"AhHhHhh Agashiiii,"

"You've gone back to butchering my name again. This is a development. What's up?" Akaashi joined Bokuto's side. The owl was giving off nothing but inaudible sounds, his jaw slack as he stared at another practice match taking place – all first years present and accounted for. It was a Karasuno vs Shinzen game, Karasuno losing by far. Akaashi hummed in understanding when he saw what it was that had caught Bokuto's attention.

"Tetsurō was right," Bokuto whispered under his breath. "He looks good," Akaashi rolled his eyes.

"Hey Kōtarō, open your mouth," Bokuto turned to Akaashi in question.

"Hm?" in that moment, Akaashi squirted a large amount of water straight into Bokuto's face from his bottle. "What was that for!?" the setter shrugged his shoulders.

"You seemed thirsty," and walked off, leaving a soaking owl in his shadow. Some players who witnessed the water works stared on in confusion, figuring that the Fukurōdani ace had finally stepped too far over the line with his setter.

Out of the ten sets Karasuno played that day, they only won the final one. The official practice matches were finished for the day and everyone was left to do as they pleased. Kuroo headed over to where Fukurōdani had just finished their final set of the day. Akaashi noticed him step up close and turned to look up at his lover, the two sharing a loving look. That look quickly turned sour for Kuroo as he regarded the surroundings.

"Uhhh where's our manchild?" Akaashi sighed and looked passed Kuroo. He followed the line of sight to see Bokuto make his way over to Karasuno, his actions that of a sneaking animal with flailing arms.

"Why does he look like that?" Kuroo covered his mouth to chuckle, eyes trained on the owl's behind.

"I think he decided to introduce himself,"

"To Tsukishima?"

"Most likely,"

"But why?" Kuroo folded his arms across his chest.

"Hell if I knew,"

Bokuto was a satellite around the crow team until he found an opportunity to approach the tall middle blocker in private. Kei was busy wiping the sweat off his brow with a towel, taking a breather after their final game. He saw the strange owl man approach and lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, his body sitting into one hip. Bokuto saw him looking and revealed his teeth in a smile as he approached.

"What number of Karasuno are you?" Kei rose an eyebrow, questioning the man's first words to him. As far as first impressions went, he wasn't doing too well so far.

"Eleven? What of it?" Bokuto glowed brightly with his expression, Kei nearly cringing at how enthusiastic this man was.

"Ah, that makes sense! That must be what you are on a scale of ten!" for a second Bokuto thought Kei didn't catch his cheesy pickup line from the way he was receiving such an empty stare. Eventually, Kei sighed deeply and adjusted his glasses. The first impression had just flopped. All brownie points that were on the table for the owl to grab, had just been lost from his bad pick-up line, badly dyed hair job and the irresistible need to be sunlight that blared into Kei's horrible eyesight.

"That was lame," Bokuto's jaw fell.

"Excuse you, that was very good! I'd like to see you do better!" Bokuto crossed his arms, never expecting that anyone would not be amused by him.

"Sure," Kei stood up straight, staring at Bokuto with determination. "Would you like to be the sun of my life?"

"I mean, sure?" Bokuto tilted his head.

"Then stay 150 million kilometres away from me," and walked off. Bokuto was left shell-shocked. Had he just... was that a turn down line? This was a new feeling for him. It took a moment for him to regain himself and run after Kei.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Kei sneered as he watched the owl walk up beside him. They were outside the gym, players buzzing around to private practice or back to the residency.

"Why are you following me?"

"I was told to follow my dreams!" Kei stopped to frown at him. "What?"

"I don't know you... right?" Kei needed confirmation. Either this man knew Kei in some way or he genuinely just didn't care about boundaries with strangers.

"Nope!" Bokuto gleamed. "I'm Bokuto Kōtarō!"

"... Tsukishima Kei," he reluctantly answered.

"I know," Kei frowned.

"How do you know?"

