Above is just some illustrations of what some Japanese words that'll be used in this chapter, are. Hope they're all correct!

For their first date, Daichi had taken Sugawara to a petting zoo. Being surrounded by soft animals and Sugawara's warm atmosphere had Daichi become tame. That evening Daichi fell asleep with his head in Sugawara's lap, his fingers raking though the captain's hair. As he drifted off, Sugawara kissed his forehead tenderly.

Two weeks after that, they were already dangerously making out in the supply closet. It seemed both parties had been patiently waiting a very long time for this. They told Asahi since, after all, they had seen them kiss on the court clearly but decided not to mention it. He was very supportive of them, commenting what a cute couple they made.

They decided to keep their fresh and new relationship on the secretive and slow side. They didn't need their team constantly watching them, nor did they want to rush it with the stressful times. Although, they say all that but since they've known each other for so long, they flowed into the relationship quite nicely.

Another new couple, on the other hand, didn't keep themselves as hidden. The week after they got together, Kageyama had kissed Hinata's cheek in goodbye when he had to quickly leave after practice. It was apparently his sister's birthday.

Hinata didn't even know he had a sister.

Kageyama Miwa – once a promising female volleyball player, now a hair and makeup artist.

The rest of Karasuno stared at Hinata after the transaction had taken place, expecting him to have more of an... reaction.

"Hey, Hinata?" he looked up from tying his shoelaces at Tanaka.

"Hm?"

"You are aware that Kageyama just kissed you, right? I mean, it's not weird – bros for life and all that. It's just... not something you guys usually do?" Tanaka tried not to sound too weird.

"...oh. Oh. Oh yeah, we're dating now," and the entire team had their eyes bulged as they regarded him carefully.

"Come again?" Tanaka's face was blank with disbelief.

"Yeah. He's my boyfriend," Hinata went on as normal, not noticing the looks he was receiving.

"And... when did this happen?"

"Last week,"

"So you... like Kageyama?" Sugawara brought himself into Hinata's vision.

"Hm?" it was then that he saw the expectant looks from everyone. "Why is it weird?"

"It's not. We've just never seen either of you show interest in... anything else, really. I guess that makes sense that you two would fit together then. But how did you two realise?" Sugawara spoke sweetly.

"I've known for a while that I liked him. Since before the qualifiers. I've been speaking to Kenma about it. Kageyama said he really started to notice it after the Grand King pointed it out. Then we just spoke and realised we've both been thinking about it and now we're together,"

"Just like that?"

"Yeah,"

"... you guys are insane," Sugawara shook his head.

"Listen," Daichi drew the attention to him. "I'm happy for you guys, but I don't want to see any feelings on the court. You can leave that at the door, alright?"

"Speak for yourself," Asahi mentioned under his breath, Daichi shooting him an evil glare.

"Hm? But he's my setter. How am I supposed to keep the feelings separate? Is it bad that I always combine them?" Sugawara regarded Hinata with interest.

He had no idea, did he?

"Uhm, Hinata, you know-,"

"It's fine," Sugawara spoke, all eyes on him. "They're new. They've still got some kinks to work out. Don't worry, Hinata, everyone on the team will support you two!"

"Yeah, dude we will!"

"Good luck Hinata!"

Winter Holidays were spent training as well; however, since New Year's fell on a Tuesday, Kei had asked if he could be excused from practice that Monday as well. That meant from Friday evening to Wednesday morning, he had a mini vacation of sorts.

He went to Tokyo.

This was something they had been planning for a while, ever since their dreams were crushed when they heard Karasuno wouldn't be going to Tokyo until Nationals.

Akiteru had been on-board for the trip, especially since Kei had never done anything like this. Besides Yamaguchi, Kei had never reached out to anybody like this before. Akiteru knew Kei's crush lived in Tokyo, and that they were one of the three he kept video chatting with. Kei had neglected to mention that he liked ­all of them, but he was very hesitant about talking about his 'crush' to begin with.

Their mother didn't take too much convincing, just a promise to return at a reasonable time on New Year's to Miyagi. Akaashi insisted that Kei took the train and have him pay for the tickets since, after all, money was no issue for his household. Kei still felt bad though, no matter how much Akaashi insisted.

They just wanted him with them as soon as possible, and a train ride of two hours beat a car ride of five any day.

Thus, on Friday after training had concluded, Kei had gotten all his things as soon as possible to make his train.

"Do you need me to take anything for you that you won't need?" Yamaguchi asked him as everyone was packing up in the clubroom.

