Chapter Text
The First Summer
Tsukishima had seen a lot of things in his time at Camp Half Blood.
He’d been coming to camp since he was young, much younger than most of the other campers. His father was an archaeologist, always on the move, and without his mother in the picture, it was easier for him to just bring Tsukishima to camp instead of towing him around the world with him.
He was also a year-rounder. This meant that while some of the other campers, the part-timers, were only here over the summer, Tsukishima was here for all four seasons. He didn’t have a house or parents to go back to, didn’t have a school to go to, or friends that would be missing him. He was just here, at camp, all year long.
So yeah, between the early years he spent here and the fact that he never left, Tsukishima saw a lot of things here at camp. He was there for almost every godly parent claiming over the past few years, every game of capture the flag, every Winter Solstice, every Summer Solstice, every single one of the Miya twins’ pranks, and the first time Oikawa laid eyes on Iwaizumi and declared the most epic and long-running “dibs” of all time. He was there when Ushijima first arrived and the Ares cabin set their sights on the big, powerful boy until a few months later, when he shocked them all by being claimed by Demeter. He saw campers leave on quests, and saw less of them return. Saw the Oracle give more prophecies than he could count, and saw how Chiron’s beard slowly got grayer and grayer.
Tsukishima was only thirteen, but he was pretty sure he had seen it all.
That is, until Kuroo Tetsurou fell out of the sky one spring morning.
*
There had been a whole crowd of people circled around something Tsukishima couldn’t see when he finished breakfast that day.
“What’s everyone looking at?” Tsukishima, though at least a head taller than the other kids his age, still struggled on his tip toes to look over the older kids’ shoulders.
“Some kid just fell into the middle of the training grounds out of nowhere!” Nishinoya, perched on top of Tanaka’s shoulders, informed him cheerfully. “The Apollo kids are making sure he isn’t dead.”
“Did anybody tell Chiron yet?” Tsukishima asked in alarm.
“He’s on his way now.” Tanaka shrugged, making Nishinoya yelp and grab onto his cabin-mate’s bald head to keep from falling off. As politely as he could, Tsukishima shouldered past the Hermes boys and started squeezing his way closer to the front. He was small enough that no one seemed to notice or care when he pushed in front of them.
At the very edge of the crowd, Tsukishima recognized the back of his cabin leader’s smooth, silvery hair and made for that direction. When he felt Tsukishima tap him on the back, Sugawara tugged the younger boy to his side, so that Tsukishima could finally see.
It looked like a star had fallen out of the sky.
A black one. Or a nebula, maybe. Tsukishima was never that good at astronomy.
Laying in the middle of a shallow crater in the ground, surrounded by Apollo kids carefully checking his limbs and reading his pulse points, was the strangest boy Tsukishima had ever seen. He was dressed all in black from head to toe, covered in dirt from his crash-landing, and had a nest of hair the color of nightmares that stuck up at every angle. His eyes stayed mostly closed, though every so often an Apollo kid would pry his eyelids open and shine a flashlight in them.
They were the color of precious gold.
“Who is he?”
“Nobody knows,” Sugawara said sadly. He looked like he wanted to give the fallen star boy a hug, which, knowing Sugawara and his bleeding heart, he most certainly did.
“Where did he come from?”
Sugawara pointed up and offered no further explanation.
“Alright, move aside, please. Everyone, make room.” The crowd of campers parted easily for Chiron. The Centaur had a few hushed words with the Apollo kids, before lowering his two front legs and carefully gathering the unconscious intruder into his arms. “Back to your regularly scheduled activities. Cabin leaders, if you would be so kind.”
All of the cabin leaders called their campers into line, herding them to their activities, and Chiron galloped off with the boy and no further explanation.
Tsukishima didn’t stop thinking about whoever that boy was all day long.
He was so distracted, he didn’t even notice Yamaguchi making yellow daisies sprout in his hair until the Apollo cabin went walking past and Hinata very loudly pointed them out to everyone in the general vicinity. Tsukishima glared at his best friend while Yamaguchi just giggled helplessly and helped him carefully pluck the flowers from his head. That’s what he got for not paying attention to a son of Demeter, he supposed.
