of weed. Yachi was too preoccupied with mentally giggling about it to register Hinata’s affront.
“I like Bossyachi!” Yamaguchi smiled, crawling over to where Yachi and Tsukishima were sitting to plump down next to her. His path had led right across the mats Hinata was still buried under, and caused a long, muffled groan to rise from their depths.
Kageyama was the only one who seemed bothered by it. “Are you still alive?” he asked the orange weeds grumpily.
Hinata confirmed his vitality by shooting up from behind the mats and pointing an angry finger at Yamaguchi. “Damn you, Wackyamaguchi! Your drunkonality is just as bad!”
“Talk like a real person!” groaned Tsukishima. “And stop giving everyone weird names.”
“I'm sorry, Dullishima, my hearing suffered from someone standing on my ear! You were saying?”
“Good puns require wit, of which you have none,” said Tsukishima. “Also, nobody can blame Yamaguchi for accidentally standing on you, you're barely visible from our height.”
Hinata rolled his eyes as he let Kageyama pull him out of the mats. “A height-related joke, how funny. You truly are the master of wit, I don't know how I even dared to try and challenge you.”
“Snarkinata has awoken!” cheered Yamaguchi, as he leaned into Yachi to make room for Kageyama and Hinata to squeeze themselves into the small space that wasn't covered by the crashed roof. “Tsukki, Kageyama, you need to catch up!” He dug another bottle of beer out of the ruins of their fort and handed it to Kageyama.
“I don't think I have a drunkonality,” said Kageyama as he accepted the beer and took a pensive sip. “I just get dizzy and tired.”
Yachi knew that this wasn't true – Kageyama became suddenly socially adept in the weirdest ways when he got drunk. Not that they had a lot of experience in getting drunk yet, but she clearly remembered Tsukishima's 18th birthday, where Kageyama had had one beer too many (namely: two), and accidentally stole all of Tsukishima's fangirls (which Tsukishima later claimed was the best birthday present he had ever gotten). A feat which he accomplished by simply hanging all of their jackets onto the radiator. It hadn't even been intentional; Tsukishima had put him on jacket duty and Kageyama had mistaken the weirdly tall, modern radiator for a wardrobe. But even Yachi had to admit that she had wanted to kiss him a little when, at the end of the party, he had handed her a toasty warm jacket and scarf to release her into an unexpectedly chilly autumn night.
“Sure you do!” Yamaguchi had no qualms saying it out loud. “You make everyone want to smooch you.”
To Yachi's right, Tsukishima just choked on his beer.
“It's true...” Hinata said. “Last time, you told me that lately my spikes were evolving from a wheeewshump to a ffffsssshpeng quality, and I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. My heart was all badumpumpump.”
“It was an accident!” Kageyama shrugged. “I stumbled over my words – I was going for fffffsssshpummmmp.”
“Are you even listening to yourselves?” groaned Tsukishima, as Hinata's eyes began to glow even more. “Yamaguchi, please tell me you never wanted to kiss that volleyball-for-brains!”
Yamaguchi just gave a happy sigh and sank back against the crashmat at their backs, putting his arms around both Yachi and Hinata, and staring off into the distance as if remembering a lover from a past life. “Tsukki... he gave me all of his soggy nachos – you know, the ones that have bathed in the cheese for half an hour and have practically dissolved. On that day, I swore that I would marry this man.”
“They fell into the sauce... I just can't eat nachos with too much cheese on them,” mumbled Kageyama. “I get bloated.”
Tsukishima gave Yachi a look, which she interpreted as a silent cry for help. She couldn't help him, though – there was no way to deny Kageyama's magic.
“Sorry,” she shrugged. “I guess I was one of your fangirls switching to his side after your last birthday party.”
Tsukishima took a long gulp from his beer to express his opinion on that and almost spat it out again, when he realized what she had said exactly. “Hold on,” he spluttered. “You switched sides? Doesn't that mean you were my fangirl first? Ha!” He waved his bottle in Kageyama's direction with a winning expression on his face. “Looks like you just took a left off Last Laugh Lane.”
“Isn't that an Arctic Monkeys song?” said Kageyama, and Tsukishima choked on yet another sip.
Yachi carefully took the bottle of beer from his hands.
“You... you know music?” spluttered Tsukishima.
Kageyama gave him one of his trademark frowns. “Why are you so surprised? Didn't you give me a mixtape with this song on it for my last birthday?”
“I just had that lying around!” said Tsukishima, growing a suspicious shade of pink. “I didn't think you'd actually listen to it! Otherwise I would have given you a tape with just the sound of volleyballs hitting the floor.”
Yachi could feel Yamaguchi's quiet laughter shaking her, and she couldn't help a grin herself.
“Looks like Kissyama claimed another victim!” cackled Hinata, proudly clapping Kageyama's back. “You're full course on Last Laugh Lane tonight!”
“I never wanted to kiss Kageyama!” spat Tsukishima.
