Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Dude, it's fine, I can walk. My house is literally ten minutes away."

"Are you sure? I mean, you can stay overnight! It's late anyway... At least have my aunt drive you back?"

"What're you so worried about? You know I can handle myself. 'M not some kid."

Tsukishima sighed as he shoved the rest of his schoolbooks into his worn out backpack that was riddled with holes and loose threads and those mysterious food crumbs that manage to pile up out of nowhere. This was a normal thing for them. Tradition, maybe. He had come over after school once or twice to work on school assignments and tests, and it slowly became a thing they silently established as a new role in their day. It was weird for him not to show up at Yamaguchi's.

"You know there's been some stuff going on between gangs lately! It's getting serious." Ok, now that one made him laugh.

"Tadashi, you do realize that we live in a neighborhood."

"That's right next to the city."

"A calm neighborhood."

"That could change."

Tsukishima sighed again and set his bag on the ground, rubbing his eye with his palm. It's true: there has been an uprising in the city nights and the crime rate has gone to an all time high. Of course it was dangerous. Even if he had half the brains he had now, Kei would know that.

From what he could understand from the white noise of the news in the background every morning, there had been mostly threats and shootings over territory, but it definitely had grown more intense as a month passed. No one in his neighborhood was obligated to worry, it was a fifteen minute drive to get fully into the city, and even longer to get to the depths where all the gangs would hide out. If there was any threat to this neighborhood, he would be home already. Thanks in advance, mom, for being a worrywart.

"Please dude, just stay the night. Why not? I mean... Tomorrow isn't a school day. We have spring break ahead of us."

"Jeez, Tadashi, what's gotten into you? And that just means we've got all spring break to do shit like that. No offense, but I just wanna go home right now."

Yamaguchi hesitated. It looked as if he was about to speak with his mouth parted slightly, but bit back his tongue when he furrowed his brows and huffed.

"... At least just stay on the phone the way back, alright?"

"Thank you. God, what I put up for you..."

Yamaguchi couldn't not chuckle at that, and Tsukishima didn't hold back a small grin himself when he bent down to pull out his phone and throw his sack over his shoulder. It was one of those rare friendships where one would make fun of the other that they could just both laugh at. That just meant they were close, though, and that their friendship was there for the long run.

Tsukishima forced a dumb thin-lipped grin on his face when he held up his phone, tossing it in the air and catching it in one swift moment to whisk it in his pocket. Yamaguchi had visibly loosened up with the smallest of smiles as he flopped backwards on his bed before sitting up again on the comforters.

"Call me when you get outside, ok?"

"I got it, mom."

"Yeah, I'm right outside the door, can you see me?"

-No, just some dick on my doorstep

"What about now?"

-Rude.

Tsukishima chuckled when he brought down both his fingers and scratched at his neck with his free hand. Even though it wasn't truly goodbye, Kei gave a lazy salute as he walked back and onto the streets, just for the sake of it.

They made small talk about school and video games and rumors that were spreading about, joking and commentating on each other. Kei spent most of his time looking to the sky, up at the dimmed stars in the humid air, his tennis shoes crunching against pebbles on the cracked sidewalk. The night was moist, for lack of a better word. At ten at night, the moon reflected off the new green grass and fences around the few parks in the dense area. It was nice and you could probably hear a pin drop, it was so quiet.

When you put it that way, late at night with dense air and dead silence surrounding you, it was a bit unsettling. But hey, Kei was unsettling, himself.

He continued to walk looking to the sky, knowing that it was a straight path for a good fifty meter before curving. "Hah, yea, dude we should do that someti- oof, hey watch where you're-" Tsukishima looked up, yes, up for once, at a gangly man in black. He was a typical white terrorist looking type. Maybe a metal fan. Either way, it was unnerving with his looks and height advantage over Kei.

-Tsukki, what's going on? ...Hello?

"Yeah, just some dick imitating a fucking wall, just a sec."

-H-Hey!

The old style texting phone was slid close and in his pocket in a second. Tsukki looked up at the man, hands in his pockets, a stoic face glued on and any sense of danger tossed to the back of his mind. "Oi, what's your deal?"

"Hey, this is the kid, right?" The man looked back to a more scrawny and younger male. Strong and well-built, no doubt, but definitely not much compared to the man in front of him. If he had any hair it was hidden by a beanie, he looked like he could be the one juvenile delinquent in seventh grade. Only, you know, mid-twenties.

Tsukishima turned his head back to see behind him and unconsciously drew out one hand from his pocket, leaving it hanging by his side. "Yeah, that's him alright." The younger male continued to walk closer at a calm pace, now little tufts of black hair visible sneaking out from under the hat. It was when the man got ten feet away that Tsukki stepped a foot to the side, in an attempt to see both at once.

"What the hell is going on-mmnph!" Tsukishima was yanked to the bulkier man's chest in a less than friendly way when a third guy came into view. Nothing jumped out from him that was any different from the rest, but seeing a third party made Kei really take in the situation and what was going on.

"Nice catch!" Before he knew it, Tsukishima's bag was dropped to the ground along with his ringing phone. Everything blacked out after that.