*
The next time Tsukishima saw the boy who fell from the sky again, he was awake.
He was standing at the head of the dining pavilion next to Chiron, the camp director’s hand on his shoulder. “Campers, if I could have your attention for some announcements,” Chiron’s voice rang out, steady as a bass drum, and all of the campers were more quiet than Tsukishima had ever seen them before. It appeared Tsukishima wasn’t the only person wondering about the boy. “I’m sure by now you’re all aware of the incident that took place at the training grounds this morning. I’d like to shed some light on that incident now, to avoid unnecessarily worrying any of you. This young man,” Chiron clapped the boy gently on the shoulder, “is Kuroo Tetsurou. Kuroo will be staying here with us at camp, so please do your best to welcome him and show him the ropes. He’s one of us now.”
“Will he be staying in the Hermes cabin?” Atsumu Miya raised his hand to ask. He and his twin brother Osamu were co-head counselors of the Hermes cabin, and any demigod child who wasn’t claimed by their godly parent yet stayed in the Hermes cabin until they knew who their real parent was, if it didn’t up being Hermes himself. Some kids never got claimed, and ended up never leaving the Hermes cabin.
Chiron’s smile strained, his eyes flickered down to the boy next to him. Tsukishima, who may have been watching the boy a little too closely, noticed the suddenly rigid set to his shoulders. The defiant tilt of his chin. The lick of fire in his golden eyes.
“Well, that’s a good question, Mr. Miya. As it turns out, Kuroo has somewhat of a, a rather unique - “
“I know who my dad is,” Kuroo interrupted Chiron boldly. “I met him. He’s the one who brought me here.”
Him.
Tsukishima’s mind immediately started to run through the list of all of the male Gods Kuroo could be a child of. (And silently celebrated the fact that Kuroo wasn’t his sibling, though at thirteen years old, he didn’t know why yet.)
He ruled out almost all of them right off the bat. If he were a child of Apollo or Ares or Hephaestus, it wouldn’t be considered a “unique” situation. It wouldn’t have made Chiron’s face pinch up like that.
Maybe - Maybe he was another child of the Big Three? The strongest of the Greek Gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They had very few children due to a pact they made decades ago, promising not to bring anymore demigods from their bloodline into the world. Children of the Big Three were notoriously insanely powerful, and usually quite tragic. But, as Bokuto and Sakusa were proof of, sometimes that pact got broken.
Not even the Gods themselves were perfect, after all.
“Hold on,” Oikawa stood from the Aphrodite table, a hand planted on his hip, perfect chestnut hair flowing like he was in a shampoo commercial. “You met him? Your godly parent?”
Kuroo bristled. “Yes.”
“And we’re just supposed to take your word for it, then?”
“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi groaned from the Hephaestus table.
“Here we go again.” Daishou snickered to himself and Tsukishima barely stopped himself from elbowing his brother in the ribs.
There were squabbles like this in the dining pavilion all the time, with people from different cabins shouting across the way at each other, sometimes even throwing food, but this didn’t feel like that. It didn’t feel like a good time to laugh, because Kuroo Tetsurou had a storm brewing on his face.
“I’m just saying,” Oikawa threw his hands up defensively. “We don’t let any other unclaimed demigod that comes through choose their cabin, so why should he get to without any proof?”
Though his delivery left room for improvement, Oikawa was undeniably right. Demigods usually didn’t even know who their Godly parent was until they were officially claimed. It was a whole ordeal, some kids waited their whole life for it. For the glowing symbol of their parent to appear over their head. To finally know where they belong.
“Toruu,” Chiron said firmly. “I can assure you that in my own best judgement, I believe that - “
“Proof?” Kuroo spat, his hands clenching into dangerous fists. Tsukishima felt the blood in his veins run ice cold. In fact, the entire dining pavilion seemed to drop twenty degrees. “How’s this for proof, pretty boy?”
Oikawa’s jaw dropped indignantly, but before a word of protest could come out of his mouth, there was a horrible, grinding sound. Like a chainsaw trying to cut through concrete. Like marble cracking in half.
And sure enough, the ground of the pavilion, right below Kuroo Tetsurou’s feet, crumbled open into a dark black abyss. Someone who might have been Yachi over at the Apollo table screamed when boney white fingers started to claw their way out of the darkness.
