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Tobio pushed between a slow moving couple, separating their hands and leaving a startled shout in his wake. His shoulders were taut and he was hunched over with his hands shoved forcefully into the pockets of his sweatpants. He was irritated. Angry even. Tsukishima had denied his request to study together for their shared general education class again.
It’s not that he wanted to study with his moody roommate. The blond was rude and conceited and always acted like he was better than Tobio. Just the other night, they were both staying up late and working on their respective homework assignments. Tsukishima had stood up to stretch and refill his cup with water. He’d towered over Tobio’s chair, using his hand to support himself as he leaned in closer to read his worksheet. He’d scoffed at Tobio’s assignment claiming nearly every answer was wrong. How they hell would that guy know? The only class they shared was psychology and Tsukishima was in a different math class. Sure, it was a higher level, but he wasn’t studying the same stuff that Tobio was now. Real people didn’t remember everything from one school year to the next. Psychopath
Tobio stopped at an intersection as cars flew down the street in front of him. He glared at the bright red hand on the walk signal across the way. The cafe he was headed to was straight ahead and he was going to be even more angry if they were out of his favorite yogurt. His other friends were his final hope for this assignment. If Tsukishima wasn’t going to help him, he was going to figure it out with Hinata and Yamaguchi.
The traffic light turned red and the signal illuminated the silhouette of a walking figure, beeping an obnoxious tweeting sound as Tobio crossed the street. By the time he was halfway across, the red hand was already blinking at him and had turned solid once he took the final step onto the sidewalk. He could see Hinata’s outrageous orange hair from the window of the cafe. He had already ordered a drink and was excitedly chatting with Yamaguchi. His hands nearly knocked over his paper coffee cup, causing Tobio to snort in amusement as he pushed open the door. The jingling of the bells brought attention to his entrance and Hinata shouted hello while waving his arms to get Tobio’s attention. Tobio felt his shoulders relax as he took a deep breath. Yeah, going out with friends and studying with people who wanted to be around him was much better than begging the stingy blond.
He ignored them for now and strolled towards the counter. Luckily his favorite yogurt parfait was in the open faced refrigerated cooler next to the register. Small victories! He grabbed one of the parfaits and ordered a glass of milk. It was a short wait for his order and once he had it in his hands he was climbing into the booth next to Hinata.
“And then he said ‘I’ll only help you with your coding if you make it worth my while’ which I assumed meant like bringing him a snack or something, you know?” Hinata said as he shifted over so Tobio had more room to sit.
“Who are we talking about again?” Tobio asked. He peeled the lid off his parfait and dug his spoon into its delicious layers.
“Kenma,” Yamaguchi supplied. “Did Tsukki kick you out again?”
Tobio shoved his yogurt covered spoon into his mouth and grumbled. “Bastard won’t help me with psychology again.” His words were garbled around the plastic silverware.
Yamaguchi laughed at his predicament. Of course he would. He was Tsukishima’s friend above anyone else. Thicker than thieves they were. And when you got them in the same room, no one was safe from a malicious comment. Tobio hated when they planned movie nights in their dorm room.
“-it about?”
“Hah?”
“Dumbie-yama. He asked what your homework was about,” Hinata poked him in the side. “And why are you drinking milk with your yogurt? Gross!”
“If you drank more milk maybe you wouldn’t be so tiny, dumbass,” Tobio snapped back.
“You’re literally drinking milk while eating milk. It’s ridiculous!” Hinata threw his hands up and nearly knocked over his cup again.
Yamaguchi was looking through Tobio’s psychology notebook. When had he gone into Tobio’s bag and taken that?!
“Hmmm so you’re studying behavior?” he asked.
“How did you get my book?”
“Kageyama! Are you still working on that project?!” Hinata reached across the table to try and grab the notebook from Yamaguchi. The other man held it further away so he could continue to flip through it.
“Sh-shut up! I’ve been busy!” Tobio pouted. He took a purposeful sip from his cup, sticking out his lower lip and pressing it against the paper. “And Tsukishima hasn’t been helping me.”
“God your notes are a mess,” Yamaguchi said. “And Tsukki’s been busy with other classes.”
“Doesn’t explain why the asshole is avoiding me.”
“It does!” Hinata disagreed. “If you keep bugging him he really will hate your guts.”
Yamaguchi laughed.
“You’ve got like a week. Two weeks? I don’t remember,” Hinata was pulling out his phone and opening his calendar app. “Kenma put all my stuff in this so I wouldn’t forget. Let’s see,” he hummed to himself as he read through his calendar events. Tobio looked over his shoulder before quickly averting his eyes when he saw the words: ‘netflix and chill.’