"That's a trade secret. You'll have to join the club to know," Bokuto wiggled his eyebrows, but the crow was not amused.

"Then I'd rather not know,"

"You know what you should do?" Bokuto placed his hands on his hips, his chest puffed out as he changed the topic quickly.

"Find better company?" Kei shook his head.

"Come practice with us!"

"I'd rather not," he immediately answered without a moment's hesitation.

"Ah come on, it'll be fun! I don't know if you know, but I'm actually a top 5 ace in the country!" he pronounced, rather smugly with his hands on his hips and his chest broad with pride. "I can teach you all you need to know about being an amazing wing spiker!" Kei frowned and pushed up his glasses in annoyance.

"That was a onetime thing. I'm actually a middle blocker,"

"Well we have Tetsurō too! He's like an impenetrable fortress. He so good, he can even block my strongest spike!"

"I think I'm good enough to block your advances on my own, thanks," Kei gave him an impish smirk before he walked off to the residency, Bokuto remaining where he stood as he thought over Kei's words.

Oh.

Oh.

That sentence definitely had a double meaning.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"Bo," he turned to see Akaashi and Kruoo approach him, stopping him before he ran off after Tsukishima. "Dude, what was all that about?" Kuroo gave him a look.

"I wanted to meet him!" Bokuto defended himself, throwing his arms out to the side. .

"Yeah but like... this is awkward for me, bro," Kuroo's eyes moved away for a second, finding the grass a much easier place to look at then his boyfriend. Bokuto tilted his head in confusion.

"Hm? Why?" Kuroo couldn't answer. "He's tall. I wanted to practice spikes against him," Akaashi buried his face into his hands. Of course that was what he had been thinking about. "Someone else go and get him!"

"Kōtarō, maybe just leave it, yeah?" Keiji took one of Bokuto's hands into his two. "Don't you want to break in the new Nekoma first year?" the owl's tips raised even further and he glowed in excitement.

"You mean the Russian guy?!"

"Lev, yeah,"

"Two meters! YEHO! Let's go!"

"Is that guy really a top 5 ace in the country?" Sugawara looked up at Kei's words, the middle blocker standing by a window in the Karasuno room. Sugawara hummed in interest and headed over to see what he was looking at. Outside, on the ground floor, a couple of guys were flooding out of the third gym, having just finished their extra practice. Among them was the owl, but the cat was there as well. A Russian lion and a darker owl followed along the two, but the lion seemed to have been completely crushed as he slummed over in exhaustion. He was Nekoma's new player, one that bene giving Karasuno and Nekoma problems. He was currently a double edged sword on the team, not being too accustomed to the sport. Kei remembered how Kenma had trouble with him on the court during the games of the day, the internal conflict shifting their dynamic somewhat. Still, Fukurōdani was still giving Karasuno more trouble than the lion though.

"Oh, him. Yeah, I think I saw him in a special edition once. Hold on," Sugawara pulled out his tablet and went over to his newsletter app, putting in a search for 'Fukurōdani' before finding the article. "Here. Bokuto Kōtarō,"

"Thanks," Kei took the tablet from him, the immediate picture of Bokuto nearly making Kei cringe. He looked so... proud. So on top of the world as he posed for his special picture, the number '4' prominently on his chest. He was an ace, and he was going to show off all his hard work. He quickly scanned the article, all of it telling of his success at middle school and high school nationals.

'We can have techniques and tricks up our sleeves, but that doesn't mean we've mastered it. There's always a higher level, another stage we need to get too. Only there can we use the technique to its fullest – where it doesn't just have a single purpose,'

Kei could only stare at the quote of Bokuto's and felt some of his muscles tense up. This owl was yet another person, another person who kept wanting more and more from the world and the people around him. Another King, another Grand King, another Kuroo, another Hinata.

"Oh, I saw you two were talking earlier. What did Fukurōdani's ace want?" Yamaguchi bounced over, eyes peering at the picture.