Tsukishima wasn’t even embarrassed when he instinctively clutched at the back of Sugawara’s shirt, hiding almost his entire body behind his older brother.
Kuroo was another child of the Big Three - but not like one they’d ever had before.
Hades.
The whisper traveled through the pavilion like crashing waves. Oikawa fell with his mouth agape in shock back into his seat. Tendou from the Ares cabin was eyeing Kuroo like he was going to be his next meal. Over at the Hypnos table, even Kenma blinked himself awake at the spectacle.
It was terrifying to watch, but impossible to look away. Horrible and beautiful, like you were being tempted by Medusa to take just a little peek.
“That’s enough!”
At Chiron’s booming command, Kuroo un-balled his fists and the skeletal hands retreated back into the darkness. The ground sealed itself up beneath him like nothing had ever happened at all. He scowled and shoved his hands back into his pockets, eyeing everyone with a dare written clearly across his face.
Anyone else got something to say?
“Well,” one of Tsukishima’s siblings said quietly from behind him. “You don’t see that every day.”
“No,” Tsukishima Kei, who had seen everything there was to see at Camp Half Blood before that day, agreed. “No, you don’t.”
*
Dinner went on, though a bit more tense than usual.
Kyoutani and Daichi at the Ares table still arm wrestled until they broke a few plates, and Shirabu at the Aphrodite table still threw the angriest, most aggressive love charms known to demigod at Semi Eita over at the Apollo table.
Lev pelted food at the back of Koganegawa’s head, usually missing and hitting Yaku instead, resulting in both Hephaestus brothers turning on the son of Hermes with some mini super-canon filled with chicken nuggets.
The Dionysus kids chugged as much soda as they could and had super loud burping contests, which their cabin leader Terushima always won, and Tsukishima himself listened to Sugawara excitedly telling him about the latest bit of ancient Greek history he’d read up on.
Everything was the same, but everything was totally different.
Because sitting there, at the Big Three table, was a dangerous and mysterious stranger.
“You should go introduce yourself.”
“What?” Tsukishima looked back at Sugawara in surprise. The older boy just gave him a knowing smile.
“You’ve been staring at him all night and not listening to a word I’ve said. I know you, Tsukishima Kei, better than almost anyone. You can’t stand a mystery or a puzzle that you don’t know the answer to.”
Tsukishima felt his ears heat up. That must be it, right? The reason he couldn’t stop thinking about Kuroo Tetsurou, son of Hades. Tsukishima didn’t understand him, and he hated not understanding things. It was genetic.
“I wasn’t staring,” Tsukishima pouted. “And I don’t care.”
Sugawara poked him in the center of the forehead playfully. “You’re a terrible liar, Kei,” he teased. Then, added more seriously. “He looks lonely over there, doesn’t he?”
Tsukishima refused to acknowledge the way his chest clenched painfully.
“If he’s so lonely, he can just summon a few skeletons to sit with him.”
“Kei.” Sugawara gave him a disapproving look. Tsukishima sighed heavily. Gods, there was nothing he hated more than disappointing his older brother.
“Bokuto and Sakusa will be back soon, and then he won’t be alone anymore,” he tried. The weather was starting to get warmer, which meant that all of the part-timers were finishing up with school and starting their summer breaks soon.
“Speaking of coming back soon, you’ve been talking to Akaashi, right? When does he get out of school?”
A genuine, toothy smile overtook Tsukishima’s features. “Only two more weeks!”
Sugawara clutched his heart dramatically. “I knew he was your favorite brother.”
“I don’t have a favorite brother.”
“You’re a terrible liar, Kei.” Sugawara winked.
Tsukishima grinned back at him, but they both knew it was no lie. He loved all of his siblings with as much of his thirteen-year-old heart as he could. He even loved Daishou, that annoying jerk.
“So?”
“So what?” Tsukishima parroted.
“Are you gonna go talk to him?”
Tsukishima’s stomach dropped. For a second there, he had almost forgotten.
“Nope.”