“Yes! Two weeks, Kageyama!”
“I know that, but I can’t figure out what to write about,” Tobio grumbled.
“And you think Tsukki will tell you?” Yamaguchi shook his head. “You’re hopeless. Have you even researched anything or tried to apply some of these examples to your everyday life? It’s hard to study your peers’ behaviors if you don’t actually, you know, pay attention to them?”
“So what? I’m supposed to pay attention to the bean pole?”
“No! But…actually,” Yamaguchi giggled to himself again. “That might work.”
That was a scary laugh. Yamaguchi had a scary laugh when he got something in his head. Tobio is almost afraid to ask, but he came here to help. And gosh darnit he was going to get some!
“What might work?”
“Oh, nothing,” Yamaguchi finished flipping through the notebook and closed it.
“Yamaguchi,” Tobio growled. “What might work?”
Hinata was still looking at his calendar. Actually, he was texting someone. Urgh. Useless friend.
“I just thought you could, you know, use Tsukki in your research.”
Tobio frowned and felt his face scrunch up as he thought over Yamaguchi’s words. Use Tsukishima in his research? His behavior research? That didn’t make much sense. He’d barely seen the blond the past two weeks or so. How was he supposed to observe him if he wasn’t around? It was kind of annoying he wasn’t around and not just because Tobio wanted to use him for homework help. No, it was weirdly quiet and lonely without having someone to bicker with. He’d never admit to missing him though.
“How?” he asked. “I’ve barely seen him for two weeks.”
“Pavlov him.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know the Pavlov dog experiment, right? It was written down in your notebook,” Yamaguchi poked at the cover where it was resting on the table with his index finger. “But do it with something Tsukki likes.”
“I still don’t understand,” Tobio tilted his head to the side. “Tsukishima may be a bitch, but dog experiments?”
Yamaguchi sighed. “Look, basically what you have to do is reward him for doing a certain activity or make him expect something from you because of something you do.”
Tobio shook his head slowly. How was he supposed to—what?
“He’s dumb, Yama,” Hinata finally stopped texting and was taking a big gulp of his drink. “You gotta use easy words.”
“Shut up! You probably have no idea what he’s saying, either!”
“Hah! Of course I do,” Hinata grinned.
“Then explain it!”
“Anyway,” Yamaguchi interrupted them. “It’s easy. Here,” he rifled through his backpack and pulled out a bag of hard candies. He reached across the table and placed them in front of Tobio.
Candy?
“I’ll make it simple for you,” Yamaguchi said with a slow speaking tone. “You know Tsukki’s schedule pretty well, since you’re roommates and all, so you’ll know when he’s around the room, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Obviously,” Tobio said. He selected one of the candies from the bag and held it in front of his eyes to inspect it. Despite being so small, these have got to be full of so much sugar.
“Okay, so every time he’s in the room, knock on the door frame and then give him one of those candies,” Yamaguchi said. “But don’t let him see the bag. Just, like, give him a piece.”
“Why?” Tobio asked.
“Why?” Hinata asked.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,” Yamaguchi sighed, sufferingly. “Because you’re studying his behavior. So after you’ve done that for a week and a half, because that’s literally all the time you have before you have to write your paper, he’ll hopefully be expecting it.”
“Oooh. So he’ll think every time I knock on our door he’s getting a piece of this stuff?”
“Yes! Exactly!” Yamaguchi pumped his fist. “It’s probably one of the easiest things you can do.”
Tobio nodded in understanding. He unwrapped the bright red candy and placed it in his mouth. He sucked on it thoughtfully. It tasted fake and syrupy. Would Tsukishima even like this? Even if he didn’t, he’d at least get a reaction to giving the blond candies he hated. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Whoop!!” Yamaguchi grinned. “Let me know how it goes.”
“Sure,” Tobio agreed without thinking. What harm could come from Pavlov-ing Tsukishima?
—
Okay, this was a little harder than he thought. First, Tobio never knocked on their dorm room door. He always unlocked it and flung it open without a care in the word. Tsukishima hated it during their first week of living together. Tobio very clearly remembers hearing his rants about ‘random assigned roommates’ and the university’s plan to ‘weed out the weak,’ or something like that. They’d definitely gotten off on the wrong foot.