"Uhh, I'll just leave it in locker. Thanks, Yamaguchi,"

"Where are you off too?" Nishinoya questioned. "Heard you're not coming on Monday,"

"Yeah. I'm going to Tokyo,"

"Oh, for family?" Kei just shot him a quick look but didn't answer.

"Oh," Hinata sounded. "Oh," everyone looked to the ginger. "Oh! I know why you're going to Tokyo!" he pointed towards Kei, his jaw slack.

"Then maybe keep it to yourself," Kei sneered. "That informant of yours should learn to keep his mouth," the informant being Kenma, naturally.

"Why? You seem super happy though," Hinata just received a frown in return.

"Hinata, don't force anything out of him if he doesn't want to say. It's his personal life," Daichi scolded him. No one mentioned anything further and Kei quickly packed everything up. After greeting everyone, he headed to leave but stopped when he was at the door.

It would come out eventually, but he could do it on his terms.

He shot his head across his shoulder at the team.

"Bokuto, Kuroo, Akaashi and I will be staying together for the long weekend. Excuse me," he quickly bowed and left, not waiting around to see their confusion.

That confusion, instead, was directed to Hinata and Yamaguchi.

"They've gotten really close," was all Yamaguchi commented on the situation.

A few minutes later, Hinata cornered Yamaguchi in private.

"Hey... when Kenma asked for your number a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't because Lev wanted to learn the jump floater, was it?" Yamaguchi gave him a sheepish laugh and scratched at his neck.

"Uhm, yeah, I still don't know how you believed that in the first place..."

"It wasn't Lev that really wanted your number; it was the captain of Nekoma, right?" Yamaguchi gave a nervous scoff and nodded. "Why?"

"Well... let's just say, he needed some affirmation is all,"

Kei arrived at Tokyo, nearly 9 at night. The station was less busy than during the day, but it was Tokyo so it was always busy. Still, that didn't stop the others from immediately picking him out in the crowd and within a few minutes from disembarking, Bokuto already had his arms around Kei.

"Tsukki!! I've missed you so much!" he picked up the tall man, spinning him around.

"Bokuto! Put me down!"

"Never," Akaashi and Kuroo were at their sides, arms wrapped around the two. Kei was truly trapped now. He sighed.

"People are staring,"

"Let them stare,"

"We're not going to be staying at the train station for four days, are we?"

"Nah," Akaashi pulled away. "We're going to go see as much as possible but for tonight, we'll stay at my place. I'm tired, let's go,"

Akaashi's house had Kei on edge and he tried to behave as well as he could; not touching anything. His nerves calmed somewhat as he regarded Bokuto and Kuroo, the two completely familiar and natural in the environment as they ran off to place Kei's things in the guest room. Meanwhile, Akaashi gave Kei a quick tour of the house by pointing at general directions while leading him to the kitchen for a quick meal.

He had just come straight from practice, after all.

"None of you have told me what the plans are for the weekend," Kei told Akaashi as he was feasting on a quickly thrown together chicken sandwich, Akaashi nibbling on some pretzels.

"Hmm," Akaashi just hummed. "Well, we'll be doing some touristy things and we'll also just chill. It is the holidays, after all, and there's some things we thought about doing for the New Year. You okay with just going with the flow?"

"I mean, I'm placing my life in you guys' hands so I have no choice but to trust you," Akaashi chuckled.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of you,"

Kei was quite exhausted from the day and the trip, falling asleep not long after he headed to bed. In the next room, the three were finding it much more difficult to fall asleep.

"He's next door,"

"We know, Bo,"

"He's in the next room. This feels so wrong. Can't I just go like... pick him up gently and bring him to bed with us?"

"I don't think he'll appreciate waking up with the three of us suffocating him,"

"B-but...Keiji,"

"Stick to the plan," Kuroo grinned. "We're going to sweep him off his fucking feet,"

"...why didn't I get this treatment? You just legit started crying while we were watching a movie and confessed," Akaashi mentioned. "And Kōtarō stole you away from practice to take you up a hill. That's still quite romantic,"

"Okay, to be fair, I felt waiting any longer would've been a bad idea with all of the emotions at the time. Now, if you wanna hear an interesting confession, apparently Karasuno's chibi and their setter got together after having a casual chat after practice,"

"...how do you know this?"

"Kenma told me?"

"Wait," Bokuto sat up in the bed and peered down at him with wide eyes. "Hinata is in a relationship?!"

"... yeah," Bokuto laid back down.