“You don't have to be ashamed,” Yachi tried to comfort him. “We're all teenagers – it's only natural. To be honest, I think I wanted to kiss each and every one of you at some point.”
Yeah – she had no idea why she said that out loud. She frowned at the bottle of beer in her hands, just to blame someone. It was unfair, maybe, because this particular bottle had only infused Tsukishima with its contents, and it didn't seem to have any effects as of yet. Probably because he kept spitting it out again, or accidentally inhaled it through his nose.
“Hold on!” Yamaguchi's huge, brown eyes were suddenly blinking at her from up close. “Are you telling me that there was a brief time-span where you wanted to kiss me and I somehow missed it?”
… brief? God, Yachi really had to come up with a way to make Yamaguchi get out of her face. Maybe she should belch loudly, that would probably do the trick. In any case, Yamaguchi had to go, because this was not the right moment to confess to your schoolmate that you wanted to kiss him ever since you first noticed that a particular formation of freckles on his left cheek made it look like Ketty-chan was tiredly leaning against his nose – like, you had to squint a bit to see it, but it was there, and Yachi couldn't unsee it anymore, so to be honest, the first impulse to kiss him had been due to some special brand of sympathy, but then it never really went away anymore, and basically Yachi had been driven to think of Yamaguchi every time she saw Ketty-chan – who was literally everywhere, as Yamaguchi's cheek proved – and the sympathy had quickly faded and turned into mild annoyance, then longing, then frustration. So yeah, there was no way of telling him that right now.
“I have Ketty-chan on my cheek?”
She had just told him all that.
Yachi threw the bottle through the fort, not minding that it was open and would be hell to clean up later.
She really should have just belched.
“So, you mean you would still want to-”
Yachi was saved from having her traitorous, independent mouth answer that question by the sun falling down from the sky. Or rather – Hinata suddenly fell on Yamaguchi's head, to beam at her in his stead.
“Do you have a great story for wanting to kiss me, too?”
“Hinata!” sounded Yamaguchi's muffled voice from where Hinata had his face pressed into the mat. Yachi thought that he wanted to complain, but then he just said: “Everybody and their mom wants to kiss you! You're practically a cute, happy garden gnome come to life!”
“Why would anybody want to kiss a garden gnome?” asked Tsukishima.
“See? Not even Tsukki denies wanting to kiss you!” Yamaguchi added. “So there you have it. Can you let me breathe again, please?”
Hinata had apparently listened to that whole barely audible speech without noticing that it was uncomfortable for Yamaguchi when he sat on his head. “Oh right, sorry!” he said, rolling off Yamaguchi and into Tsukishima's space, to embed his head in Tsukishima's lap and grin up at him. “So – story time?”
“Hell no. I just said that I don't want to kiss a garden gnome.”
“Right, right – and you don't want to kiss Kageyama either,” said Yachi, glad that she was somehow not the focus of the conversation anymore. “Because you live in a sad world, full of darkness, where nobody is worth being kissed by you, ever!”
Tsukishima conjured a new bottle of beer out of the depths of the fort's ruin – seriously, where did they manage to hide a secret stash? “I never said nobody,” he shrugged, calmly opening his beer and letting the brimming foam drop down onto Hinata's face. “I would kiss you, for example.”
He was so casual about it that it took Yachi almost a full minute until she jumped from shock.
“Hey!” whined Yamaguchi. He was still lying in front of her feet. “She just admitted that she likes me, so stop ruining all of my chances!”
“Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned in the same breath that you want to kiss Hinata and Kageyama, too,” said Tsukishima.
“I didn't! There were a multitude of breaths involved!”
“Waaaait!” sang Hinata. “Do we all want to kiss Yachi? Even Yamayama-kun?”
“Huh?” Kageyama looked up from where he had apparently gone to wipe the beer Yachi had thrown off the mat. He even used his beloved hoodie for it. Again – it would have looked like such a thoughtful thing to do if Yachi hadn't known that he just had a weird boner for gym equipment and wouldn't stand to see it defaced. “Oh, right... her skin is smooth like milk, so I was wondering how her lips taste.”
Okay, now that was just ridiculous! An hour ago, he had carried her like a baby and then complained that she was heavy. He had no right to make her heart beat faster like that!
“So, it's official!” Hinata clapped his hands. “Yachi is our queen! We should build a throne for her and play a game!”
“Is this meant to be as creepy as it sounds?” asked Tsukishima, but there was no way of stopping Hinata now. It only took one well-aimed grin and Yamaguchi and Kageyama had both fallen for his ploy, scrambling onto their feet to help Hinata rearrange the ruined fort into a throne.
Tsukishima gave a defeated sigh. By the time he and Yachi had collected enough energy to roll off the big crash mat, the others were already done. They had constructed something that was even bigger than the fort had been, and you had to squint and look at it from a specific angle to really recognize a throne. Hinata had to direct Yachi to the exact spot she was supposed to sit, because it was so unrecognizable.