Still, the blond got used to it after a while. Well, after Tobio had thrown the door open while he was changing a few times or that one time he was eating an entire cake after he’d finished pulling his first all nighter. Yamaguchi had been with Tobio then and he found himself leaving his room rather quickly as their shared friend scolded his roommate.
So it was weird for him to knock on the door. Would Tsukishima figure it out before he could get any data for his report? Luckily, Yamaguchi and Hinata had helped him put together a sheet to fill out while he offered the candies. If he could just manage to knock on the door!
Ugh, fine.
Tobio took a deep breath and lifted his hand. He knocked on the door in a steady and sharp rhythm. There was a sound of something hitting the floor and a rustling of fabric on the other side. After a moment, the lock unclicked and Tsukishima opened the door. His eyebrows were furrowed together in confusion. They didn’t get many visitors and it was highly unlikely any they did get would knock. Once his eyes met Tobio's, the confusion was gone. His lips turned upwards into a smug smirk and he crossed his arms.
“That was rather polite of you, King,” He teased. “I didn’t know you knew how to knock.”
Kageyama frowned before reaching into his pocket and pulling out one of the candies. “Don’t call me that.” He held the candy out to Tsukishima in his palm and waited.
Tsukishima blinked a few times and looked between the candy and Tobio. “What’s this?”
“Do you want it or not?” Tobio held it closer to his roommate’s face.
Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed and he inspected the small, green candy in Tobio’s hand. He was suspicious. Ugh, of course he was. What sort of weird thing did Tobio let Yamaguchi talk him into?! Tobio’s frown deepened as he continued to hold his hand steady and watched the blond. After a minute or so passed, Tsukishima carefully picked up the candy - his fingers barely brushed Tobio’s palm. He unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth before turning around and walking back into their tiny dorm room.
He leaned over to pick up a book from the floor. Tobio watched his long arm stretch before his even longer figure straightened itself once he’d retrieved the book. It was Tsukishima’s light schedule day. He had a class early in the morning, at 8 AM if Tobio remembered correctly, then a few hours off before his next class after lunch. Tobio had the blond’s schedule memorized. It was part of the reason he was so mad he’d been avoiding him. It wasn’t an easy thing to do when you knew your roommate’s schedule like the back of your hand.
“Well, are you just going to stand in our doorway staring or are you coming in?” Tsukishima asked. His voice sounded amused and he seemed pleased to be sucking on the gross candy.
“Why do you even like those?” Tobio mumbled. He stepped into the room and shut the door behind himself. He tossed his messenger bag onto his bed and opened his closet to pull out a change of clothes.
“What? Candy?” Tsukishima snorted. “You wouldn’t understand. Your palate is too rich.”
“Stop that,” Tobio growled. He grabbed a new pair of underwear and black joggers. After a rather loud shouting session at the beginning of their ‘forced residency,’ as Tsukishima had called it, the other man had started to call him royalty themed nicknames. Something about Tobio being too demanding or something. Tobio didn’t see it.
“Hey! Did you use my shampoo again?” He shot a glare at Tsukishima who was sprawled back on his bed. The textbook he’d picked up was propped in his lap and open.
“Hm? Oh, yeah, you’re out,” Tsukishima turned the page. He held the candy between his teeth and grinned before attempting to speak around the candy. “Sorry, my liege.~”
Tobio let out a strangled scream and grabbed his body wash. “You owe me, Stingyshima!” He yelled as he flung their door open and left. Tsukishima’s laughter followed him down the hall to their floor’s shared bathroom.
—
“I don’t think it’s working,” Tobio laid his head down on the wooden table he was sharing with Hinata and Yamaguchi in the library. “Every time I knock, I give him the candy. But all he does is mock me about it afterwards.”
“So he takes the candy?” Yamaguchi prodded.
“Well, yeah,” Tobio admitted. “But you know that’s just because he eats too much sugar. Those things are disgusting.”
“You gotta keep at it, Kageyama!” Hinata slammed his hand against his back.
Tobio let out a surprised gasp and groaned. Ow!
“Anyway, keeps his mouth busy, right?” Hinata wiggled his eyebrows.
Tobio closed his eyes and pursed his lips. Stupid Hinata. “Why would that even matter?” He pushed himself up from the table and opened his messenger bag. He moved a few books around and tried to find his history textbook. Where was it?
“Oh!!!!”
“Hah?!” Tobio glared at Hinata only to find his history book in the way. “Huh?”
“You left your book, idiot,” Tsukishima’s voice came from next to him. “Don’t you have an assignment due?”