“If it were you in his shoes, wouldn’t you want someone to come talk to you?” Sugawara frowned, and Tsukishima hated the way he was succeeding at tugging at his heartstrings. “I overheard Chiron saying he’d been through a lot. I think a friendly face would really make him feel better.”
Tsukishima groaned and Sugawara beamed like he already knew he had won the argument. Godsdamnit. Tsukishima scowled at him, and got his cheeks pinched for the effort.
“That’s not a very friendly face, Kei! Put on that sweet little smile of yours and go make a friend, would you?”
“I have friends!” Tsukishima protested, rubbing his sore cheeks.
“You have one friend,” Sugawara corrected. “Actually, Yamaguchi doesn’t even count anymore. He’s more like your extra limb, or something.”
And with that, he shooed Tsukishima right off the bench.
With each step he took towards the Big Three table at the head of the dining pavilion, Tsukishima felt more and more campers’ eyes on him. He was never comfortable with too much attention in general, but this moment felt monumentally more embarrassing for some reason. Like he was potentially facing some kind of rejection or something.
Which he kind of was. What if Kuroo Tetsurou laughed in his face? Didn’t want to be his friend? Tsukishima would be humiliated in front of the entire camp.
He turned back to his table with pleading eyes, but Sugawara just gave him an encouraging thumbs up. So it wasn’t really optional anymore.
“Um,” Tsukishima cleared his throat as he approached, just in case he accidentally startled the son of Hades and ended up falling into a giant chasm of despair. Slowly, Kuroo lifted his head and shot Tsukishima through the heart with two golden bullets. “Hi.”
“Hello,” Kuroo said. His eyes darted around, on high alert. Now that he was closer, Tsukishima could also see dark bruised rings under his eyes.
I overheard Chiron saying he’d been through a lot.
Tsukishima couldn’t help but wonder…
He stuck out his hand before he could back out, thrusting it right in Kuroo’s face.
“I’m Tsukishima Kei, from the Athena cabin.”
Kuroo blinked at him a few times, before cautiously taking Tsukishima’s pale, slender hand into his own much larger, much broader and tanner hand. He had scars and callouses that didn’t come from games of capture the flag.
“Kuroo.”
He didn’t say who his parent was.
Then, he suddenly cocked his head to the side, squinting up at Tsukishima like he was direct sunlight.
“You’re hard for me to look at,” Kuroo Tetsurou, son of Hades, declared, promptly grinding any and all self-confidence Tsukishima had in himself before that moment into dust.
“I - What?” Tsukishima gaped, feeling like a giant chasm of despair really had just opened up beneath his feet.
Before Kuroo could elaborate - not that Tsukishima was sure he really wanted him to - Chiron was clapping his hands together and loudly asking that all campers return to their tables for the end of dinner announcements.
Tsukishima walked back to the Athena table, feeling like the undead.
“Well,” Sugawara nudged him. “How did it go? Is Kuroo nice?”
“I hate him.”
“Oh, dear.”
*
Tsukishima should have known that wouldn’t be the end of it.
He fumed all through dinner last night, chewing his food a little too aggressively and drinking so much Sprite, that Sugawara eventually cut him off. He didn’t care what Kuroo thought about him. He didn’t care at all the the strangest, most wonderful thing he had ever laid eyes on thought he was an eyesore. A blemish on the face of the Earth. A plague of the senses.
Well, maybe he hadn’t said all of that, but Tsukishima was getting pretty good at reading between the lines.
Kuroo Tetsurou didn’t like him, and that was fine. Tsukishima never really wanted to be his friend anyways. Sugawara made him do it!
So really, Tsukishima was perfectly fine with spending the rest of his life never talking to stupid Kuroo ever again.
Of course, that’s not how his life would go. Because he was a demigod, and when was his life ever easy?
“Chiron’s looking for you.” Kageyama delivered the message in clipped, even syllables. Tsukishima wasn’t the guy’s biggest fan, but he did appreciate this much about the son of Ares: He was sparing with words.
“Ooooh,” his cabin-mates chorused. “You’re in trouble!”
Tsukishima lifted his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Despite being one of the youngest campers here for most of his life, he sometimes felt like he was surrounded by children.