"To test shitty pick-up lines against me, apparently," Kei answered under this breath.

"Wait, what?" he looked up, Yamaguchi's eyes peering at him with curiosity.

"He invited me to extra practice,"

"...by flirting with you?" he chuckled nervously.

"Pretty sure he's just an idiot," Kei switched off the tablet and placed it in the side of Sugawara's bag for him to find later.

"Well?" Kei looked to Yamaguchi in question. "You're going to go practice with him, right?" he frowned.

"Why would I do that?" the freckled boy nervously twiddled his fingers as he looked up at his long-term friend.

"I mean, well, he's a top ace. It would be a waste if you didn't get private practice in with him," Kei stopped him at that.

"Extra practice with someone like that isn't going to suddenly make me a top player. It's just a waste of energy,"

"Come on, Tsukki; don't you at least want to... try?" Yamaguchi gave him a pleading a look. Kei could only frown down at his friend. "Uh... never mind then. Forget I said anything," and left.

Even Yamaguchi was on his case.

Was he doing something wrong?

He didn't think he did. All he did was perform at the level his coach pushed him too during official practice – so where was all these expectations coming from?

Either way, it was a thought he would have to explore later but for today, he's had enough. Playing ten sets after each other with penalty laps was no joke. His muscles gave off painful tingle sensations, his nerves holding a public protest at the overwork.

He found himself gravitating back towards the window, even though nobody was outside anymore. He leaned against the windowsill and looked up at the darkness of the night. Now, it was just him and his twin: the unearthly moon.

The second day started with a quick morning. There was no time for 'another five minutes' in bed before the coaches demanded more speed from the players. It was Sunday and everyone had to leave by the night. This was just a weekend camp, the true week camp coming still within the month. That would be the first big one Karasuno had ever attended.

"Hey," Kei was busy tying his shoes when the black cat arrived at his side. "I want to apologize about Kō – uhm, Bokuto. I heard he was pretty adamant at trying to get you to join our practice yesterday. Sorry about his stubbornness," Kei regarded him for a second before giving him an acknowledging nod. "But really though, when the week camp comes – you should definitely join us. I think we can make a pretty great duo against him. Good luck in today's games," and he walked off, not giving the blonde middle blocker any time to respond.

"Wait," Kei called, Kuroo's feet stopping immediately. Kei rose up straight and hummed with interests, watching Kuroo turn to regard him. "Do you two always spend so much time practicing?"

"Uhm, do you mean here at the camps? Well, Keiji's always there too – uh, he's Fukurōdani's setter. The pretty one. We usually drag first years or whoever we can find along to fill up some teams, but it's usually us three,"

"So not a dynamic duo then. A trifecta,"

"I guess you can say that," he shrugged his shoulders.

"But what's the origin story, hm? Did you get to a point where you needed even stronger opponents, even stronger assets so you turned to him because he's a top ace?" Kei questions, Kuroo regarding him with question in his eyes.

"What? No," he quickly shut down. "I met him long before he became anything like that. I was there for him as he stepped up the pedestal and I did my best to motivate him to accomplish his dreams. I'm not saying anything like I had a part in his success or anything, just that I gave my support to him when he needed it. Kōtarō is a very social being, as you can probably tell, so he drags people along with him to the top. Since our interests had aligned, I guess you can say it's a mutually beneficial thing. He dragged me up, but I dragged him up too. It's a longwinded push and pull situation but at the end of the day, we'll be standing on the same platform. Just watch,"

"So you're just using each other," Kei didn't make it sound like a question, because it wasn't. More like a confirmation. "Taking advantage of each other's skills. Using each other as stepping stones to success," he had a snarky tone to his voice.

"Is it a bad thing?" Kei looked towards Kuroo, surprise completely etched into his brows.

"To take advantage of each other; are you even hearing yourself? How can that be a good thing?" Kuroo shrugged his shoulders.