“Oh, uhhh…” What? Tsukishima was bringing his book to him. In the library? On his heaviest class load day? He literally has 40 minutes to grab lunch. Tobio quickly looked at the clock on the wall. “What are you…? Don’t you have 10 minutes left of your lunch period?”
“Yes, and I’m stuck here trying to make sure you pass your class, asshole,” Tsukishima set the book on the table when he realized Tobio wasn’t going to take it. “Do you know how long it took for me to figure out you were actually in a library?”
“Hey!” Tobio shouted. Hinata shushed him obnoxiously. He lowered his voice. “I study in libraries.”
“Sure, whatever,” Tsukishima brushed him off. “Don’t waste my time again.”
“Nice of you to bring it, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi sang.
“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” the blond said before turning on his heel and leaving. Weird.
Tobio turned towards his book and opened it to the chapter they were working on. There was a sticky note on the page with a note written to pay close attention to a specific paragraph. Tobio blinked a few times and stared at it. He definitely didn’t write that. He turned the page a few times and found more sticky notes littered through the chapter. Who had…?
If you can’t figure it out after this, King, you’re hopeless.
Huh?!
Hinata whistled next to him. “Hey, look at that,” He laughed. “Looks like Stingyshima is actually helping you for once.”
“Yeah, keep up the candy experiment, Kageyama,” Yamaguchi had a calculated look on his face. His eyes were narrowed and he was smiling while staring at nothing across the room. “It’s working.”
“What? How’s it working? He’s just being a jerk,” Tobio disagreed. “Look at this note he wrote!”
“That’s just him being himself,” Yamaguchi said. “But how many times has he spent his lunch seeking you out to make sure you got your assignment done?”
Huh. That was true. Tsukishima would usually lecture him for not doing it, keeping his speech full of insults to Tobio’s lack of intelligence, before finally giving in and making sure it was done. But this was usually in their dorm room. He’d never actually brought a book to Tobio randomly during the school day.
“He was probably trying to save himself from having to help me later,” Tobio said finally. He pulled out his worksheet and picked up his pen. Tsukishima’s notes were really good. He wasn’t dumb enough to let those go to waste.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Yamaguch said vaguely.
Hinata started taking his own notes based on the sticky notes Tsukishima had left in Tobio’s history book. Tobio knew his roommate would be furious if he ever found out. His loss. He’s the one who brought it to the library.
—
Tobio’s worksheet had taken him no time at all. By the time he was finished with his own classes, he was starving. Based on the time, it was likely Tsukishima was just about to leave his last class of the day. He bit his lip before entering the cafeteria and heading for the to-go meals set up near the front.
They were usually salads or sandwiches, but were easy to grab and go if the idea of eating in a cafeteria didn’t sound like quality time. It was the perfect dinner for a Thursday night. And it was something that wouldn’t be weird for Tobio to bring back for Tsukishima and himself. Right?
Before he could convince himself that his roommate wasn’t worth it, he grabbed two sandwiches and two bottles of tea and brought them to the register to pay. The cashier placed them in a bag and sent him on his way with his change. It wasn’t weird. He’d been giving Tsukishima pieces of candy all week. Bringing a sandwich after he had helped him with homework, although indirectly, was normal. Ugh, but if Tsukishima decides to be a jerk about it, he’s never going to try doing it again!
He took long strides across campus, hoping to catch the blond before he decided to make plans for dinner himself. Or even worse, order dinner from that gross and greasy restaurant he frequented when stressed out. Tobio would never understand what he liked about it.
“I don’t like it. That’s the point,” Tsukishima had said when he asked.
How does that even work? Why would you order food you don’t like when you’re having a stressful day? Tobio would much rather eat something clean and healthy so he doesn’t end up in the bathroom all night.
He got to their dorm building and swiped his ID at the front. He hadn’t run into Tsukishima so chances are he was still in their room. Rather than take the slow elevator, Tobio opted for the stairs. Half the time the elevator didn’t work anyway. He ran up them, skipping a step in between, and stopped on floor 5 only a little out of breath. He pushed open the door to the stairwell and walked down the hallway to their room. Out of habit, he knocked on the door before opening it.
Tsukishima was standing in the middle of the room, clearly having just pulled on a light jacket. He was holding his hand out expectantly, his palm facing up.
“Huh?”
He turned towards Tobio and stared at him for a moment before realizing he was holding out his hand. He gave it a confused look before he started to slowly lower his arm.
Wait. Was he…?
Tobio quickly reached into his pocket and was happy to find he still had one of the candies in there. Right! His experiment. He held the candy out to Tsukishima who flushed lightly and quickly took it from him. “Thanks.”