The throne wavered dangerously as Yachi climbed it - she wasn't entirely sure if it was due to the very unprofessional construction, or due to her erratic, uncontrolled movements. The alcohol was really starting to mess with her head, if she was going along with all of this. Normal Yachi would have never done this. Normal Yachi would have stormed outside and begged the moon for forgiveness, and then she would have buried herself in the middle of the bushes - her new best friends, who did not want to hug her and kiss her and - gasp - maybe even fondle her butt!
Bossyachi was just elated to be sitting on a throne.
"So, what are the rules to this stupid game?" drawled Tsukishima, acting like he wasn't excited at the prospect of kissing her.
"Easy," said Hinata. "Let's call it: 'How far would you go to kiss the queen?' - basically, Yachi dares us to do something and if we do it, we earn a kiss from the queen!"
"Wow, this is just as creative as I would have expected from you," Tsukishima said, rolling his eyes. Okay, he was definitely lagging behind! Yachi had to do something about that.
"Tsukishima, I dare you to chug that bottle of beer you're holding right now!" she called down at him.
Thinking about it, it felt really good to be calling something down at Tsukishima. He countered her broad grin with a frown, but then he shrugged.
"This is the easiest challenge ever," he said, bringing the bottle to his lips and taking a big gulp. He was done after only two seconds. "There wasn't even much left."
What the hell? Just when had he drunk this whole bottle, still without being affected? It really must be nice, being the size of a giraffe.
Yachi only noticed what she had done when Hinata started whooping, "Kiss, kiss, kiss!"
Right - she had totally forgotten about the rules of the game. So she actually had to kiss Tsukishima now. Kiss Tsukishima. Smooch Tsukishima. Snog Tsukishima. Something in her stomach tingled and almost launched an awkward giggle. She wasn't sure if it was anticipation or nerves, but she managed to suppress the giggle by changing it into a coughing fit.
"What a turn on," said Tsukishima. Yachi hadn't even noticed him climbing up to her and leaning into her space. "I always dreamed of being coughed in the face right before I got to kiss you."
"How often did you dream about kissing her, then?" yelled Hinata and tried to wolf-whistle.
"More than I dreamed about kissing you!" Tsukishima called back. He looked surprised when Yamaguchi started laughing. "I should not have said that out loud," he noticed.
"So the alcohol is starting to affect you!" Yachi squeaked. Tsukishima was so much fun when he was drunk, because he just blurted anything that was going through his head. It was always amazing to see just how much of that biting sarcasm was ingrained in him, even when he was being nice.
"Must be, if I actually climbed up here to kiss you," grumbled Tsukishima. "So, are we doing this or what?"
"Do iiiiiit!" whooped Hinata, hopping around their throne like a bird doing its courtship dance. Watching him, Yachi felt even more like giggling.
Tsukishima stopped it before it could break out of her mouth. He just… well, he didn't lean in or anything, he pretty much just fell forward and their lips collided out of sheer luck. Emphasis on collided because, damn, this was not how Yachi remembered kissing. Kiyoko had been a lot softer, a lot more controlled, a lot sweeter.
"Oops," coughed Tsukishima, immediately retreating from her mouth. "I'm sorry, I slipped… my head is heavier than usual."
"You can do it, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi cheered. "Come on!"
"Shut up!" barked Tsukishima. "I'm already on it."
The next try felt a lot more like kissing as Yachi remembered it. Maybe with a tang more beer taste, which was awful, and Yachi was once again reminded of how she really hated beer, because otherwise the kiss wasn't awful at all. Tsukishima had really soft lips, for a guy – most of her other male friends didn't bother with lip balm. He angled their kiss better this time, so that their noses wouldn't bump, and had lifted a hand that stayed floating in the air halfway up to touch her face. He was being shy… how cute! Yachi lifted her own hands to his face and slid his glasses up onto his head, and left them there, fingers tangled between the soft, blond curls.
Tsukishima softly sucked on her upper lip, dry and gentle, and Yachi suddenly knew why about half of the girls in her class wanted to kiss Tsukishima. Despite his personality, there was something comforting about him. In his height and in his calm and in the way he moved his lips against hers in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. Yachi might have lost herself in the kiss for a moment, because she was suddenly startled by annoyed voices shouting up at them.
“Yachi! I know that he's good, but you haven't even seen any of us yet!” - That was probably Yamaguchi. Yachi wasn't exactly in the position of telling her friends' voices apart right now.
“How do you know that he's good?” - Well, at least Kageyama's grumble was unmistakable.
“Geez, how do you think?”
“Yachi!” - She finally shied away from Tsukishima when she saw something orange jump up at the edge of her vision. “That's enough!”
“Goddammit, you stupid bouncy ball!” yelled Tsukishima – suddenly there was very little comfort left in him. “Stop being creepy!”
Hinata just jumped up again to flash a bright grin at them and Tsukishima left the throne with an annoyed grumble. Yachi tried to sit back up and straighten her clothes in order to look more queenly.