"Obviously, I mean, it's usually a bad thing and it really depends on situation to situation so, I'm just talking about us here. Kōtarō and I, I guess you can call it that we use each other, but the difference is that we trust each other enough to do it. I trust Kōtarō enough to know that he'll never hurt me intentionally so I can be comfortable with him doing whatever to me. Keiji too. It's less of stepping stones and more like... hm, a staircase? A never-ending, spiralling staircase that ends up somewhere, don't know where yet, but it's a place where the three of us will end up. Together,"

Trust.

Together.

"How can you be so sure that they'll stay with you? That they won't just abandon you after they've gotten everything they can from you?"

"Because I love them," Kuroo answered before he could stop himself, watching as Kei's bottom lip fell. "And I would want to continue being useful to them – for the rest of my life, if possible," he said with confidence, not wanting to back down from his truth for even an instant. He waited until Kei said something, but words never came. He stayed silent, seemingly lost in his own mind but still present in the situation. "Not a lot of people know so I would appreciate if you kept this on the down low," Kuroo eventually said, scratching nervously at the back of his neck. Kei's mind quickly put two-and-two together.

"Oh, so you didn't mean platonically?" Kuroo realised his mistake instantly. "That's interesting. Not surprising, though. You're all annoying – well, I don't know the third one. How does that even work? Are you all dating? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know," Kei lifted up his hand, waving it dismissively. "If your extra practice is nothing but volleyball dates for you guys, then I don't want to be some fourth wheel or whatever. Don't involve me," with that, Kei turned to head over to where Karasuno was crowding together before warmups. As an afterthought, Kei stopped himself and turned to the cat. He bowed his head for a quick moment. "Enjoy the games," Kuroo was stumped to hear Kei's words before a wicked smile painted itself onto the cat's lips. He stared at the crow moving away for a second longer before heading off to his own team.

All of Nekoma looked tired when he arrived, the majority of them having practised until late into the previous evening. Deciding to take the responsibility of motivating them onto his own shoulders, Captain Kuroo clapped his hands loudly together to get the attention of his team.

"One, two, three! The floor is lava!!" he yelled, the team begrudgingly getting up and hurrying to places off the floor. Some jumped onto the benches and chairs around, and Yaku decided to grab onto the pole holding up the volleyball net and hang onto that. They knew they had to play along otherwise Kuroo was going to complain for the rest of the day and they'd rather not have him breathing down their necks. Lev peered curiously down at the floor from his spot on top of the practice mats.

"Uhm, mister Kenma, you're not supposed to touch the floor," Kuroo looked to see his friend lying face down on the ground again.

"I want to burn,"

"Alight, enough. Let's crush all out opponents today!"

The rest of the day was an eye-opening day to some of Karasuno. When Hianta approached Kageyama to tell him that he was going to keep his eyes open during their quick – well, it didn't go down well. Hinata attempted it, still, and Kageyama allowed it to get the ginger to realise how ridiculous he was being. Ubugawa showed their amazing serves and Shinzen was just as impressive with their synchronous attacks. Since there were five school, there was always on one a break. Fukurōdani and Nekoma were playing at a time when Karasuno was off and Kei couldn't help his eyes from wondering to their match. He eyed the owls and even though they had played before, he finally allowed some time to actually look at the team and not just analyse them.

Kuroo had said the third one was Fukurōdani's pretty setter, and Kei did not have to wait for the game to progress to see who the setter was – the pretty part of his statement was enough clarification. He stood out, the gentleness in all his movements almost hypnotising. Kei didn't realise he had been staring until Bokuto had spiked the ball particularity strong and Kenma completely ran away from the block. The ball completely headed straight for Kei and he had to quickly deflect it with his wrist.

It stung quite badly afterwards.

"Kenma, don't run away!" one of the Nekoma couched yelled.

"It would've torn my arm off..."

"No it won't!!"

