Tsukishima Kei ~ Gone Too Far
Fluff & angst
You were captivating. But even that word did little to describe you. You were enthralling. Magnificent. Ethereal. Astonishing.
Even with Tsukishima’s enhanced vocabulary, he was completely stumped on how to describe you. The minute he looked at you he was simply entranced.
You carried yourself with grace and class. You walked with the utmost confidence every single day with your shoulders squared. But, even though you held yourself to such high respect, you also showed high respect to others. Which caused you to be liked by many. Nothing but compliments would fall from people’s lips when you were the topic of conversation.
You also had brains along with your beauty. You spoke with vocabulary that rivaled Tsukishima’s. In his eyes, you were the complete package as you had plenty of trophies from debate and tennis to back up your academic career tucked under your arm.
“So, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi started, causing the blonde to reluctantly tear his eyes away from your figure, “once this project that you and y/n are doing is turned in, are you finally going to ask her out like you said you would?”
Tsukishima didn’t want to babble with you merely eight feet away about how he was nervous of rejection and feeling like a total failure. Like, who was he kidding? You were out of his league. And it wasn’t like you would believe him if he did ask you out. Everyone believed that Tsukishima Kei was incapable of having real emotions.
He simply scoffed at his friend’s question, readjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. “Yeah, right. Like I could be seen with [first and last name] around school. Pfft! Please, don’t make me laugh, Yamaguchi.”
Yamaguchi’s eyes widened in shock at the tall man’s uncharacteristic rudeness. He knew his friend was blunt and teasing but never downright disrespectful. His eyes glanced at movement behind the blonde, his cheeks flushing slightly. “Uh, Tsukki, don’t you think you’re going a little far?”
“I could ask you the same thing from asking me that ridiculous question. Like, come on, Yamaguchi! Let’s be a bit sensible, yeah? I mean, y/n and me? Dating? What an outrageous idea to entertain.”
“Really? An outrageous idea?” asked a familiar voice.
Crap.
Tsukishima turned around so fast that his backpack almost smacked Yamaguchi across the face. The lengthy man couldn’t stop the startled expression from being revealed on his face. His golden brown eyes were wide; his pupils shaking as they took in your blank expression. He could tell that you were upset, though, as your eyes snitched on how you were truly feeling on the inside.
You took a deep breath, momentarily looking off in the distance before striking Tsukishima with a piercing stare. Despite the height difference between the two of you, the boy felt like the smaller one.
You had your arms crossed as you carefully chose your next words. “Well, we sure wouldn’t want that now would we?” A small smile stretched across your face but it did nothing to lower the flames in your e/c eyes. “Good thing we’re just partners on this project, huh? Would be absolutely revolting if we were anything more, right?” Your eyes lost a bit of their hardness, holding sadness that Tsukishima wanted to wish away. His stomach felt tight with knots.
He knew in that very moment that he went overboard. Even he knew that he was acting ruder than necessary. And the worst thing is is that you were the victim of it. You were the one who was wounded.
You didn’t know what else to say to the blonde boy standing before you. But you knew you had to say this: “Today I don’t feel well so we can resume working on this project tomorrow after school. Alright?” The question had a bit of a bite to it as you began to boil the more you stood before him. How you wished you could really say what you were thinking. How you wished to hurt him like he just did to you. To take half the knives his words stabbed you with and throw them at him with spite dripping from the blades.
But you didn’t. Like the good girl that you were, you simply internalized the hurt and anger you felt as you stood your ground with a serene expression on your face.
Tsukishima stopped looking at you as he dropped his head, looking a bit deflated but you could honestly care less if you could. How was he acting like the one hurt when you were the one he talked about in such a negative light? When all you have done was show him hospitality when he came to your house? When your mom prepared snacks and fruits for the two of you to share as you completed this project little by little? How could he really stand before you with a morose expression on his boyish face?
You didn’t bother waiting for his answer, your blood boiling at such a high rate at the moment that you knew you had to hurry yourself out of there. So, with your windbreaker thrown over your arm, and your backpack secured on both your shoulders, you turned on the toes of your heeled boots and sauntered away. Only until you exited the school did you let the first teardrops fall before the dam would completely break the minute you stepped into your bedroom.
Tsukishima, on the other hand, had to continue his day like he didn’t just coldly hurt your feelings. The tightness in his stomach didn’t loosen once as he practiced with his teammates as the image of your sad eyes haunted him.
~🌙~
The walk to Tsukishima’s house was silent and awkward. Because you were still heated from what happened yesterday, you didn’t really want to stand too close to the blonde. So you found yourself walking five steps ahead of him. In that moment, you were irritated that you were so conscious of the space between the two of you.