"... our baby crow is leaving his nest,"

"Hinata is not our son,"

"We should adopt him,"

"I don't think he'll be able to handle us four as parents,"

"...four!"

"It would be very weird for Firefly,"

"...I guess. Can we adopt Lev then?"

"No!"

The next morning, Bokuto ran into the kitchen where Kuroo and Akaashi were busy with wide eyes. Whenever Kuroo was around at the manor, he'd abuse the kitchen for its advanced equipment and the chef would let him have free range. He was quite amused at the dynamic of the throuple.

"Dudes, I'm in love," Bokuto spoke as he headed in.

"What happened?" he produced his phone and revealed a photo he took of a sleeping Kei. "Look at his face. Look at him. He's so cute when he sleeps and he doesn't have his glasses on! I want to eat him up," Kuroo sighed.

"You were supposed to wake him up. We forgot to tell him what time our plans start today,"

"How am I supposed to wake up such a peaceful lamb?" Akaashi sighed.

"I'll go do it. Here," he handed a spatula to Bokuto and headed up into the house. He silently crept into the guest room, Kei still knocked out. For someone who generally didn't sleep much, the relief from a few off days must've really affected him.

"Hey, Firefly," he spoke gently, sitting himself on the side of the bed. He stroked the back of his fingers up Kei's cheek continuously, the male groaning as he started to wake up. "Sorry to wake you – we forgot to tell you that we've got an appointment this morning. Tetsurō is making us breakfast currently," Kei hummed as he listened and readjusted his position, reaching his hand up to grab Akaashi's from his face. He intertwined their fingers together and looked up at Akaashi with lidded eyes.

"Morning, Angel," Akaashi blushed.

"Morning, Firefly," he leaned down and the two shared a tender morning eskimo kiss, Kei pushing himself up - so much so that Akaashi thought he was going to kiss him as their breaths mingled with each other's. "You remember your way around the manor?"

"Yeah," Kei responded, voice low as their faces were still touching. Akaashi smiled.

"Meet you downstairs then," he left, Kei's body instinctively reaching out for more contact.

Akaashi walked into the kitchen, his lip caught between his teeth. Bokuto and Kuroo shared a look before they regarded him closely.

"What happened?" Akaashi looked at them and sighed.

"This is too much. I want to kiss him so badly,"

"You guys are so impatient," Kuroo could laugh but all of them knew he felt the same way.

Kuroo was just finishing up the cooking when Kei made his way to them, his appearance quite stylish and relaxed.

"You look really nice," Kei smiled.

"Thanks Bokuto. I like your hair,"

"Ah. I haven't styled it up yet," he responded, bring his hand up to the hair that was touching his forehead.

"I like your hair down too," Kuroo commented, bringing plates over to the dining table from the kitchen. "Please everyone, sit. I'll bring,"

"Thanks Kuroo," Kei sat at the table with the other two, Kuroo heading over with the last plates and joined them.

It wasn't a traditional breakfast in any way but since Kuroo was the one who made it, it was guaranteed to be good. Their conversation ranged from how Kei found sleeping in the manor, to how their preparation for Nationals had been going to some of the plans of the day.

They took him to a samurai exhibition and show.

"We heard there was one in town and I'm sure we've all heard you ranting about Japanese history before, so we decided it would be pretty cool – even if it's just to take a quick look. You want to study history, right?" Kuroo said as they were already on their way to the show, the four huddled up in their warm, winter clothes.

"Yes, although if it were possible, I would like to specialise in the prehistoric ages. Stone age, Bronze age... Jurassic era,"

"Jurassic?"

"I love dinosaurs," Kuroo chuckled at that.

"Yeah, we realised,"

"Do you think they'd let me wear samurai armour?" Bokuto brought up.

"Highly doubt it," Akaashi countered.

"Eh? I think I'd think I'd make a pretty amazing samurai!"

"I wouldn't want you anywhere near a katana," Kei huffed.

"Pft!!"

The exhibition turned out to catch far more interest from them than they first expected, the pure traditional Japanese vibe the entire event gave off had them slightly roleplaying. Bokuto and Kuroo had gotten themselves wooden katanas, dramatically having battles in slow-motion in the middle of the exhibition. They caught some attention, some children bouncing in asking if they could dual with them too. The children would dramatically slay Bokuto as he gave villainous monologues, portraying the children as heroes. Kuroo videoed the entire thing, fully intending to make a crack compilation later of all Bokuto's 'deaths'. Akaashi and Kei were regarding each installation with care at that time, Akaashi smitten by Kei's brain and how he seemed to recall events as if he had actually been there.