“Uhm... right,” she said, clearing her throat. “That was... that was acceptable.”
“Wow, I feel honored,” Tsukishima drawled. “Also, I'd like to recommend to Her Serene Highness to kiss Yamaguchi next, because if she wasn't swept off her feet by this, then I have little hope for these other idiots.”
Well, Yachi was not going to argue with that. Tsukishima may be an ass sometimes, but he was pretty smart.
“Okay, Yamaguchi...” she said, trying hard to come up with a challenge for him. “I dare you to... rate the remaining kisses for me to decide which one comes after you.”
Hah! She mentally patted her own shoulder, because she was pretty smart, too! Besides, Yamaguchi had already confessed that he wanted to kiss everyone here, so she was doing him a good deed in the process.
True to her expectations, he flashed her two thumbs-ups and skipped over to where Kageyama was standing. He had obviously not caught on yet, because he was very surprised when Yamaguchi suddenly kissed him.
“Wha-” he spluttered, almost stumbling over his own feet. “What the hell?”
“I need to rate your kiss, haven't you listened?” explained Yamaguchi. “Come on, don't crush my crush!”
“I don't think that's possible...” said Kageyama, but he no longer tried to stop Yamaguchi from pressing their lips together, so Yamaguchi did just that.
It looked a bit awkward in the beginning, because Kageyama obviously didn't know what to do with his hands. He seemed to be unaware that everyone else could actually see what he was doing, because he just let them float over Yamaguchi's hips for a while. He seemed to decide that it was a bad spot to touch. Too intimate, maybe. The hands continued up to hover over Yamaguchi's head, before they floated down to his side again, quite a bit above the hips this time. There, they finally touched, and drew Yamaguchi closer.
“My theory is,” said Tsukishima, pensive. “That this was some kind of move from his alien-race. You know – he probably has a scanner in his hands and needed to read Yamaguchi's mind to find out what kissing is.”
Hinata gave an amused snicker, but Yachi was too distracted by how cute these two looked together. If Kageyama just scanned Yamaguchi for kissing tips, then he must have been successful, because Yamaguchi seemed to like it. She couldn't see much from her spot on the throne, but the way Kageyama's fingers buried into the hoodie he was holding on to, and Yamaguchi slung his arms around Kageyama's neck while rocking their bodies from side to side, spoke volumes.They ended the kiss with Yamaguchi smacking his lips contentedly.
“I could practically taste the soggy nachos,” Yamaguchi commented. “A+, would kiss again.”
“Thank you,” Kageyama said sincerely.
“Okay, that was weird enough,” drawled Tsukishima. “Moving on...”
That was Hinata's cue for running up towards Yamaguchi and jumping in his arms in a way that almost tackled him to the floor.
“From alien to garden gnome.” Tsukishima had apparently taken it upon himself to narrate the kisses. “That looks... wet. Entirely too wet. Please don't drown, for God's sake, close your mouth already – are you laughing or kissing? Or trying to eat him? Seriously, Yamaguchi, that looks dangerous!”
Yachi couldn't decide if she wanted to chuck a beer bottle at Tsukishima's head or be thankful for the commentary, because she couldn't really see much from her position on the throne. It must have been better than Tsukishima had made it sound, though, because Yamaguchi flung Hinata around in a happy pirouette once they parted.
“Aaah, how could I possibly decide?” he whined, letting go of Hinata, who collided with the throne and almost made it collapse.
“Stop bombing our constructions with people!” yelled Yachi. “Especially when I'm sitting on them! … The constructions, not the people.”
“Sorry, Yachi,” Yamaguchi beamed. “I have a suggestion though – they were equally good, so you should kiss them both, at the same time!”
“Bad suggestion!” said Tsukishima. “Having to kiss even one of them is bad enough – two at the same time is serious overkill.”
“You're just jealous because you didn't get to kiss either of them yet,” said Yamaguchi, sticking his tongue out at his best friend. “Anyway, it's Yamayachi time!”
“Oh my God!” Tsukishima gasped as Yamaguchi climbed the throne to grin at Yachi. “Hinata must have planted his alien seeds in your brain! Quick, Yachi, run! Before a creepy alien baby breaks out of his stomach and eats you!”
“I thought I was the alien,” grumbled Kageyama, who was apparently not happy with having his status taken from him. Yachi tried to blend them all out and concentrate on Yamaguchi instead. Yamaguchi, not Ketty chan!
“Could you maybe cover your left cheek with your hand?” Yachi asked. “She's too innocent to witness something like this.”
“Yachi!” he sounded hurt. “When will you see me for who I really am, instead of a backrest for a weird mascot? And why did it have to be Ketty-chan, why couldn't it at least be a Pukemon?”
“Maybe there's a Pukemon on your other cheek,” Yachi said. “You'll have to come closer so I can check!”