Kei turned his hand to regard his wrist, the skin turning red at the impact point. That's Bokuto for you. He looked up to see the owl through the net, waving his hand with an apologetic look. Kei just shook his head dismissively and let his hand fall to his side. On Nekoma's side, Kuroo was watching the interaction with interest.

So he had been watching, huh.

Kuroo smiled deviously, Kenma smacking his arm to get him focused again.

Outside, Kageyama was setting it straight to Hinata – it wasn't their quick attack. It was Kageyama's attack. Hinata was just a piece he could use. There was no need for his own will. Hinata's success was completely reliant on Kageyama's.

He did not take too well to that, so much so that Coach Ukai didn't have Hinata play for the rest of the day. There came a point where Hinata sat outside during lunch and thought over exactly how he wanted to evolve. He wanted to be a good player, not a good tool. Without being able to explain exactly why, Kenma found himself wonder over towards the ginger, fingers twiddling nervously. He slid down the wall next to Hinata and although no words were exchanged, Hinata appreciated his friend's actions tremendously.

Kenma didn't even pull out his console to play something, and just sat in silence with him. It was a while before Hinata shook his head and rested it against his knees.

"What am I supposed to do, Kenma? How am I supposed to get stronger when all I seem to be capable off is being reliant on other people's power? I want my own strength,"

"Then get up and go get it," Hinata lifted his head so quickly, staring at Kenma with a slack jaw. "I mean, how else are you going to level up? You need to get XP. You need to grind the low levels until you can take on higher levels and then you do it all over again. IRL is not that different," Kenma couldn't look at his eyes and instead stared on to the grass hill in front of them, feeling nervous with direct eye contact.

"You're saying I should go back to the basics?"

"I'm saying you can't unlock the next area of the map without being a solo player," he shrugged his shoulders. "Kageyama is in your party now, but I know you want to play on after school. You might get new party members and you need to be versatile to be able to play with them. I'm saying that maybe you shouldn't be levelling up alongside Kageyama. Maybe this is something you need to do on your own," Hinata regarded his words and gave a small smile. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Kenma, the cat instantly tensing up and wanting to move away. Before Kenma had time to adjust, Hinata squeezed him and moved away.

"Thanks for your advice! I think I get what you're saying!" Kenma gave a small smile and nodded.

The afternoon games went off quickly after lunch and soon, they had to call the day to an end. Everyone had gathered their things and were moving to their bus. The goodbyes were easy to do since it would only be two weeks before they were back again. Kei wanted to quickly get on the bus and not encounter anyone, but a clap came onto his back that had him stop. He looked around with irritation etched into his brows as he regarded the owl. He looked past Kei's expression and gleamed at him, arms in the air.

"This was fun, don't you think?" Kei frowned.

"What was?"

"All the matches! Karasuno is kinda scary when you get down to it, and you guys are like scavenging monsters! You're really fun to play against!" Kei didn't exactly respond, merely nodding. Bokuto deflated at the lack of hype, dropped his arms and looked at him with a serious expression. "I think I may have been too forward yesterday. Tetsurō said you may be upset. I'm sorry,"

"I'm not-," Kei spoke quickly, lifting his hand up before bringing it down to his side with a fist. Some of his ego might have just been attacked. "I'm not upset. I would just appreciate it if you left me alone," Bokuto hummed at that, considering his words.

"Yeah, can't do that, sorry. Can I have your number?"

"No," and Kei quickly moved away to get on the Karasuno bus before the owl or the cat got a hold of him.

Kuroo watched as Bokuto's hair deflated from the rejection, his own feet carrying him up to the owl's side. He let his hand run up Bokuto's back, slowly, letting his fingers ripple across the clothed muscle. Bokuto shuddered at the lightning that sparked on his skin, his head turning to lock eyes. They shared an emotion of understanding and compromise, but they ended up just spiralling into the eyes of the other. Kuroo clapped Bokuto's back at the end, making it look like just good sportsmanship to any stray eyes around.