He'd never taken Kei for a scholar but, then again, he was in the college prep class and just like Kuroo was in the top percentage of his grade. Akaashi's grades were good but not top percentage good and Bokuto... Bokuto was Bokuto.

The show was even far more interesting, giving a small demonstration of history with real armour and katanas and swordfights. It was part of all of their history, and although they didn't live at the time, it was a strange sense of nostalgia. Knowing that if, you had been born just a couple of hundred years earlier, that you might've ended up a warrior... it said a lot about how the world changed. Now, Kei could be a historian and tell the stories of old instead of taking up the sword.

"But here's the real question now: would you rather be a samurai or a shinobi?" Kuroo asked them when they headed to their next destination, the four of them nibbling on tokoyaki and dango they bought from venders at the event.

"Ninja, easy!" Bokuto immediately peaked up, eyes gleaming with possibilities.

"Why though?"

"Because they get to use ninjutsu!" he spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"... Except that you won't be able to make shadow clones or teleport. Naruto isn't real, my dude,"

"... that's what you think," Kuroo rolled his eyes.

"And you two?"

"How about not fighting, is that an option?" Akaashi scoffed. "I'll be the one that runs around the house and wards off akuma with a broom,"

"You would make an excellent demon slayer," Kei nodded in agreement, enjoying the sweet dango.

"Thanks, Firefly," he shot him a beautiful smile.

"And you?"

"I'll be the guy that does all the business inscribing. I'll do the fancy kanji and calligraphy and look after the sakura trees," Akaashi laughed into his sleeve at Kei's serious words. "Maybe I'll make a shodo for the tokonoma and Akaashi can paint something,"

"We're turning out to be quite the household here," Kuroo laughed.

"My mother is always trying to make our tokonoma look impressive with ikebana but my sisters always knocked over the pots so now they're banned from that part of the house," Kei looked towards Bokuto with a frown.

"Your house still has a tokonoma?"

"Oh. I live in a traditional house,"

"What seriously? But I've seen on calls that you have a proper living room and the kitchen was adjoined?"

"Oh yeah. It was remodelled and has some western styled rooms now, but we can separate the rooms with the fusuma if we want. I don't know if you know but my family is quite large and we all stay in the same house but the house is my grandparents' so it's all old money," he explained, taking a huge bite of his tokoyaki.

"It's quite funny how was can compare Keiji and Kōtarō. Keiji lives in a Western manor and has claim to his parents' new money trust fund and the house while Kōtarō lives in a Traditional manor and the only thing he has claim to is continuing to live in that house for the rest of his life if he wants too," Kuroo spoke, humming with interest.

"To be fair, even though my house technically is a manor, it's still not accessible to everyone. The house is divided up into parts for different households. So, my grandparents will live on the left side of the ground floor and we'll be on the right side. Upstairs is divided between my cousins. It's still a normal sized house for each, technically,"

"I've only met two of your cousins in all this time, I think," Kuroo mentioned.

"It's because the stairs leading upwards from our side was blocked off. They use the stairs that's accessible from the backyard, since there's gates on both sides of the estate. We usually don't bump into them because of that and we all respect each other to not live in each other's space. We're still different households, after all,"

"...I just have a normal modern Japanese house," Kei chuckled.

"Same," Kuroo added.

From there on, they dragged Kei to a festival that was taking place near Tokyo Bay. Since it was nearing New Years, festivals were happening all over the place and this one seemed themed around the Old Year. What big events happened in 2012?

Well, the Tokyo Skytree opened to the public. No wonder Karasuno had been so eager to catch a glimpse of it. Curiosity landed on Mars. Kei had been watching the livestream when it took place.

"The festivals on New Year's Day is going to be packed so we decided to do that today!" Bokuto spoke excitedly. "Do you like festivals, Tsukki?" he threw his arms around Kei's waist who in turn went to pet the owl's hair.

"My brother always took me when I was little. I haven't been in quite a while," he responded.

"Then let's go have a great time," Kuroo threw his arms around their shoulders, pulling them onto the festival grounds.

"Ohh! Can we go catch some goldfish?!" Bokuto looked at the others expectantly.

"And where do you plan on putting those fish? Who's going to take of them?" Akaashi questioned.

"I'll put them in the fish pond at the house. I'm sure the koi fish won't mind,"

"Your koi are pretty big though..."

"Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine. Goldfish are tough!"

"Don't they have like a four second memory span?" Kei commented.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I know someone else that has a memory span of four seconds," Akaashi whispered under his breath.