Tsukishima noticed instantly, but he kept his mouth shut as you knew the way to his house from the multiple visits thanks to this project, along with the fact that being close to him still angered you. So, he simply followed after you with his eyes trained on the cement under him.
Once you two arrived, you jumped right into business. You wanted this project to be done more than ever, which contradicted with the idea of you and Tsukishima taking the process one step at a time so you two could spend as much time as possible together. But for obvious reasons you couldn’t dream like that anymore.
“Okay, so, in all honesty, I think we can complete all remaining tasks today,” you stated, pulling your laptop and notebook from your bag.
Tsukishima blinked at you, his eyebrows knitted together. If yesterday never happened, you would have fought yourself from swooning. “What do you mean?”
You blinked back at him before sighing. “I mean, that we could get this project done with today. And then we have the whole weekend and Monday to ourselves and then turn it in Tuesday.”
Even though it was a dumb question to ask, Tsukishima willed himself to ask anyway. It was the only way he could think to open the conversation to address the elephant in the room. “Why do you want to hurry to get this done when we still have plenty of time?”
You looked at the man with a deadpanned expression. Like, was he messing with you? You knew he wasn’t dense so why was he acting like it now?
Tsukishima sighed heavily, closing his eyes momentarily as he gathered his thoughts. He really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, nor talk about you in such a nasty way. Like what was he even thinking when he decided to pull that stunt with you not that far away?
He took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, y/n. I didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday. I apologize for the way I talked about you.” He put his glasses back on, daring to look at you.
You had your arms crossed, the same blank expression on your face that you had yesterday. Your eyes, this time, didn’t give away a single hint on how you were feeling internally.
“So, what did you mean to do, Tsukishima? Huh?” You sounded tired. Worn out. Tsukishima blamed himself for that. You must be emotionally exhausted. Guilt punched him in the gut and twisted his intestines.
“I...” He inhaled deeply, averting his eyes but speaking clearly. “I was hoping to ask you out after we submitted the project in hopes of still being able to be close to you.” He saw in his peripheral vision how your head swiveled as your eyes went wide. “But I got nervous when Yamaguchi brought you up with you being so close by. I just didn’t want to risk rejection with everyone around if you so happened to overhear us. So, I went for the most toxic option known to exist. And you ended up wounded.” His golden orbs focused on you, taking in your gentle face as it no longer held coldness. “Because of my idiotic way of thinking, I hurt you when all I wanna do is care for you and protect you. And I am nothing but sorry to you, y/n.”
Your shoulders dropped, letting out a shaky breath. You never saw the man before you look so vulnerable and apologetic. Heck, you never heard this man utter such a genuine apology to anyone. All the tension and anger you have been holding since yesterday melted away before you noticed. You simply sat next to the boy you’ve always had fond feelings for, even if you were trying hard to shake them off for a day and a half.
You sighed lightly, slowly reaching for one of Tsukishima’s hand. He gave it to you with no hesitation. That warmed your heart.
You kneaded the soft flesh as you mulled over what to say next. You looked into the boy’s eyes, which glowed with hope and pleads for forgiveness. You licked your lips before parting them. “You really need to better express yourself when your nervous.”
Tsukishima looked dumbfounded by your response, completely not expecting you to say that after everything he just put on the table. But he didn’t see anything false with what you said, so he chuckled. He nodded his head as he peered back at you, a gentle smile on his lips.
You brought his hand up to your lips and gave it a sweet kiss. You brought it back down to your lap and focused your eyes back on the gentle giant’s face. It was dusted with baby pink as he let out an airy chuckle.
He then brought his free hand up and wrapped it around the back of your head. He eased you toward him, having your forehead rest against his. From this proximity, you could see the dark flecks scattered along the gold within his eyes.
“I really am sorry,” he stated in a hushed tone, wanting nothing more than to tell you how apologetic he felt.
You hummed with a growing smile on your face. You lifted your head and kissed the tip of his nose. The blush that never left his cheeks darkened as he was taken by surprised by the affectionate act. His expression softened as a lazy smile formed on his pink lips. The hand on the back of your head began to stroke your hair.
“I know,” you responded. “Let’s not make a repeat of this, yeah?”
Tsukishima shook his head, his forehead rubbing against yours. “Never.”
From then on, you two completed the project with light hearts, gentle smiles and (not so) secretive glances. You did complete the project that evening, but only because Tsukishima shyly suggested going out on Saturday.
“We don’t need this project hindering our plans,” he expressed, his eyes focused on the rubric. You smiled happily as you squeezed his knee.
“You’re right,” you assured him.
And how right he was as he devoted the day to you, having you completely forget the incident that almost drove you two apart. Oh, how right it felt to be with him from this day forward.