Yamaguchi gave a cute, nervous chuckle, but he did as he was told, and Yachi realized that her drunkonality did not put her above nervousness either. How long had she wanted for this to happen? How long had it been since little first year Yachi had looked up into not-so-little first year Yamaguchi's smiling face and discovered that little cartoon cat leaning against his nose? And now – two years later- she was finally here. Sitting on a throne. Waiting for Yamaguchi to just. Lean in. And kiss her.
“If you tremble any more, the throne is really going to collapse!” shouted Tsukishima from the floor, and Yachi took it as her cue to close the remaining distance between their lips.
There was a whimper stuck in both of their throats and, although erratic, Yamaguchi's hand did not stop halfway up to her face. He cupped her chin in his hand to steady her, and then, only seconds later, he was suddenly lying on top of her, her arms slung around his neck, and they were... not really kissing anymore. Surely, this deserved the label “making out”. She was making out with Yamaguchi – sweet, freckled Yamaguchi with Ketty-chan right there watching, that perverted old cat.
“Please!” Tsukishima called up to them. “There are children present!”
Yachi and Yamaguchi ignored him, which, for once, was not that hard. Even Hinata and his inhumanely bouncing was successfully ignored. Yachi could feel Yamaguchi smile against her lips.
“Okay, that was about as amazing as I had hoped it would be,” Yamaguchi said before Yachi had even noticed that they weren't kissing anymore. She could still feel his lips on hers – they would probably be imprinted there forever.
“Uh-huh,” she said intelligently. She had to physically restrain herself from pulling him back down when he started to shuffle away from her and left her lying on her back.
“We should do this again when we're not drunk!” he said.
“Okay, but you have to ask me, you know how nervous I always get!” Yachi nodded.
“Wait – no – I am the one who's usually too nervous, so-”
“Seriously, next time you two start getting annoying, I will just bang your heads together, that'll take care of the problem,” said Tsukishima. “Anyway, could we please get the next ones behind us? Then maybe we'll still have time to clean up my vomit after I'm forced to see those two idiots use their mouths again.”
“Alright,” said Yachi, sitting up on her throne again and putting on a royal face. “Next challenge is for Kageyama and Hinata. At least one of you has to get Tsukishima to give you a kiss! - Good luck!”
“That's impossible,” said Kageyama, shrugging.
Tsukishima just snickered. “Looks like she really doesn't want to kiss you two, huh?”
“Please, Dullishima,” whined Hinata, jumping around Tsukishima like a bird again. “I'll pay for two strawberry shortcakes at the bakery around the corner.”
“Hmmmm,” Tsukishima said, acting pensive. “Yeah, okay.”
“Wait, what?” spluttered Yachi as Tsukishima grinned up at her.
“Why not? I get paid, and I get to watch you be tortured. Why would I ever say no to that?”
“He just really wants to kiss Hinata,” said Yamaguchi.
“Shut up, Yamaguchi!”
Yamaguchi just winked at Yachi.
“Alright, get ready for the most awesome kiss you'll get today!” Hinata warned, skipping away a few steps to take a better run-up.
“This is not how you have to initiate every kiss!” yelled Tsukishima – he tried to jump out of the way, but Hinata had predicted his move and tackled him anyway. They both fell to the floor, rolling a few rounds, before Hinata muted Tsukishima's flurry of curses with his mouth.
Tsukishima went quiet awfully fast.
“It's hard to see, but he likes it,” Yamaguchi snickered. There was no 'Shut up, Yamaguchi!' following, so Yachi guessed that he was right. It was over way too quickly for her tastes – she would have really liked to see how much redder Tsukishima's head could get. But Hinata had some mercy and let him breathe again, running up to Kageyama instead and pulling him over to the throne.
They were not exactly careful when they climbed the throne – everything was shaking and Yachi felt like she was riding a rodeo.
“Careful!” she warned again, knowing fully well that neither Hinata nor Kageyama knew what that word meant. It was really time for some more vocabulary lessons. How would they ever survive at university without her? How would they remember to brush their teeth and change their underwear every day and tie their shoes?
“Is it even possible for three people to kiss at the same time?” asked Kageyama, looking like he was imagining three volleyballs pressed against each other and failing to see how they would be able to meet in the middle.
“If you think about this any harder, your head will explode,” said Hinata. “Just try it! Here, I'll go first!”
Sometimes, Yachi was really glad for Hinata, because if it had just been her and Kageyama, they would have probably just stared at each other until Yachi was convinced that they were actually having a staring contest and then her eyes would have fallen out due to lack of hydration. Hinata, however, saved her from blindness by simply closing the distance between them.
He did not actually eat her face, as Tsukishima had made her worry. In fact, it was a really nice kiss. Familiar, somehow, despite being their first. It just felt like they had been meant to do this since forever.
Kageyama, next to them, was getting fidgety.
“You can join anytime,” Hinata grinned and shuffled to Yachi's side, to make room for Kageyama.