"I don't want to carry your fucking fish around for the rest of the day so let's do that wayyyy at the end," Kuroo spoke, giving Bokuto a pointed look.

"Okay! As long as I get those fish!" Bokuto smiled brightly. "Can we get food though?"

"Are you always hungry?" Kei rose a brow at him.

"Yes! You should eat more, Tsukki,"

"I'm eating quite enough, thank you..." that still didn't stop him from feasting on some strawberry cotton later a little while later, watching Akaashi and Kuroo go head-to-toe with a gun shooting game. Akaashi's setter abilities came to use as he could pinpoint spots easier and shoot the targets, Bokuto not getting a single hit in. At the end, Akaashi walked away with an ugly looking fox plushie. All four of them partook in ring tosses, but not one of them could get one in and eventually they just gave up. They had to drag Bokuto away by the arms, the owl not wanting to give up. He would've used up all his money if they hadn't gotten involved.

"You know, I think my ass looks great here," Bokuto commented when they later passed some body-sized trick mirrors, the image contorting his behind to stretch wide.

"Tsukishima your face!" Kuroo broke down laughing, Kei looking at him in question before he saw the shape his face took in one of the mirrors. It was all scrunched up into a middle point. Kei scoffed with amusement, laughing behind his hand. Akaashi held up the fox plushie to one of the mirrors, the already skew eyes being pulled apart even more in the reflection.

"That is just cursed," he commented while shaking his head.

"Hey, I like this one! Everyone come here!" Bokuto pulled them to a mirror that made wave patterns of their images and he took a mirror self of them together. "We look so sexy here! I love it," he said sarcastically as he laughed at their contorted pictured.

"We're always sexy man," Kuroo said, throwing an arm around Kei's shoulders. "All of us," he buried his nose into Kei's hair, the younger male becoming flustered.

"We should get something proper to eat for dinner, not just sweets," Akaashi mentioned, himself becoming famished.

"Yakisoba!" Bokuto peaked up. "I've wanted noodles the entire day,"

"I can go for some okonomiyaki," Kei admitted.

"I like that idea," Kuroo looked at Kei. "Let's all get what we want and meet up at the benches?"

"Sounds like a plan," Akaashi headed off with Bokuto and Kei with Kuroo. Kuroo leaned over to Kei and snatched up his glasses. He immediately cringed, fighting to get his glasses back. Kuroo held Kei away, placing the glasses on his own face.

"And? How do I look? Suits me?"

"I wouldn't know I can't fucking see," Kuroo chuckled at that.

"Well, I'm not giving them back to you," Kei sighed with desperation.

"Then how to you expect me to navigate?" Kuroo grabbed at Kei's hands, intertwining their fingers together. Kei turned his head to the side, not allowing Kuroo to look directly at his reddening face.

"Guess I'll just have to be your navigator. Come on," Kuroo pulled Kei along, their hands resting peacefully between them.

Kuroo's hands were so warm...

"You know... we should have a karaoke night," Kei immediately laughed at the ridiculous suggestion.

"We really shouldn't,"

"Huh? Why not?"

"I feel my singing voice would be the equivalent of a point 9 earthquake. It'll immediately let the bodies hit the floor,"

"Nah, man, it can't be as bad as Bokuto's," Kei chuckled at this.

"Is it that bad?"

"... you know, some people have their strong points, and then they have their weak points,"

"Can we agree to have a karaoke night where Akaashi sings and nobody else?" Kuroo's head shot to look at Kei.

"You've heard him sing before?" Kei nodded.

"Yeah, it was so beautiful..."

"It's entrancing, right? Once I had a really bad day and I couldn't sleep so I called him and he sung me a lullaby and I swear I've never slept that well,"

"...If that proves to be a real science, I might just record him singing and maybe that'll cure my insomnia,"

"Well I'm pretty sure the voice of the person you love is always more soothing," and Kei couldn't help wonder: was he thinking of himself or was he implying that Kei loved Akaashi as well? He wasn't wrong either way, of course. "You did sleep quite well last night though," Kei frowned.

"And how would you know that?"

"Kōtarō took a picture of you,"

"...he did what?"

"Yeah. You looked so adorable! I hope he sends it on the group later,"

"He better fucking not," Kuroo could only laugh at Kei's scorn.

The duo quickly got their food and headed over to the benches where they met up with the other two. They enjoyed their dinner, the background noise that of the excited people and the festival music. They stayed longer to just sit and chat, already having seen most of the grounds during daylight and now they were just all waiting for nightfall.

