The Stars and The Moon - Tsukiyama

Chapter 1

I really don't want to go to school today. Yamaguchi thought to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror. Now Yama was never the type to care about what he looked like, and he still doesn't now, though the only reason he takes the time to look at himself is to examine the large amount of freckles covering the center and sides of his face. He always thought that they were ugly and made him look weird, though whenever he would say it aloud his mother would sit him down and give him many reasons why they were beautiful and unique.

He never really listened to her words since he always thought that she only said them to cheer him up, though recently his mother had been hospitalized due to her appendix rupturing. It wasn't as serious as he had thought it was but he was scared for his mother's life. She was in a lot of pain before she was taken to the emergency room and that scared Tadashi half to death, so when she returned he believed everything that she said from now on. His father had walked out of their lives when Tadashi was 5, so if he lost his mother then he wouldn't know what to do.

After spending about 10 minutes running a hand over his freckles, Yama realized that if he didn't leave in the next few minutes then he would be late. He quickly put on his school uniform and groggily walked down the stairs just to be greeted by his mother lying on the couch surrounded by work papers.

Yama wasn't surprised at all since this happened almost everyday of the week. Since Yama's mom was the only one able to work, she works overtime during the weekdays and regular hours on the weekend. Yama wanted her to work normal hours but she always refused and told him that everything was okay. He sighed lightly while walking over to the hall closet that was right next to the front door of the house. He opened it quietly and took out a small blanket before walking over to the couch and covering her up. He hated that she overworked herself but he understood why she had too, and he loved her for it.

Once he had finished placing the blanket over her he went to the front door and began putting his shoes on while slipping his bag over one shoulder. He heard incoherent mumbling coming from the mother who had begun to move around under the blanket. He smiled to himself and stood up straight while looking in the direction of the living room. "I love you mom..." Yama said, barely above a whisper but audible only to him. He quietly opened the front door and made his way out silently, managing not to wake up his mother as he locked the door behind himself and began walking down the street.

It was only a five minute walk from his house to the school so he didn't have a reason to rush, that is until he saw the one person that wasn't family that he could be himself around. He smiled brightly and went from a normal walking speed to a slow job while trying to catch up to the familiar face. "Hey Tsukki!" Yama said in a cheerful tone as his best friend had stopped in his tracks to turn to him. "Hey." He said in his casual monotones voice.

"How was your weekend Tsukki?" Yamaguchi said, bright smile still on his face as he stopped directly in front of Tsukishima. "It was fine, and yours?" He asked, looking down at the slightly shorter male. "Same as always I guess." He replied, his smile faltering as he lowered his head to avert his eyes from Tsukki's before he noticed. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow but didn't question Yama's sudden actions but thought nothing of it. "Oi, we need to head to school, we'll be late to practice." He said while lightly tapping Yamaguchi's shoulder and walking in the direction of their school.

Yamaguchi didn't respond, but instead just followed Tsukki to the school gates. "YAMAGUCHI!!" Yamaguchi flinched at the sound of his name being yelled at from behind, and it must have ticked off Tsukishima since he turned around with an annoyed look on his face. Yama turned around to see a short male with bright orange hair and brown eyes making his way over to them. "Oh hey Hinata!" Yama said, opening his arms to welcome the shorter male into a tight embrace. Hinata wrapped his arms around Yama and rested his chin on his shoulder.

"I missed you!" Hinata said while looking up at Yamaguchi, his usual smile plastered on his face. "But it's only been two days." Yama chuckled while removing his arms from around Hinata's shoulders. "Well when you spend most of your weekend practicing with Kageyama then two days is an eternity." Hinata states while pointing to the tall black haired setter making his way over to the three of them.

Yamaguchi smiled at Kageyama and gave him a small wave, which was returned almost instantly. Kageyama had stopped behind Hinata and lightly smacked the back of his head, which resulted in an over dramatic gasp and pout from the smaller boy. "Rude." Hinata whined as he rubbed the spot that Kageyama had hit. "You guys are idiots, can we head to the gym now?" Tsukki said while tapping his foot impatiently.

"Yeah let's go!" Hinata said rather loudly as he grabbed one of Yama's hands and headed towards the gym at a fast pace. Kageyama and Tsukishima shared a glance before they both followed after the other two. Once they made it into the gym they were met by Tanaka and Nishinoya running around the gym in circles while swirling their shirts in the air. "BOTH OF YOU STOP IT!" Daichi yelled as he stuck out his foot to trip Tanaka which resulted him falling on top of Noya.

"Wow." Was all Tsukishima said as he adjusted his glasses, making sure that what he was seeing was real. "Good morning!" Hinata said while making his way to the two second-years that were groaning on the floor. Yamaguchi took his bag off of his shoulder and took out a change of clothes for practice and made his way into the changing room without being noticed.

He quickly removed his black jacket and white t-shirt, exposing his upper body that was covered in light freckles, dark bruises that covered his torso and lower back, and multiple red lines that were littered up both of his forearms. He didn't want the others to worry about him so everyday he would change before everyone else in order to keep the wounds hidden from his team.

Though that secret didn't stay hidden for long once Sugawara walked through the back door of the changing room. He stood there, eyes widened in shock as he stared at Yamaguchi's back. "Yama... what the hell happened?" He said, his voice full of worry as Yamaguchi whipped his head to look at his senior. "S-S-Suga?!" He shouted while backing up against the lockers. Suga watched as Yamaguchi tried to explain the situation with jumbled up words while using his gym shirt to cover up his upper body.

His stuttering was halted once they heard a large group of footsteps heading towards the changing room door. Yama's face turned pale as he was frozen in pure fear as the footstep got louder. Suga swiftly snatched the white t-shirt out of Yamaguchi's hands and pulled it over his head, giving Yama enough time to put his arms through the sleeves. Suga stood directly in front of Yama to shield everyone else's vision of his forearms as he rushed to cover them with elbow pads.

Once the gym door opened, revealing Daichi and all of the other club members, Suga put on his normal smile while pretending to have a conversation Yamaguchi while his face was beat red out of embarrassment. "Oi Yamaguchi." Tsukishima said while walking over to him, eyeing him carefully. Yama flinched as the taller male walked closer to him.

Please don't notice, please don't notice, please don't notice. Yamaguchi thought to himself as his best friend stopped in front of him, leaving some space to not make Yama uncomfortable. "Are you okay?" He said calmly while placing his palm on Yamaguchi's forehead to check his temperature. 

"Y-Yeah I'm fine Tsukki." Yama said, instantly cursing himself for stuttering as he jerked his head away from Tsukishima's hand and swiftly made his way out of the locker room while not making eye contact with his teammates. Tsukishima watched him as he left without saying another word, more confused than anything as he stood there, his hand in the same place where is was since he was shocked at the sudden movement from Yama.

"What was that about?" Tanaka said while removing his club jacket and placing it inside his locker. "Oh he's just nervous about the Aoba Johsai practice match after school." Suga chimed in, pulling his shorts up over his boxers and grabbing his volleyball shoes with one hand and using his other hand to grab his knee pads and skipping out of the changing room without saying another word.

Yamaguchi was staring at the court holding one of the volleyballs from the cart with both hands, squeezing tightly. Suga walked up behind him and placed one hand on his shoulder, causing Yamaguchi to wince at the sudden touch. "We'll talk about this later Yama, and I want you to tell me everything. Suga said while not breaking eye contact with his kohai. Yamaguchi nodded slowly while clenching the volleyball tighter in his hands.

Dammit.