- ok ok so you're kind of friends with yams and tsukkishima and you walk home together a lot
- there isn't much conversation for the most part with tsukki listening to his music and yams being a drained lil introvert at the end of long school days and volleyball practice, but you don't mind the quiet walk and actually listen to your own music too
- now tsukki, who has been expertly hiding his feelings for you, being the beanpole that he is can see right over your shoulder and look at what you're listening to and after seeing the name and cover of one of your spotify playlists, he finds your account using that
- this simp oh my god he follows you and you can't tell it's him because he doesn't use his real name and you're just like "whatever"
- now his favorite thing to do at any given time is to check out what you're listening to and listen along with you
- now sometimes you do try to initiate a conversation with tsukki even though he is pretty scary, yes even though you're friends with the boy you still get nervous and flustered around the guy cause he's just that pretty scary looking
- one day you ask him what he's listening to,,,
- he can't say that he listens to what you listen to because it's pretty far from his personal taste (though the lines are blurring between yours and his tastes at this point)
- but he still wants to say something that he knows you'd like so he opts to say that he's listening to the soundtrack of one of your favorite movies and acts surprised when you tell him you love the movie and proceed to have a whole conversation about it with him
- he is absolutely melting inside with you being so excited to talk about it and rambling about your favorite scenes and songs on the track
- but on the outside, he's still big bad tsukki so he just nods along and acts mildly disinterested
- sometimes he'll just be studying and hit a roadblock or get bored so he goes to spotify and checks what you're listening to so he can listen to it too and it's like you're listening together
- oh my god like that one soulmate au
- anyways,,, December rolls around and all of a sudden everyone is talking about their spotify wrapped
- tsukki is slightly embarrassed
- your music is ruling over his top songs and top artists
- the whole time he's tapping through it he feels kinda pathetic for liking you this much and still having not done a single thing about it but also makes him so soft when he's reminded of each cute song and just imagining listening to them with you
- he treasures his wrapped and relistens to all the same songs you do as you get your wrapped playlist too
- but then...
- but then he walks into practice the next day and everyone is talking about their wrapped playlists, showing off their top songs they start to compare and compete to see who has the best wrapped
- tanaka, suga, noya, hinata, kageyama, and yams are the ones that get the most excited over the little competition and they are determined to get to the bottom of whose wrapped is the best
- you're there at the practice with yachi to help plan new designs for some posters, the team included you both in the competition but since your taste was so different they ruled your wrapped out for the sake of time
- tsukki is so nervous
- he doesn't want to walk right over to you because he's still keeping his feelings hidden but if he goes to the team they might try to pull him into their shenanigans and he can't have them knowing that he listens to the exact same music you do
- he's just kind of standing there uncertain until noya sees him and yells "hey!! tsukkishima, you're always listening to music when we try to talk you into extra practice you better have good a taste, get over here and show us your wrapped"
- normally tsukki would have a quick response, tell them that their game is a stupid waste of time but he's been caught off guard
- the poor boy actually stutters for a second, eyes darting around the gym like he'll find an excuse
- after a moment he finds his composure and sighs, looking to noya and just saying "no"
- Suga pauses his argument with hinata to look to tsukki "come on, team bonding" though clearly he has the same motivation as everyone else in the completion, to win and assert superiority over the others
- tsukki begins to decline once more before tanaka interrupts "no, no suga let him keep it to himself, his taste is probably too elevated for our inferior brains anyway" he says sarcastically
- but as tsukki rolls his eyes and sighs, relieved that he's off the hook, tanaka turns to the rest of the group and gives a wink
-"but since you're not busy tsukki could you get the balls for us?" tanaka adds
- typically tsukki would put up the biggest fuss before he would do any work that he doesn't have to but today he's happy for the escape to the storage closet
- as tsukki starts walking, tanaka turns to the competing group and gets close to yamaguchi so he can whisper "yamaguchi, whats his spotify wrapped look like?"
- yams, the shy boy he is panics at the intensity of tanaka's question putting all the focus on him "wh-what?"
- tanaka is determined to find his answer so he presses "come one, you're his best friend you have to know"
- "oh, oh yeah," yamaguchi realises he could check tsukki's spotify account since he follows him
- when yams pulls up the playlist he has to take a second to double and triple check that he's got the right playlist because he swaers this is the same one you showed to everyone just minutes ago
- tanaka gets impatient and moves behind yamaguchi to get a good view at what he seems to be so confused about but finds himself just as confused
- soon the whole group looks to check out the results but they just don't know how to react and kinda just sit there sharing looks of confusion
- except for hinata
- hinata is just like 'oh my god that's such a cool coincidence!' and as he sees tsukki returning from the storage room he brings it up without a second thought
- "tsukkishima you and Ivy have the exact same taste in music that's so cool!"...