Eventually the three dragged Kei up the hills a bit away from the festival, the scenery stretching out in front of them that of the glittering festival and a reflecting ocean.

"Why are we up here? We're not going to see the fireworks that much better. They're being set off on the opposite side," Kei frowned at the three in question.

"Yeah, but everyone is crowding over there. Here we get some privacy," Akaashi pointed out.

"...fair enough," they took seats on the grass, eyes looking over the festival below.

"...it is cold though," Akaashi mentioned.

"At least it hasn't snowed it a few days," Kei spoke.

"I'll keep you two warm," Kuroo wrapped his arms around the two from behind, bringing them closer to each other as well.

"Hey! Me too!" Bokuto wrapped himself around any of the three he could reach.

"I swear I'm going to suffocate from this," Kei commented as he was pressed tightly.

"Suffocate from our love!" Bokuto called and pressed himself further into them. Kei groaned. They sat there for a bit, bodies close to each other as they huddled up for warmth and contact. Kei would've never expected to feel so... natural with three guys' arms wrapped around them. So... safe.

He nestled his head up against Kuroo's shoulder, closing his eyes as he got comfortable. Kuroo let out a small huff in surprise, eyes trained on the beauty that was sinking into his touch. He shared a quick look with Akaashi and Bokuto who were both carrying silly grins, himself feeling the heat rise to his cheeks. He pressed his cheek into Kei's hair, ruffling it up as he got his face comfortable. Kei only hummed at the action.

They didn't speak for a while, nearly relishing in the gentle atmosphere of their close holds.

"Hey, it's starting," Bokuto pointed out and everyone looked to regard the night sky, vibrant colours starting to splash across the dark and starry canvas. The fireworks danced around, just like fireflies. Kei's eyes were fixed on the show, not having seen such extravagant fireworks in a couple of years now. It was so beautiful... so why weren't the others looking at it?

Kei noticed Akaashi and Bokuto's – who were on his sides – staring at him. He tore gaze away from the colours and looked between the three, craning his neck to catch a look at Kuroo. All three of them were giving him such serious looks, as if they were staring straight at his naked soul. He gulped.

"Hey, what is..." he felt Bokuto's hand on his cheek and he shot his head to him, the owl moving himself closer and holding onto Kei's side. He laid his head on his shoulder and peered up at Kei through lidded eyes. Kei could feel his breath be stolen away, Bokuto's beautiful eyes drawing him up and sending him all sorts of emotions.

He felt Kuroo's hands slowly creep around his waist, his fingers holding onto the rim of Kei's shirt as some of his fingers caressed the firefly's cold skin. Kei could feel himself shudder at the feeling, leaning back to meet Kuroo's body but the cat pushed his chest into Kei's body. He placed his face into Kei's hair, his breath fanning the nook of Kei's neck. Goosebumps began to form on his skin.

A hand came up to his other cheek, eyes shooting to meet Akaashi's divine gaze. He raised his body up and swung his leg across Kei's, the setter now straddling his hips. Kei's face instantly became red and he sucked his lips in, eyes not able to turn away from Akaashi's. The look he was receiving... it was one of desire and want and relief.

"Kei," Akaashi caressed his cheek, Kei releasing a shaky breath at the use of his full name. "We can't even begin to explain how happy you make us," Kei stopped breathing.

"We've had feelings for you for quite a while now," Bokuto drew Kei to look at him, not fully comprehending what he had just said.

"We loving hearing you laugh and making us laugh with that interesting sense of humour of yours," Kuroo moved to place a gentle kiss against Kei's ear. "We love all your silly quirks you only show with us and how good you take care of us," he breathed deeply against his ear.

"And you're beautiful," Bokuto rose onto his knees, bringing himself over to place a kiss against the side of Kei's neck. "You're so beautiful in everything you do. We love seeing you grow and we want to be there for all of it,"

"....it's all because of you," the three stopped in their gentle caressing, regarding Kei closely as he spoke. His eyes shot between the three, lips parted as he couldn't control his breathing properly. "It's only you, it's only even been because of you... that I'm so happy," he chocked. "I was lost before I met you," his eyes turned glossy just thinking of how badly he had treated himself before. Now, these three could help him turn down the volume of his demons and he could lose himself in them – in his love for them.