“Sure,” Tobio said. Was it working? Obviously, Tsukishima had never expected him to bring any candies or anything before. But here he was, expecting that Tobio had something for him. He’d have to mark this down on his tracker!
“I brought dinner,” Tobio said when he remembered Tsukishima was already wearing his jacket. “Unless you had plans?” He held up the bag from the cafeteria.
Tsukishima had unwrapped the candy and had it halfway to his open mouth. He still looked confused and surprised. “You’ve been quite agreeable lately,” he said and tossed the candy into his mouth.
Tobio jutted his chin out and narrowed his eyes. His lips were set to their usual resting frown face. “You helped me with my homework. Am I not allowed to say thank you with dinner?”
Tsukishima moved his jaw around - he was likely shifting the candy around his tongue as he considered Tobio’s offer. Tobio hadn’t eaten any of the candies. He didn’t really like sweet food, but was curious what his roommate liked so much about them? Tsukishima’s tongue poked out of his mouth to lick his lips. It was turning a bright red-ish color from the candy. Would his mouth taste like the sugary, syrupy gross-ness of that candy? He shook his head quickly to rid himself of the thought. Weird. Weird, weird, weird.
“I guess I can stay in,” Tsukishima finally agreed. He shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and tossed it on his desk chair before grabbing the bag from Tobio. He set it on Tobio’s bed and rifled through it, pulling out one of the bottles and investigating each sandwich.
“What are you doing?!” Tobio grabbed one of the sandwiches and wiped invisible crumbs off his bed. “I sleep here, you know?”
“Hmm? Yes, I’m aware,” Tsukishima replied. He hopped on top of his bed and sat with his back against the wall so his legs dangled over the edge. A loud cracking sound filled the air as he opened the plastic container and picked up his sandwich. Tobio stared at him.
“What? It’s not like we have a table to eat at.”
“I am not eating on my bed.”
“Well then eat at your desk, I don’t care,” Tsukishima had already taken a huge bite of his sandwich and was chewing it contentedly.
Tobio pursed his lips and looked at his desk. It was mostly clean, but he did have a few notebooks sitting out that he shouldn’t mess up with crumbs. If he put them away, chances are he wouldn’t want to pull them back out and he might end up procrastinating further on the assignment. He should have thought this through.
“Just sit over here,” Tsukishima sighed. He tilted his head to the left of himself, indicating the empty spot next to him on his bed. “It’s not like you’re that messy of an eater when you’re not screaming at Hinata.”
“I do not scream at—” Okay, that’s a lie. Tsukishima knows it, too, he was giving Tobio a smug smile. Jerk. Whatever. Tobio climbed into the bed and sat next to him, leaving an awkward space between them. He opened his own sandwich and started eating in silence.
It was weird. He wasn’t sure why, but sitting this close to Tsukishima was causing his skin to crawl. It’s not like they hadn’t sat next to each other before. Sure, usually it was in the cafeteria or at the library when the blond forced him to go there in case he lost his patience or something. But this was different. They were sitting on Tsukishima’s bed together and eating sandwiches Tobio had bought in a good faith gesture. It was nice.
“So,” Tsukishima’s voice broke the silence. “Any big plans tonight? Or just staying in?”
Tobio grunted. “You were going somewhere, right?”
The blond shrugged, taking a sip from his bottle. “Planned on watching a new documentary with Yamaguchi.”
“And now?”
“Well, now, apparently I’m eating dinner with you,” Tsukishima reached over and flicked his finger against Tobio’s forehead. “Be grateful for my company, your highness.”
“Don’t call me that,” Tobio pouted, rubbing at his forehead. Tsukishima was closer, their hips were almost touching. “You could have just gone if you had plans.”
“And miss out on gourmet food? No thanks,” Tsukishima grinned. “Anyway, now I don’t have to order take out with Yamaguchi.”
“What? Hey! You just wanted free food!”
Tsukishima smirked and popped the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth, chewing pointedly before swallowing. “And you can’t have it back.”
“Like I’d want it after you got your grubby hands on it!” Tobio moved closer so he could shove the blond’s shoulder.
“Heyyyyy,” Tsukishima pushed his hands off and reached across him to stabilize the plastic box that Tobio had set his half eaten sandwich in. “I didn’t let you eat up here to get crumbs everywhere.”
