Reflection In Your Eyes

Chapter 4: Focus

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Tsukishima tried to focus on the practice matches but he didn't really care about winning or losing. He wanted to play to distract himself but it would seem weird if he was all of a sudden actually trying during a match. He instead put all his energy into trying to be normal, it was harder than it sounded.

He had to focus on how he typically played and had to keep his usual expressions, it made him seem stiff and on edge instead of his usual self that didn't care. Obviously the team was concerned but none of them wanted to confront him. Plus he kept walking/running away whenever someone would approach him.

It was weird though, because between matches Tsukki talked to the captains of Fukurodani and Nekoma. His team thought that Tsukki found those two annoying. Well mostly Kuroo since Tsukki didn't even know Bokuto before then. Kenma and Akaashi just kind of stood their awkwardly while their captains annoyed Tsukki. Akaashi tried to keep Bokuto calm but it wasn't really helping.

Kenma just sat on a bench and pouted since he still couldn't get his PSP. He cursed his short legs. "Wait...Tsukishima...you're tall. I need a favor."

That sentence triggered Yaku's cat-like hearing. He was there in seconds with Lev at his side. "No! You don't get your PSP until practice is over. And no asking other teams for help!"

Lev crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating but he just looked like a tall angry cat. Tsukishima couldn't help but laugh at him. Yaku turned around to see what Tsukki was laughing at and joined in on the laughing. "Lev stop! You're gonna kill me!" Yaku bent over and held his stomach as he laughed at his underclassman.

Lev blinked. "What? What am I doing?"

Kuroo and Bokuto started cracking up as well. "Now you look like that one meme!"

"That one where the guys is like 'sir are you aware that you're a cat?'-"

"And the cat just-" Kuroo did an impression of the shocked cat's face, causing Bokuto to laugh even more.

Akaashi sighed and began pulling Bokuto away from the group. He looked at Tsukishima. "I'm sorry for him. He's a bit much."

"Rude!"

Kuroo laughed as Bokuto was dragged away by his setter. "Nekoma and Fukurodani are up!" He looked at Tsukishima and pat him on the back. "Cheer for us, though we'd still win either way."

Kenma and Yaku sighed before dragging their captain to the court. Tsukishima just rolled his eyes as Lev followed his teammates. He hoped the freak duo would hurry up, he wanted to stop doing the punishments for losing, he hated having to do diving receives around the court, it hurt his arms.

His prayers seemed to be answered. Just as he was thinking about the horror of the receives, two figures walked into the gym. Hinata and Kageyama. Tsukki thanked every god he could think of since those two would spare him the extra effort of diving receives. "Took you two idiots long enough."

"Hey!"

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Kuroo forced himself to focus on the matches he was in, he couldn't let the other teams know that he had been off of his game recently. They'd make fun of him or pity him and he wanted neither. He just wanted to train and have fun with his friends. He couldn't help but pay attention to certain pairs though...

Yaku and Lev...Akaashi and Bokuto...Daichi and the silver haired setter...the freak duo...

They all had each other, they were perfect matches for one another. He tried to ignore the pain in his chest but it wouldn't go away. He kept trying to tell himself he was upset about Kenma's sudden obsession with number 10 from Karasuno but just like before, he knew he was lying to himself.

His eyes wandered to where Karasuno was playing against Fukurodani, his eyes followed Tsukki and that freckled boy, the two seemed close, but he knew they were probably closer if the look on the freckled boys' face was anything to go on. He really couldn't be more obvious. He tried to see if Tsukki reacted to the nervous boy but it seemed like he was ignoring his teammate.

During one of his breaks, he decided to go talk to the boy, he really should have learned the names of all the Karasuno members. "Hey, I'm Kuroo. We didn't get to talk much when you came to Nekoma. Sorry but I'm not good with names, can you remind me what yours is?"

"Huh? O-oh. I'm Yamaguchi. Nice to actually talk to you. Your team is really something else."

Kuroo made a mental note of the boys' name so he hopefully wouldn't forget it. "Thanks, you guys are coming along too. I see your freak duo is still going strong, but I don't underestimate that ace and libero of yours. You guys got a good setup."

"Yeah, they really are something else..." Yamaguchi looked down at his feet. "Uh...so I saw Tsukki talking to you and your friends. He and I aren't really...agreeing at the moment. Has he said anything about me? I'm worried about him."

"Worried? Why? Did something happen?"

Yamaguchi sighed and pulled at his shorts. "He's been acting weird and he keeps bugging me to tell him something I just can't tell him yet so now he's giving me the silent treatment...I'd just like to make sure he's okay but he refuses to even look in my direction."

Kuroo could easily tell what Yamaguchi wanted to tell Tsukki but he wouldn't say it and embarrass the poor kid even more. "I'll keep ya posted if I can. He's been acting as aloof as usual though so I don't think you have to worry." He pat Yamaguchi on the back. "Have fun doing more diving receives after we kick your butts!" He grinned and ran back to his teammates to plan a strategy against the freak quick Karasuno had up their sleeve.

-Sky