"God Kei," Akaashi brought himself closer, placing his forehead against Kei's as he gripped at his shoulders for support. Kei's hands rose up to hold onto Akaashi's forearms gently. "We love you so much,"

"I love you too," Kei was the one to push his face upwards after quickly removing his glasses, his lips connected with Akaashi's. Akaashi groaned into the feeling and readjusted his hips to sit in Kei's lap, hands moving up to hold his face with a gentle touch. Bokuto and Kuroo moved to attack Kei's two shoulders and neck with their lips, their hands roaming over his back and his abdomen. Kei moaned at the feeling, so many stimulus from all over. He moved his hands to wrap around Akaashi's waist, pulling him up further into his lap. Akaashi pushed himself deeper into the kiss, their lips starting to move against each other in an energetic dynamic. He felt a tap on his back and pulled away after a lingering kiss.

Bokuto's hand snaked to Kei's cheek and turned him to face the owl. Bokuto gave him a cheeky grin, but one that was asking for consent. Kei, in turn, placed his hand on Bokuto's cheek and reeled him in. The owl got a silly grin on his face as he basically pounced on the younger male, hands moving to hold him around his waist and back. He was pulled up into a deep kiss, the pure passion behind it leaving Kei stunned. He tried to match Bokuto's energy, desperately clinging onto his clothing and pushing himself upwards into him. The kiss was fast paced, the raw emotion conveying how long they've waited to do this being portrayed.

Akaashi and Kuroo each had a hand gripped onto Kei's body, the other occupied with each other. Kei could feel their heads bumping against his as they tried to sit impossibly close to him. It took a second for Kei to realise that not all the kissing noises were coming from him and Bokuto. He slowly pulled himself away from Bokuto, craning his head back to see. Bokuto immediately trailed his lips down, Kei's neck beautifully revealed in front of him. Kei saw Kuroo and Akaashi making out next to them, Akaashi moaning at how Kuroo was pushing into him. Kei let out a wavering breath as he watched the two.

"Oh wow," he said breathlessly. This seemed to snap Kuroo out of his feast as he instead turned to ravish Kei. He looked down at him with lustful eyes and Kei met him halfway, his hands immediately heading to pull at Kuroo's hair. The cat groaned deep from his throat, his teeth capturing Kei's and began to nibble. Kei released a shaky breath at that. Next to them, Akaashi had pushed Bokuto's head into Kei's lap and got on top of him, kissing his captain with as much force as he could muster. Kuroo could feel Kei's slightly long nails dig into his scalp and he loved it.

Then he felt Kei's hand on his chest, slowly pushing him away. Kuroo pulled away quickly and looked down in worry, but Kei shot him a bright smile. He reached his hand over and tapped at the two who were busy in his lap, Akaashi disconnecting and sitting himself on Bokuto's hips. He held Bokuto's shoulders down as to not follow him up. The owl whined but turned his eyes to Kei, looking up at him expectantly. Kei released a shaky breath.

"Fireworks... at a festival. Really?" he chuckled at them. "That is so cliché,"

"But it worked!" Bokuto pointed up at Kei with wide, knowing eyes.

"It would've worked even if were in a sewer," Kei shook his head.

"...a sewer?" Kei looked to Kuroo who carried a sneer. "I'm sorry, but if anyone confesses to me in a sewer, I'd dump their asses into the pipes," Kei scoffed.

"That's a bit mean Kuroo,"

"Tetsurō," Kuroo spoke, giving an affirmative nod to Kei who regarded him for a second before nodding with a smile.

"Tetsurō," he repeated.

"Kōtarō!" Bokuto said happily, throwing his arms into the air.

"Keiji," Akaashi just rolled his eyes. Kei smiled at the three of them.

"So... does this mean..." Akaashi got the message, moved off Bokuto and went to hold Kei's hand between his two.

"Only if you want to," he nodded with a serious expression. "Of course, we would understand if you don't... I mean, dating three guys is just-," Kei cut him off by leaning over, placing a tender kiss against Akaashi's lips.

"Yes," Kei breathed against him before he moved away and regarded the other two. "I want too," he nodded with a definite confidence. "I want nothing more, actually," and none of them could be any happier in that moment, the three of them clinging onto Kei as they watched the last moments of the fireworks.

The four of them were absolutely giddy the rest of the evening as they attempted to catch Bokuto's fish and get some more festival food to take home. They stole quick kisses whenever they could and always clung onto each other's arms or hands, a spark igniting within all of them now that it was official. Turned out that they had gotten hold of Yamaguchi by getting Kenma to ask Hinata for his number, getting confirmation from the pinch server. They wanted to know if what they thought and hoped was actually true and that they wouldn't make fools of themselves and ruin the friendship. Even without Yamaguchi's help, they still probably would've tried to reach out and see if Kei loved them like they loved him. They didn't want to let him slip through their fingers.