"How does it feel like waking up and knowing you're drop dead gorgeous?" Bokuto whispered to the man beside him and if they were alone, he would've breathed it against his ear.

"I wouldn't know, but you can probably relate,"

"Bro,"

"Guys," both Kuroo and Bokuto stopped in their actions and turned to look at their beautiful lover make his way over, concern written on his face.

"Keiji? What's wrong?" Kuroo immediately let Bokuto go, moving over to run his hand up Akaashi's arm.

"We need to talk about this. In private," the third years shared a look and followed Akaashi to the side of the gym. Since the camp was in Tokyo, the remainder four teams did not have to leave as early as Karasuno and stayed to socialise a bit. The three headed up the hill to get a small distance away from the building, just because Akaashi wanted a sure enough desolate place and fresh air. He sat on the grass, folding his knees up to his chest and tucking his head in. The two sat in front of him, keeping to themselves and letting him have his stage.

Akaashi was never this serious.

"I've been thinking a lot, right? Since the first practice match with Nekoma and Karasuno. And this... this isn't about Tsukishima, okay? I want you to know that it isn't because of him, it was just the spark that got me to start thinking about it. It's just that..." Akaashi sighed deeply and looked up at the two with sad eyes. "We're... a once in a lifetime thing. A special thing. We don't get jealous of each other and we all love each other just as much and we've been doing very, very well together. It's a really healthy relationship that I never expected to have in my life, so I guess... what are the chances? What are the chances that all three of us will fall in love again?" Kuroo released a slow breath.

"Keiji-,"

"I'm afraid, okay? I'm afraid of someone else coming between us. I'm afraid our beautiful dynamic will get broken and that we won't be this healthy, exquisite thing anymore. I'm afraid we won't be us anymore and I know it probably sounds weird coming from me, considering you two had an entire extra year together and you were just fine when I came along but... I don't know if I want another boyfriend. I don't know if I have the place in my heart for that right now, or the strength," his eyes were becoming glossy, tears welling up as he drove himself emotional. Both boys quickly moved forward, each taking one of his sides and hugging him between them.

"Keiji, Keiji, it's okay, my love. We completely get what you're saying," Bokuto whispered into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I-,"

"Don't be. I agree, we are..." Kuroo lifted his hand, brushing his knuckle gently against Akaashi's cheek. "Like you said, what are the chances?" he leaned forward and places a delicate kiss on his lips.

"We weren't looking for someone else when you came along, Keiji. We didn't know we had place in our hearts for another until we fell in love with you. I guess what I'm saying is..." Bokuto sunk his head, pushing himself into Akaashi's forearm. "All three of us will definitely know if there's someone else for us and I don't know about you guys, but I kind of want this thing between the three of us to last a long time. I love us too much,"

"There were definitely some compromises when we got with you, but it was all positive. You're good for us," Kuroo leaned forward, planting his lips against Akaashi's jaw. "Are you sure this isn't about Tsukishima?" Akaashi stayed silent for a moment

"... maybe a little," Kuroo blew on his neck, goosebumps forming all over his skin. "You flirted with him, Kōtarō," Bokuto groaned into Akaashi's skin.

"They were cheesy pickup lines and I don't know what came over me," he hugged himself closer into the two of them.

"You pissed him off, is what you did," Kuroo spoke, swiping his tongue out to the pretty setter's collarbone. Akaashi kept his moan in his throat.

"He doesn't make sense to me. How can he play volleyball when it doesn't seem to mean anything to him?"

"On the surface, he seems kinda like Kenma, doesn't he?" Bokuto wondered at the thought.

"Yeah, I guess,"

"Then just like Kenma, he's not that easy to understand at face value. Daichi, the crow captain, he told me that Tsukishima thrives off self-rivalry. Earlier today, he was also asking me some weird questions. About us,"

"Us?"

