PINK MILK : kei tsukishima

day two

saturday
—

it was saturday and the men's volleyball team of karasuno high were on a team-bonding trip at the local pool.

on a hot days like this, there was nothing better than hanging out with your friends in a floater while attacking each other like kingdoms at war.

nishinoya was on the shoulders of asahi while charging forward at tanaka with a loud, terrifying battle cry and a pool noodle in his hand.

"do you surrender?" nishinoya yelled, one hand gripping asahi's hair like a horse's rein and the other was pointing the sagging pool noodle at tanaka's head with the intent to 'pierce' him if he said no.

which he wasn't even in a stance to answer as he was already struggling to keep his head above water as is.

"do you surrender?!" he shrieked more vigorously, kicking up more water as if it were going to help tanaka to respond—it wasn't; he was struggling even harder.

shakily, tanaka held up a thumbs up and screamed a choked 'i surrender'.

the rest of the team laughed from the pool deck, watching nishinoya use asahi's shoulders as a launchpad and lunged at tanaka's head, screaming wildly.

sugawara laughed, glancing over to the left, where tsukishima sat on his phone, completely unfazed by the chaos around him.

he was typing away on his phone, a very faint smile playing on his lips as his fingers moved briskly on the screen.

although sugawara and tsukishima had limited interaction, he still worried and cared for the boy just as he did the rest of the team so it was rare to see the walking salt block smiling so fondly at his screen and not the normal malicious smile he'd give hinata when he was plotting a murder.

"beanstalk, get your ass in the water!" hinata shouted, holding a beach ball in his arms. "we need four to play!"

and by four, he meant that he had already roped in kageyama and yamaguchi to play with him.

for the first time that afternoon, tsukishima looked up from his screen, scanned the pool then proceeded to look back down to his phone. "i think i'll pass."

just as sugawara was about to suggest kei to play with them, his phone began to ring.

tsukishima's eyebrows raised in surprise and he swung his feet over the loungechair, sitting up then pressing the phone to his ear. "if it's about the show then i don't want to hear it." his voice was playful and for the first, he didn't look irritated as he usually did when someone—anyone—talked to him.

sugawara wasn't trying to eavesdrop but it was so surprising to see tsukishima willingly converse with someone other than yamaguchi.

he didn't hear the person's response on the phone but tsukishima stifled a laugh and adjusted the glasses on his face. "serves you right, idiot."

koshi could make out the expression on the blonde's face as clear as day and it made him a bit skeptical.

just who was tsukishima talking to?

the more he overheard tsukishima's conversation, the more he noticed the softer tone in his voice.

usually, there was no filter to the words that piled out of tsukishima kei's mouth.

it was filthy, disgusting and even made hinata cry once. and to make it even worse, he would hurl words at anyone like a spit ball that had no chill, regardless of who you were.

that's just the type of guy he was.

so how was it that the person on the phone wasn't subjected to that verbal violence tsukishima would give to his teammates each and everyday?

"interesting," sugawara mumbled under his breath before turning back to watch his team play in the pool.

tsukishima, still on the phone, glanced at sugawara and stood up, walking away from the deck to somewhere a bit more secluded.

interesting indeed.