They basically stumbled into the manor a couple of hours later, the high they got from their excitement starting to fade out. It was quite late and they were tired, ready to reset and recharge for the next day. The four got ready for bed after taking warm baths to bring up their body temperature. Bokuto, Kuroo and Akaashi were in the adjoined bathroom to Akaashi's room in his large almost Jacuzzi-styled tub. It was obviously too early to have Kei join them naked, so he was in the adjoined bathroom to the guestroom. They didn't mention this to Kei, not wanting to put unnecessary pressure on him to jump into the relationship on the same level they were already.

Their relationship with Kei was new and fresh, and they – cough Bokuto cough – needed to remember that. Since the house was heated, they could comfortably walked around with only shorts but they decided to throw a robe on for decency. Akaashi had pulled out his hairdryer and began to dry all their hair, not accepting that anyone would head to bed with wet hair. Kei slipped into the room at this time, allowing Akaashi to work on his head. They played a weak round of truth-and-dare at that point, but without the dares or any interesting truth part. So it was more like twenty questions. They were tired and needed something to fill the time.

Kei slipped away to the guest room at some time and returned with his bag. Kuroo watched him with interest as he entered. Kei let the bad drop to the floor, catching the attention of the others.

"Hm?" Bokuto gave him a questioning look. Kei scoffed.

"No reason for me to stay in the guest room anymore, is there?" Kei shrugged his shoulders.

"Kei, you don't have to sleep with us so soon if you're not comfortable with it," Kuroo gave him a look, Kei in turn wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Kuroo blushed. "I didn't mean sex, you idiot! Well, I mean," Kuroo waved his hands into the air with a thoughtful look. "I'm not going to say no thank you to wherever you want to throw that desirable body of yours," Kei chocked at that, hiding his face behind his hand. Akaashi punched softly at Kuroo's shoulder.

"OI!"

"This reminds me of that conversation we had right after Karasuno and Nekoma had their first practice match," Bokuto said, hand on his chin in thought.

"Oh yeah-,"

"We're not talking about that!" Kuroo said firmly, eyes trained on the floor. Kei looked to Bokuto with interest.

"Oh?"

"Bo, don't-,"

"According to Kenma, he took one look at you and decided he wanted your thighs to crush his face,"

"I'm never going to fucking live this down!" Kuroo shook at his head at the ridiculousness of it all, turning his back on them and pacing off a bit. Kei only found this amusing and chuckled at how the usual cat was losing his cool.

"Why are you walking away from me? My thighs are over here," Kei spoke mockingly, slapping at his thigh. Bokuto whistled and Kuroo looked back with a disapproving look. He only gave him a shake of his head.

"Don't do this to me," Kei was thoroughly entertained but didn't decide to push it.

Bokuto and Kuroo were the first beneath the covers of the large bed – the bed Akaashi forced his father to buy for them. His father had complied with a wink and a wiggle of his eyebrows. He was young once, too.

Bokuto and Kuroo were having a mini-wrestling match while the other two were still brushing their teeth. Akaashi rolled his eyes at them with a smile when he returned and threw his robe to the side. He slid in with them, Bokuto grabbing at him and flipping the positions so that Akaashi was in the middle. He nestled into the angel's back.

Kei headed from the bathroom to the middle of the room, eyes trained on them with a serious look. He stood still for a moment, watching their beautiful half-naked bodies intertwine with each other. Kuroo stopped and pushed himself up into a sitting position as he watched Kei.

"You, just like I said, you don't..." but his words came to a stop when Kei reached for his shirt, giving the boys a little show as he pulled it off. He tossed it to side with a dramatic flick of the wrist. Bokuto whistled, all eyes on Kei now. He headed to bed, climbing onto it from the foot to the middle space between Kuroo and Akaashi. Kuroo reeled him in as soon as he was close, holding him in his body. Bokuto threw the sheet over all their bodies and turned off the bedside lamp. The four readjusted their bodies, nestling into each other. Kuroo was pressed up against him, Akaashi's hand was resting on his palm and Bokuto was gently holding onto his waist from across Akaashi's body.

The room fell silent, their breathing's sounds merging with each other.

"This feels so right," Kei said after a moment, and they couldn't agree more.

It was as if they found a missing piece they didn't know they had been looking for.

They found each other.

It's been 43k words since Tsukishima was first introduced and it's finally here! AHHHHHHH! Can't wait to start on the rest!