"More specifically, if we were just using each other for our own benefits,"

"And what did you say?" Akaashi adjusted his position, leaning onto his elbows. The two followed him down, Kuroo bringing his hand to draw circles on Akaashi's chest as he put his head on the grass.

"That we are using each other, but that we gladly give ourselves over to be 'used'. That I, at least, trust you guys completely. I trust you guys to know that no matter what you do, it's not to hurt me," he spoke softly, tracing the infinity symbol over Akaashi's heart. "And I hope you guys know that I've never wanted to hurt any of you. If I did, please tell me because that's something I need to work on then,"

"We know," Akaashi ran his fingers through Kuroo's beautiful locks. "We love you too,"

"Wait," Bokuto sat up, staring down at Kuroo. "Does this mean he knows?" Kuroo's eyes went wide and he scratched at his cheek.

"Ahhh I might have let it slip?"

"Tetsurō!"

"I know, I'm sorry!"

"Is that why..." all eyes turned to Bokuto. "Is that why he was so blunt when I spoke to him now? He really seemed as if he just wanted to get away from me. Is he homophobic?"

"He didn't seem exactly bothered when I told him. It might just be you,"

"PFFTT," Bokuto nuzzled himself into Akaashi's chest. "But Keiji, if you want us to stop talking to him, then just say so,"

"I never said that. All I want is for you two to know that I don't want us to pursue another relationship. Not... now. Of course, I can see he's caught both of your interests so bring him to the third gym if you want – and if he aggress – but just..." Akaashi trailed off.

"We understand," Kuroo leaned up to plant a kiss against his lips. "But... I must be honest; I don't know why he's even a thing in my mind now. It's not that I want a relationship or even a distinct friendship, I just find him so... different? Like, I want to understand him and I don't. Know. Why," he sounded so frustrated with himself, hitting his fist against the grass. "I just... I know I want to help him grow, but I don't know in what way. It's just... are these feelings of mine okay?"

"Of course they are," Akaashi gently pulled Kuroo into his chest, wrapping his arms around the cat's shoulders. "Of course they are," he repeated, kissing the luscious black locks.

"I just want him for blocking practice. I want to practice my spikes against him," Bokuto spoke, lifting up his hand to the sky to look at.

"Oh, Bo..."

"Hey, rooster head!!" Kuroo sneered as he heard the nickname, knowing exactly who that voice belonged too. He sat up with a frown.

"What do you want, Demon Yakkun?!"

"Stop getting all down and funky with your mans on a hill top! Coaches want us on the bus in ten!" Kuroo rolled his eyes at the libero.

"Fineeee. I'll need a minute though," Kuroo quickly rolled himself on top of Akaashi, planting their lips together in a heated kiss. Next to them, Bokuto moaned at the sight.

"The fuck man! I don't need to see this!" Yaku complained, turning his back on them. Kuroo pulled away from Akaashi.

"Then go occupy yourself with Lev. I'm sure you'll love that," and leaned down to catch Bokuto's passionate kiss.

"Literally, what the fuck man. If you're not on the bus when it goes off, then I'm leaving your ass here," and ran off down the hill. Kuroo continued to occupy himself with Bokuto for a moment longer before he felt a hardness grind up against his leg. Kuroo groaned and had to pull away, whining as he did so.

"Nope, nope! I need to leave, don't get me in the mood," Kuroo pushed himself up, rising onto his feet and covered his face with his hands. "I will see you sexy beasts on Friday. Don't miss me too much," he blew a kiss at them, the two owls getting onto their feet.

"You know we can't make that promise! We love you too much!" Bokuto whined.

"I love you too," he kissed their foreheads lovingly before making his way down the hill.

Kei had leant Sugawara's tablet for the ride back, looking at all types of articles of Fukurōdani's – and occasionally Nekoma's – success. Both years Bokuto had been in high school, he had gone to nationals and made a storm. Yamaguchi decided not to mention his friend's actions, deciding that if he brought it up, then the chance stood that Kei would get irritated and stop. Yamaguchi knew that this party had caught Kei's interest, and he knew Kei had no idea why – hence the research. Still, it brought a smile to his face. Kei was showing an interest in somebody.