“Uhm... yes... sure,” Kageyama mumbled. He was looking anywhere but at them. Yachi almost felt sorry for him – this was everything but a tyrannical king right here. Actually, that title belonged to Yachi right now, seeing as she was the one on a throne, so she made use of it.
“Come here!” she ordered, reaching out a hand to grab at his sleeve. Kageyama flinched, but let her pull him closer, until his face was only centimeters from theirs.
“Hey, Yamayama-kun,” said Hinata, rubbing his face against Kageyama's. “You don't have to be so nervous. She won't bite.”
“I know that, dumbass!”
Hinata countered the insult with a chuckle and a quick kiss to Kageyama's lips.
Oh hell – it did not look like this was the first time he had done that. Just... when had they all started making out with each other without Yachi noticing? Without inviting her? Those rude boys!
“I thought you're here for me!” she said with Bossyachi's voice.
“Ah, sorry!” they answered simultaneously. It was almost cute. Though not as cute as when Kageyama finally closed those last few centimeters and brushed her lips in a feather-light kiss. Yachi had to chase them in order to actually feel anything. He was so chaste and careful, Yachi couldn't help a small whine forming in the back of her throat. Hinata came to her help immediately – his lips puckered to fit into the space between them like a completed puzzle. Yachi laid back against the throne to bury both of her hands in their hair and gain some control over their kiss.
Tsukishima had been wrong – kissing those two at the same time was not a bad idea at all. It was exciting – not only because she liked both of them (so, so much) – but because they complemented each other so well in their differences. Hinata bold and forward, Kageyama shy but steady. There was a lot of missing involved – lips landed on her cheek when she turned her head towards one of them, her own lips only brushed a chin when they gravitated towards each other, but it was so new and so perfect that she simply didn't want to stop. Ever.
It was only when the throne started to shake violently that she even noticed anything outside of the kiss, and even then, she happily pressed against Kageyama's mouth, ignoring everything else.
“Hey, come on! Let us in, too!” Yamaguchi whined from a much closer proximity than she would have guessed him to be. Even Tsukishima had climbed the throne, albeit not out of his own volition.
“Stop pulling at me, Yamaguchi! I swear to God, this throne is gonna-”
Collapse.
He didn't need to say it for everyone to know what he meant, because the throne decided to fulfill his half-spoken prophecy right then and there. Yachi felt the weight at her back slip away and then she was suddenly falling. Someone was holding on to her, but not for long. Whoever it was was soon replaced by yet another mat – and just - how many goddamn mats were there in this gym? At least they made for a soft landing, even though Yachi made sure to groan as if in pain, if only to make all of them feel bad about their recklessness.
“Great going!” Tsukishima said, obviously trying to put the blame on everyone else, too.
Hinata gave a long, loud cackle. “Who cares?” he whooped. “This is actually really comfortable!”
Unfortunately, he was right. Yachi was lying between a pile of mats and limbs, but she had landed just right and felt like she should never get up again. Yamaguchi supported that sentiment by pulling a bottle of beer out of the mats and swinging it around.
“Party!” he hollered.
“Party!” Yachi repeated and snatched the beer from his hands once it whirred past her head. “I'm still not drunk enough!”
“Neither am I,” Tsukishima agreed. “So cheers.”
“Cheers!” Yachi said happily, and took a big gulp.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“We shhouldn't just lie here,” Yachi slurred after a while. She hadn't noticed how heavy her tongue had gotten. “Cceiling's no fun. We shhoul go look at the shtars! Ann the moon!”
There was some movement next to her – she had to concentrate to realize that it was Tsukishima, who was lying flush beside her and now leaned over her to pull another bottle of beer out from between the mats. Yachi had stopped questioning the beer endowing gym equipment a while ago.
“'s a volleyball stuck in the ceiling,” Tsukishima mumbled. “So we probably won'd be able to move Kageyama.”
“Hmmmm,” Yachi said, pretending to be in deep concentration, when in reality, she was too lazy to understand what Tsukishima had said, and formulate a real answer to it. Communication was for sober people, whose tongues didn't weigh a ton. Her body had moved with Tsukishima's automatically, and now that she knew he was there, she couldn't just ignore him. Her head was at the right position to tuck under his chin, if he hadn't looked down at her.
Yachi was afraid he would speak again, so she kissed him. Well – it wasn't exactly a reaction to anything, or a thought process to begin with – he was just there, in reachable distance, so she kissed him, slower and sloppier than before. If he hadn't looked at her, she would have probably tucked her head under his chin. His arm immediately circled around her body, the bottle of beer falling back into the unfathomable depths of the throne's ruins, as he kissed her back.
This really was the perfect thing to do right now – the energy the alcohol had given her had worn off and left her lazy, but unable to close her eyes to the hazy daze. Everything moved when she closed her eyes, so she kept them open – heavy-lidded, but open – and watched their breath fog up Tsukishima's glasses. His hand lasted on her waist with a comforting weight and anchored her when she felt like floating away.