Tobio blinked in surprise, grabbing at the box and coming into contact with Tsukishima’s hand instead. He pulled back his arm like he’d just been burned, catching Tsukishima’s eye. His roommate was giving him a weird look. His eyes were narrowed and lips pulled down in a frown. He was staring at Tobio like he was trying to figure something out. After a moment he straightened up and jumped off the bed.
“Anyway, thanks for dinner, Kageyama,” he said and grabbed the jacket he’d been wearing earlier. He flung it dramatically around himself and propped it on his shoulders like a cape. “Don’t wait up.”
And he was gone.
Tobio stared at the door, long after it had shut. His sandwich sat forgotten in his lap. His hand was tingling with warmth from where he had touched Tsukishima and it continued for the rest of the evening. When the door opened to their room - long after Tobio had curled up in his own bed - he squinted his eyes open to watch his roommate. He looked relaxed and unaware of the scrutiny with a small smile on his face. Tobio’s heart rate sped up.
—
“No no no, you have to multiply it like this,” Tobio snapped and grabbed the calculator from Hinata’s hands. He plugged in a few numbers before showing the result to his friend.
“Why should I listen to you?! You’re just as dumb as I am!” Hinata complained. He still wrote down the answer.
“Because I already finished this assignment…and Tsukishima showed me how to figure it out,” Tobio grumbled. He turned the page of his psychology notebook book, trying to figure out what he should do with his growing data. The assignment was due on Friday and he should probably start writing his paper by midweek if he wanted to get it done on time. Ugh, this was too much for a college freshman.
“Oooooh, Tsukishima showed you,” Hinata teased. “How lucky that you have someone to do your assignments for you.”
“Shut up, dumbass,” Tobio snapped. “If you need this much help why did you come to me?”
Hinata pouted. “Rude. Do I need an excuse to hang out with my rival?”
“Pft,” Tsukishima snorted out a laugh behind them. He was leaning over Hinata’s homework assignment - his signature smug look on his face. “You can just say he’s your best friend. This rival talk is getting old.”
Tobio turned to a different page in his notebook. He hadn’t even heard the blond enter the room. If he’d have seen his data then…Well, what would happen? He might be angry that Tobio used him in his experiment. For some reason, he was nervous about getting on Tsukishima’s bad side right now. It was ridiculous, too! He never cared about it before, but his roommate has been tolerable lately. Dare he think it, nice even! It was weird, but also made him feel all fuzzy and confused.
“Kageyama.”
Tobio blinked a few times and looked up from where he was sitting at the tall blond. “Huh?”
Hinata snickered next to him.
“I asked you to hand me your dirty mug,” Tsukishima was holding his hand out expectantly. “I was going to make tea and thought I’d be nice enough to clean your cup while the water heated up.” He pointed at the top of their dorm approved mini fridge where his hot water heat was plugged in. The clear plastic was steaming up as the water was heated.
“Oh, sure,” Tobio felt his cheeks heat up as he reached towards the back of his desk and grabbed his blue mug. It was his favorite - and not just because it was his only one. His sister had gifted it to him before he started classes. It was dark blue and big enough to eat soup out of! He passed it to Tsukishima whose mouth twitched up in a slight smile before he turned on his heel and likely headed towards the bathroom to use the sink.
“Oh my god.”
Tobio turned back towards Hinata who was giving him an amused look. His mouth was set in a large smile, but his eyes glinted with mischief.
“Oh my god!” he repeated.
“What?” Tobio turned back to his notebook. He shouldn’t have his data on display until after Tsukishima came back with his mug.
“You have a crush on him,” Hinata leaned closer and whispered.
Tobio furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. “On who?”
“Tsukishima.”
“H-huh?! On my asshole roommate? What are you even—” Tobio’s heart skipped a beat as he tried to deny Hinata’s accusation.
“You totally blushed when he said he was going to make you tea. Like…you’re practically head over heels in love with him. Oh. My. God!” His friend pulled out his phone and immediately started typing.
“H-hey! What are you doing!?” He reached for the phone. “Don’t text lies to people.”
“It’s not a lie. I can see it in your face,” Hinata laughed loudly. Tobio ignored him and shoved his hand into Hinata’s face as he tried to get the phone away from him. They struggled for a moment, trading light blows as they wrestled over the phone.
“Are you done?” Tsukishima’s voice broke through their fight.
Tobio pulled away quickly, his lower lip sticking out in pout. “He started it.”
Tsukishima held out a steaming mug to him, the string from the tea bag hanging loosely over the top. He carefully took it in both hands and held it closer to his nose so he could inhale the scent. Mmm, apple cinnamon. Tsukishima only made this tea when he was in a good mood. It was rare he’d let Tobio drink it.