And not just anybody, but high-level volleyball players. Maybe they could het Kei to feel some sense of sportsmanship, but that was quite a lot to ask for as is.

Eventually Kei read all the articles and moved onto the social media pages of the three. Akaashi's was quite tame, not having much on it but pictures of his paintings and some of his poetry. When Kei first saw his account, he wanted to go through each picture one by one and analyse them but decided that was best left for a fresh, morning brain. Kuroo's and Bokuro's shared a high level chaotic energy. Kuroo's had some scenery pictures, but overall it was always of either him and Kenma or him with his two lovers, all over each other and in 'cute' romantic positions – Bokuto more open to the poses than Akaashi, it seemed. Bokuto had the same pictures of them, but he also posted of his family and highlights from his plays.

They looked so... together.

Well, they were together and that was what it meant to be together but... it was still odd.

They really weren't being subtle online, so why did it sound from Kuroo as if it was this big secret? Did they just go off the principal that their accounts were a separate thing outside volleyball and that even their own teammates won't look them up?

Idiots.

Still, he couldn't help himself from staring at their photos for a moment too long at times – this especially happened when Bokuto's hair was down or a part of Kuroo's shirt was tucked up or the camera caught Akaashi's butterfly lashes at the perfect angle...

Oh God.

What was he even thinking? Why was he still scrolling through their pages, almost two hours later? From Miyagi to Tokyo was a four-hour drive, if they were lucky. He spent so much of that time where the others were napping, reading up and looking at pictures of boys.

Kei covered his face at the embarresing realisation.

What did this mean? Did it even mean anything?

No, Kei knows himself and he knows when something is off. This wasn't specifically caused by the triad either, they just happened to be the current catalyst. It could've been anyone, anyone similar to the three with the power to piss off enough to make him think.

He turned his head to look at his friend next to him, debating on whether or not this was a mental journey he wanted to share with someone or not. He thought back to the concern he could see in Yamaguchi's eyes when he looked at him sometimes, and he felt guilty.

But he didn't string Yamaguchi along, did he? Yamaguchi could have walked away any time. He choose to stick by Kei's side out of his own free will.

Kei shot his eyes back down to the picture of the Tokyo throuple, and he felt his muscles tense up.

Screw it.

"Yamaguchi," he gently touched his friend's shoulder, shaking him ever so slightly until he awoke. He wiped at his eyes before looking at Kei in question.

"Tsukki? What's going on?"

"There's something wrong with me," Kei whispered close to him, the entire bus quiet so he had to keep it even more hushed. At his words, the shorter male's eyes grew wide.

"...huh? What do you mean? And why are you still awake?" he matched the hushed whisper. Kei turned the tablet towards him, showing a picture of the three at this year's New Year's festival. "Oh. What about them?" he tilted his head.

"They look..." Kei cringed at how awkward he was about this, his expression one of clear discomfort. "Good?"

"...okay?"

"No like..." Kei handed the tablet over to Yamaguchi, just to free his hands to cover his face with. Yamaguchi was really confused, and waited for Kei to continue on. "Attractive?" he eventually said, taking his hands away from his face.

Yamaguchi's eyebrows shot up. He looked back at the tablet again for a second.

"You find them... attractive?" he whispered in disbelief.

"... yes? What does this... mean?" but Yamaguchi himself couldn't think of anything to say, because the conflict etched into every piece of Kei's skin was enough to know that anything Yamaguchi could say, wouldn't be enough.

"Do you... like them?" Yamaguchi found himself asking. Kei's face turned to one full of disgust.

"What? No. They annoy me extensively. It's just that..." he took the tablet back, scrolling to another picture of them. Kei at a loss of words, turning the show another picture of them. "They're..." He pointed towards the image with a deep, confused concentration. "Boys?"