It was quiet in the gym, except for the soft noises that escaped her. The others must have noticed what they were doing by now. A sudden intuition made her lift her head to look. Tsukishima's lips landed on her chin, and he just went with it, pulling her up a little, so he could mouth at her throat – Yachi was too distracted to notice, because she was looking directly into Yamaguchi's eyes. His head was right above Tsukishima's – their bodies were forming a perfect 90° angle, like a roof over Yachi.
She was too drunk to read the expression on his face – but not too drunk to notice Ketty-chan on his cheek, beckoning her to come closer, so she did. She pulled herself up on Tsukishima's shoulder. It almost felt like climbing a beanstalk. Yamaguchi welcomed her with smiling lips and a hand stroking through her hair. She kissed him, too, because she wanted to. She wanted to just kiss everybody, forever. They were all so sweet and strong and hard-working and nice and hers. Her stupid boys, who she was going to miss so, so bad.
Her body rolled the half circle over to Yamaguchi out of its own volition, and Tsukishima followed her, sandwiching her between Yamaguchi and himself.
No – Yamaguchi was not the bread yet, she noticed, when an orange tuft of hair popped up from behind his head. Hinata had joined them at some point, leaving the same flurry of little kisses on Yamaguchi's nape as Tsukishima left on hers. Yachi reached out her hand to intertwine her fingers with Hinata's, and he smiled at her over Yamaguchi's head.
Yachi never, ever felt so at home – this was where she belonged. In an infiltrated gym, in the middle of a cuddle pile made out of her best friends to make out with her best friends. She was really glad her best friends weren't bushes right now.
Yamaguchi was the first one to notice that someone was still missing. Breaking away from Yachi's lips, he popped his head up, like a meerkat poking out of its burrow.
“Kageyama?” he called.
“I bet he's starin' at the volleyball,” mumbled Tsukishima against Yachi's skin.
“Kageyama!” Yamaguchi called again. “Don' stare at a volleyball!”
There was a surprised sound coming from somewhere around their feet.
“It's not the moon?” gasped Kageyama.
He sounded so shocked and distraught; Yachi couldn't help but fall in love with him a little. What a cute, lovable idiot he was. She really wanted to kiss him - it was the only way for her to properly convey her feelings right now, since she no longer possessed the ability to form coherent sentences. "Le's do it!" she decided, when all the boys around her broke out into laughter instead of the coos she felt were a more reasonable reaction.
"Do what?" asked Tsukishima. "Stare at a volleyball?"
"No, stare at the moon!"
Despite the sudden weight of her limbs and three boys hanging off her, she managed to sit up somehow and shuffle over to where Kageyama was posed at her feet, still staring up at the volleyball, squinting.
“We should free him,” Kageyama said, serious scowl firm in place. “He's not meant to be up there.”
That sounded reasonable enough to Yachi. “Roof,” she said, pointing upwards. “’s where we needa go!”
"How do we geddup there?" Hinata joined their conversation, rolling over to where they were sitting - he seemed to be as lively as ever, somehow. Yachi had no idea what part of hell he drew his energy from.
"Ride the tall guys," Yachi suggested. They all turned to look at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, who weren't bothered by half of their smooch-buddies jumping ship. They certainly looked content enough to suck at each other's tongues. "Heeeey!" Yachi protested, shaking at their legs. "Stop 'at! You... you needa lift us up!"
"Hnnn?" Tsukishima groaned. The groaning prolonged when Hinata jumped on him.
"Dullishima!" he screeched. "Throw me to the roof!"
"I'll push you off the roof!" Tsukishima threatened, but Hinata apparently didn't care as long as he reached the roof somehow.
“Gotta get me up there to push me off,” he said, tugging at Tsukishima’s arm. “Come on! Up you go! Up, up!”
His demanding voice rang in Yachi's oversensitive ears and she closed her eyes for only a second to try and blend him out. Why exactly she thought closing her eyes would have an effect on her hearing was beyond her, but it worked. Next thing she knew, she was riding on Yamaguchi's back, and they were exiting the gym. A fresh gust of air and the quiet stare of the moon greeted her to the outside – at least one of those things seemed to possess some kind of healing quality, because Yachi suddenly felt a little more sober and was cured of her speech impediment. It was probably the moon's doing.
“Hmmm, this is nice,” said Kageyama. He was heavily leaning into Yamaguchi, and Yachi could see that Yamaguchi had his arm wrapped around Kageyama's middle. Quieter, Kageyama added: “It really is the moon this time, right?”
“Yes,” Yachi confirmed. “If it looks like it's quietly judging you, it's the moon!”
“Are you sure you're speaking about the real moon here, or are you just projecting?” chuckled Yamaguchi, when their very own sun and moon exited the gym . Hinata had somehow coaxed Tsukishima into carrying him on his shoulders. It didn't look very stable, but Yachi had a sudden urge to do the same.
“Yamaguchi!” she ordered, shaking at his shoulders. “They can't be taller than us! We can't lose!”