“I’m going to study with Yamaguchi so,” Tsukishima’s voice trailed off. “Can you unplug the kettle if you go to bed?”
“Sure,” Tobio agreed. He took a careful sip from his mug wary of burning his mouth. He wanted to enjoy this.
Tsukishima nodded and turned towards Hinata. “Problems 3, 6, 7, and 12 are wrong,” he said before he grabbed his backpack and walked out the door. The latch clicked behind him and the two friends were left alone. Tobio took another sip.
“Are you going to confess?” Hinata asked. He was already erasing his answers on the problems Tsukishima told him to redo.
Tobio scoffed. “Confess? No way,” he smiled softly as he set down his mug. “He doesn’t like me like that anyway.”
Hinata let out another laugh. Tobio frowned. “Don’t make fun of me. You’re the one who pointed it out. I’m not gonna…really, he doesn’t like me like that!”
“Oh, I think he does,” Hinata started writing a new answer to problem number 3.
“Oh really?” Tobio picked up his mug again so he could smell the tea’s aroma.
“Yes, really,” Hinata pointed at his mug. “You do realize he didn’t make any tea for himself, right?”
“Huh? Of course he did.”
Hinata shook his head. “Nope. He cleaned your cup, boiled water, and made you tea. He didn’t even take his travel cup to Yamaguchi’s.”
“Well,” Tobio took another sip. “Maybe he forgot.”
Tsukishima would have never forgotten and the fact that he only made tea for Tobio made his heart feel light.
—
Tobio was almost out of time. But he didn’t know how to start his paper. What had he learned about Tsukishima after his experiment? He certainly couldn’t write that he found out he may potentially have a crush on him. Their teacher definitely was not interested in that sort of development. Okay, but maybe they would be? He did figure that out with his data - and some help from Yamaguchi and Hinata. How was he supposed to realize Tsukishima being nicer probably meant something?
He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his right shoulder and walked out of his last class of the day. Wednesday. His paper is due Friday. He has to write it tonight and tomorrow or suffer the consequences of it being late. But Yamaguchi was too busy for him to come over (at least that’s what his text said). And Hinata was…who knows what he was doing, but it was something with Kenma.
He sighed as he walked through campus. Maybe if he crossed out Tsukishima’s name from the top of his data sheet the blond wouldn’t know it was data about him. He nodded. That was probably the best plan of action at this point.
He pushed open the door of his building and took the stairs two at a time. He stopped outside of his room and set his backpack down. He might still have some candy in there. Maybe he can use it to convince Tsukishima to help him. He leaned over and unzipped his bag. After rifling around a bit, he found one of the candies. He stood up and turned the handle of the door gently, pushing it open.
Tsukishima was sitting in front of his desk, lounging comfortably with one of his feet propped up on his chair. He was leaning over a book and reading - his hair was hanging in his face. Tobio stared for a moment and took in his relaxed appearance. He felt his heart rate speed up as he took in his roommate’s appearance. Long legs and fluffy blond hair. When he wasn’t scowling, Tsukishima was actually kind of pretty.
He lifted his hand out of habit and knocked on the door. Tsukishima held out his hand expectantly while keeping his focus on the book in his lap. He’s going to miss that.
Will Tsukishima still be nice to him if he stops his experiments? Should he actually listen to Hinata and confess? Honestly, if he did Tsukishima would probably laugh at him and think he was lying. He may have to try a more direct approach.
He opened the wrapper around the candy, drawing the attention of the blond when he realized he was still holding out an empty hand. He looked confused for a moment, then met Tobio’s eyes.
Tobio set his shoulders back and held up the small candy. Tsukishima licked his lips and then looked irritated.
“What are you doing, Kageyama?”
“Do you want this?” Tobio asked. Tsukishima narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He frowned, but turned back towards the candy - it was obvious he did.
“Then come and get it,” Tobio said, placing the candy between his teeth.
Tsukishima’s eyes widened and Tobio saw him swallow. He was breathing a little heavier and staring at the small, red candy in Tobio’s mouth. Tobio could practically see the gears spinning around in his head as he tried to figure out what to do.
After a minute passed by, he finally closed his book and set it on the desk in front of him. He stood up and took slow steps towards Tobio, standing straight so as to use his full height intimidatingly. Tobio didn’t budge. He waited.
“This is ridiculous, just give me the candy.”
He shook his head. Gosh, his mouth was starting to dry out just by holding it open so long. Tsukishima frowned, but stood firm. “Kageyama, give me the candy.”