- tsukki's heart stops
- you definitely heard that
- everyone in the gym definitely heard that
- its times like these when tsukki's aloof mask comes in handy and with everyone looking at him, he deadpans "good music is good music", shrugs, and moves on
- now you, you are confused, you weren't really listening to the boys before hinata's little outburst so you didn't understand what they were talking about and continued you conversation with yachi, making a mental note to ask tsukki about it when you walked home together because he seemed pretty bothered and always loved to complain about his loud teammates
- and so, practice moves on as /mostly usual/
- aside from the perplexed looks at tsukkishima of course but he just cuts them off with a glare of his own
- at the end of practice as you wait for your two friends outside the gym you listen to your playlist and think back to the times you remember listening to each one on repeat and thinking about a certain #11
- yams exits the gym first (tsukki taking a minute to find some composure to walk next to you the whole way home)
- you decide to ask yams about the incident at the beginning of practice since he was right in the middle of it
- "yamaguchi, did your little group ever decide who had the best wrapped?" you ask to prompt him to talk about it
- he suddenly gets nervous, but you don't think much of it, tadashi's always nervous
- he just tells you that they couldn't come to a conclusion and you don't press him any further, seeing his discomfort. so the two of you just wait for tsukkishima
- before the tall boy can join you though, Yamaguchi joins the group of boys just leaving the gym to hang out at the coach's store. its weird, yams never ditches you
- when the middle blocker does come out he talks even less than usual. normally he'd at least say hi and entertain some kind of small conversation before pulling his headphones over his ears but today he's already got them on and gives you a nod in greeting
- with this you're kind of sad, you just love talking to your boys on the walk home after a long day, you decide just to tune in to your own music for the way home since clearly, no one wants to talk to you
- and tsukki notices, of course tsukki notices
- he sees what playlist you tune into and slyly pulls it up on his own phone so he can listen along
- he definitely listens to a lot more sappy love songs than he used to, he definitely wouldn't listen along if he wasn't picturing you every time
- he's never been so close to you though while listening along and it makes him feel like such a lovesick puppy
- as one love song fades into another he can't stand the distance between you. walking right next to each other but still an arms-length too far apart
- he begins to softly hum along with the new song playing, looking up at the sunset clouds with his hands in his pockets
- you start to hear a tone in the song you've never noticed before in all the times you've listened to it
- you take your earbud out of your ear and look at tsukki and find him humming, looking at the clouds like he's lost in the song like he's dreaming
- he looks so calm, so gentle
- you begin to hum along
- he notices but he's too nervous to look back at you, still clinging to his composure. he knows that if he looked into your eyes now, there's no way he could hold back all the love he has for you from coming out of his mouth in an awkward confession
- so he keeps humming along, looking at the clouds
- you keep humming too, looking at him
- but you reach your hand out to take his out of his pocket
- he still doesn't look but he lets you lock your fingers around his and stroke his thumb with yours
- as the last lines of the song come, you sing them out loud, wanting to convey how you feel
- wanting to let him know that every time you listened to this song, he was the one you thought of
- he finally looks at you once the song is over and on instinct you assume he'll be annoyed and ready an apology and excuse in your mind
- but when you see his face, his eyes are wet with growing tears
- you stop your walking and put your hand that isn't holding his on his face, your brows contort with your face into a worried expression. you squeeze his hand as you realise you'd do anything to see that calm expression again that he was wearing just a minute ago
- "tsukki- tsukki whats wrong"
- upon seeing you focussed on him, being so close, the feel of your hands. he can't hold it in anymore
- he gently chokes out something between a laugh and a sob with a slowly growing smile
- he puts his free hand over yours that is holding his face and finally confesses "i just love you. i just love you so much"
- the next moment he wishes he could have captured your face on camera as it morphs from concern to match his, smiling and teary eyed
- though it would be a disservice to you to compare your smile to his
- it takes you a moment to find the words but you tell him "i love you too"
- the words don't feel like enough, you love him, you've loved him for so long and its crashing over your heart like a wave now. every time he insulted your intelligence but still helped you study as soon as you asked, everytime he remembered all the little details like your favorite things to get from the sakanoshita store
- and now looking at him there was such tension, both of you had so much to say but no words
- so you kissed him under the golden sky and hoped that it would make up for the words lost in the haze of love over your mind
- and he kissed back, hoping to make up for all the words he should've said sooner