“I don't think we will be taller, even if you sit on my shoulders...” said Yamaguchi, but Kageyama was already giving her a boost and lifted her up. “Yachi!” screeched Yamaguchi. “I'm drunk! What if I make you fall? What if you die because of me? All of your older brothers will hunt me for revenge! I'd have to go into hiding and change my name every few weeks. I cannot live a life like that, I am too soft for it!”
“You're obviously not that drunk anymore, if you can already panic like this again,” said Tsukishima. He looked like he was caught between trying to push Hinata off and trying to stand taller in order to win the height-off.
“Also, I don't even have any brothers,” said Yachi. Hinata was waving at her excitedly, like they had just found each other in the middle of a big crowd. Yachi guessed that he was trying to high-five her, but he was still too far away, and it looked really dangerous.
“Would you stop squirming?” spat Tsukishima. He was removing a stray leg from his face the same way Yachi sometimes did with a misbehaving strand of hair.
“Get closer, I wanna give Yachi a tall-people hug!” Hinata ordered. “It's the same as a small-people hug, but for tall people!”
“Maybe I will throw you to the roof,” Tsukishima pondered. Hinata didn't give him any more time to make a final decision, because he was already falling towards Yachi with a delighted hoot, which would have ended in a less delighted splat, if Tsukishima and Yamaguchi hadn't quickly taken a step forward, sandwiching Kageyama between them. Yachi somehow managed to catch Hinata in her open arms, a flurry of worried reproaches escaping her mouth as Hinata just cackled loudly. Seriously – this guy was going to be her death someday.
“Don't move, don't move, don't move! We'll fall!” she screamed, but Hinata wouldn't have been Hinata if he had actually listened.
“Yachiiii,” he sang, directing another 100 watt smile-attack at her and she felt her knees weaken – which was not a good thing to happen in the position she was in right now. “You're so pretty!”
“Okay, but will I still be pretty with my face flattened into a bloody pancake once I fall down?”
“I'm sure you will,” mumbled Kageyama from where he was pressed between the two pillar-like beings Yachi didn't know how she ended up being friends with. The bushes would have been a better choice after all.
“This is not the right time for your parts charming, parts creepy comments!” Yamaguchi protested in a panicked voice. “Help us, please?”
“But I like it here,” said Kageyama. “It's like you're building a house around me. I feel protected.”
“Kageyama!” bellowed Tsukishima.
“Ah – it's a good thing you don't say my name more often. I might end up liking it,” Kageyama sighed. “Your voice sounds like that Last Laugh Lane guy's.”
Hinata gave a surprised scream when Tsukishima's fingers bore into his legs. “Damn you, Kissyama-kun! Don't give Hornyshima another boner, he's gonna tear my legs off!”
“I'll tear your legs off and throw them to the roof!” Tsukishima warned.
“Once again, no denying it,” Yamaguchi sighed. “You've really done it now, Kageyama.”
“Shut up! All of you, shut up!” screeched Tsukishima.
“We can kiss, if you really want to,” Kageyama said generously. “We're the only ones who haven't yet.”
Oh – right. They really were. Yachi couldn't help but start imagining more weird scenarios. She felt like something big would happen, once they closed the circle. Like the universe would finally fall into place. Like the moon would explode, maybe. Or smile, at least.
Tsukishima gave a long, defeated sigh. “You know what? For the sake of completion, I might actually swallow my pride,” he said, ignoring Yamaguchi's snort. “As long as you promise not to scan my body with your weird alien hands!”
“Okay, but can I at least touch you?”
“No less than five centimeters above the hi-”
“Oh my God!” groaned Yamaguchi and, thankfully, put an end to the conversation by grabbing Kageyama's hands and wrapping them around Tsukishima's middle like he was operating a life-sized puppet. “Kiss already!” he hissed, making it sound like a threat.
Yachi and Hinata dangerously wavered on top of their shoulders, but it finally happened. Tsukishima leaned forward and pressed his lips against Kageyama's – once, twice, then a third time, and a fourth, and eventually they just stayed there, slowly massaging against each other. Hinata threw his arms up in the air and whooped and was just barely caught by Yachi when he started to lose his balance again.
Yamaguchi gave a victorious cry and hugged Kageyama and Tsukishima even tighter, hijacking their kiss by burrowing his nose in between their faces and leaving little pecks all over them. Hinata, too, caught Yachi in a hug and kept her from looking up at the moon by planting his lips on hers.
Kissing Hinata was always exciting, so she didn't mourn the fact that she was unable to check if the moon had exploded. It was probably not a thing you could miss, even when you weren't looking. Besides, she was almost sure that something in the universe had shifted. Some kind of clockwork was finally running smoothly. Tomorrow, they would be screamed at and be chased by loose toupees.
But tonight, Yachi noticed, when she opened her eyes a little and looked down at where Tsukishima's face was being covered by Kageyama's and Yamaguchi's merciless kisses.
Tonight, the moon was smiling.