“No, yoof haft tuh get it,” Tobio tried to talk around it.
Tsukishima looked torn. He really wanted the candy wow. He’d definitely have to write about this in his not-even-started paper.
His roommate sighed. He must have made some sort of decision. Tobio waited and stared into his pretty eyes. Was it just him or were Tsukishima’s cheeks dusted with pink? Wait, was he coming closer? He gasped when he felt Tsukishima’s lips brush against his own. In doing so the candy ended up in his mouth. Oh no!
Tsukishima pressed forward and caught his lips fully with his own, despite the candy incentive disappearing into Tobio’s mouth.
It was sticky and sweet and tasted like artificial flavorings - well, that was mostly the candy’s fault. Tsukishima’s lips felt soft against Tobio’s. He sighed contentedly and lost himself in the kiss. Wow, they really are kissing. And Tsukishima’s hands are on the sides of his face and he’s forcing his thumb into his mouth and oh! That’s a tongue and…the candy’s gone?
Tsukishima pulled away, a smirk playing on his lips. He stuck out his tongue to show off his reward. “Got it.”
“Wh…hah?!?”
Tsukishima laughed and turned around so he could walk further into the room. He sat back down on his chair and picked up his book, happily sucking on the hard candy.
“You can’t just do that and walk away!” Tobio hissed. He picked up his bag and walked into the room, slamming the door behind himself.
“Hm?” Tsukishima turned the page of his book. “What were you expecting? You told me to get it.”
Tobio clenched his fists tightly. Okay, maybe he should have used real words instead of goading Tsukishima into that. “Well, you sort of kissed me so.”
“Sort of? I literally had my tongue in your mouth.”
“Well you must have wanted to if you did it!” Tobio sat backwards in his desk chair behind Tsukishima so he could watch him. His fingers were shaking where they rested over a page of his book. His neck was turning a darker shade of red the longer Tobio stared him down.
The book slammed shut and Tsukishima flung his head back. His hair fell out of his face and hung towards the ground. He narrowed his eyes as he caught Tobio’s gaze.
“So do you like me or not?”
“Is that your idea of a romantic confession?”
“Sometimes you have to be straightforward when dealing with assholes like you,” Tobio said.
“Hmmm,” Tsukishima moved his gaze towards the ceiling. “I guess you’re not that bad.”
“And you want to kiss me.”
He sighed. “Yes, I want to kiss you, idiot.”
Tobio nodded, a victory smile spread across his face. He did like him back! “Good.”
Tsukishima snorted and straightened his posture. He stretched his arms above his head and set his book down again. “Now that we’ve established that,” He started, twisting his torso to look at Tobio again. “Did you finish that psych assignment? Because I’ve been waiting for you to ask and it’s a little unnerving that you might not have started it. You do know we had to collect data, right?”
“I have data,” Tobio leaned over to dig his notebook out of his bag.
“Oh really?” Tsukishima drawled. “What did you even do? Keep track of your and Hinata’s races?”
Tobio pulled the nearly empty bag of candy from his backpack and held it up. “I pavloved you.”
Tsukishima stared at the bag, his eyes widening in surprise before turning to a confused expression. It was almost comical how much his expression changed over the course of the next 30 seconds.
“There’s no way you thought that up yourself,” Tsukishima muttered. “And how did you even do it?!”
“Yamaguchi and Hinata suggested it,” Tobio admitted. “I knocked on the door.” He knocked his hand against his desk and bit his lip to stop himself from laughing when he saw Tsukishima’s hand twitch towards the bag. “Then I gave you a piece of candy.”
Tsukishima shook his head and reached over his chair to steal the bag of candy. He peeked into the bag and picked out a specific flavor before popping it into his mouth. “I thought it was weird I was craving these.”
“Help me write up my assignment.”
“Why?” Tsukishima was being difficult on purpose. “You were mean and used me in your experiment.”
“Come on, Tsukishima,” Tobio pushed. “What did you even do for yours?”
“Oh, I ignored you for a few weeks.”
“What?!”
Tsukishima laughed. “You got all pissy about it, too.”
“Okay, so if you used me, too, then you have to help me write it.”
Tsukishima sighed. “Fiiiiine, but then we’re going out.”
“Ugh, why? It’s Wednesday.”
Tsukishima flicked his forehead. “Don’t people usually go on a date after they confess?”
Tobio rubbed his forehead, his face heating up. “I get to pick the restaurant, then.”
“Whatever you say, your majesty.”