“Big House?” He asked Kageyama. It was where Chiron could usually be found. The other boy gave a simple nod of his head, thus signaling the end of their conversation, and his interest in talking to Tsukishima. He walked away without another word, and that suited Tsukishima just fine.
The entire walk to the Big House, his stomach turned back and forth with nerves. He wasn’t in trouble, was he? Mentally, Tsukishima reviewed everything he’d done in recent memory that could warrant punishment. There were a few minor rules broken - he was thirteen, after all - but nothing bad enough that the camp director himself would have to speak to him about it.
He’d just have to wait and see what Chiron wanted when he got there.
“Kei,” Chiron greeted him, and something about his smile made Tsukishima already dread the next words that were going to come out of his mouth.
Or maybe it was the fact that on his way in, he passed by none other than Kuroo Tetsurou, Lord of Darkness and Monochromatic Fashion himself, sitting on the steps up to the Big House. He was pouting - sulking, maybe - with his knees pulled to his chest and his eyes glaring holes into his black combat boots. He didn’t even look up when Tsukishima passed him.
“Kageyama said you were looking for me. Did I do something wrong?”
Chiron laughed, and it still did nothing to ease Tsukishima’s nerves. “Is that all you kids associate me with these days? Law and order? Crime and punishment?”
“No, sir.” Tsukishima shook his head quickly. Chiron was the closest thing to a father figure that Tsukishima had for most of his life. He didn’t want the old centaur to start thinking otherwise. “I guess you could have just been inviting me over to play chess.” It wouldn’t have been very surprising, they played together often, but… “I had a feeling it was something more.”
Chiron smiled fondly at him. “Your instincts are as sharp as ever, my boy. You’re not in any trouble, but I do have a favor to ask of you.”
“A favor?” Tsukishima wasn’t used to adults needing favors from him.
“A big one,” Chiron nodded sagely. “Am I mistaken, or did I see you talking with Kuroo Tetsurou at dinner last night?”
Tsukishima felt ghost flames of humiliation crawling up his neck.
“I was,” he admitted through gritted teeth. “But it wasn’t really - I mean, we were just - “
“I need someone to show him around today. Let him shadow you, teach him how things work. He doesn’t have any cabin-mates to follow, so I was hoping you’d be willing to do it.”
Tsukishima mentally struck Sugawara with every mildly annoying curse he could think of. This was all his fault.
“Sir, it’s not like - I mean, we aren’t friends or anything!” Tsukishima blurted out. Kinda loudly.
Chiron frowned, and oh, this was even worse than Sugawara’s disappointed face.
“You may not be friends now, but who knows? Give it a little time and you’ll see.” Chiron stroked his beard and leaned back in the wheelchair he tucked his horse-half into when he was indoors. “The truth is, Kei, after that display at dinner last night, I’m afraid there’s no one else I can ask. You’re the only person I’ve seen brave enough to approach him. Or kind enough. Take your pick.”
Bravery and kindness had nothing to do with it. Tsukishima was just plain dumb.
Still, he couldn’t help the pang of sympathy he felt for the dirty, dark-haired boy with the thunderstorm face and the precious metal eyes. There was something about him, something sad and bitter that Tsukishima wanted to remove like a tumor. (Ew. He needed to stop spending so much time in the Apollo cabin.) He had just been dropped - literally - into the middle of camp with no sense of belonging. No siblings. No friends.
Just Tsukishima and his agony-inducing face.
Sucking up the last of his pride and letting it go in one big exhale, Tsukishima gave in.
“Fine. I guess I’ll play Death Boy’s babysitter for the day.”
*
When Kuroo saw Tsukishima walk out of the Big House, his expression got suspiciously brighter.
“You’re the person who’s gonna show me around today, huh?”
“Lucky you,” Tsukishima deadpanned. For some reason, that made Kuroo laugh.
It didn’t sound cruel or sadistic, like he couldn’t wait for more opportunities to insult Tsukishima. It sounded, actually… Kind of nice. Like crunching gravel on a backroad.
But Tsukishima knew appearances could be deceiving. Kuroo was probably just trying to get him to lower his guard.
Kuroo followed him around that day like big black dog. Tsukishima was being stalked by a Hellhound. He knew it was part of Chiron’s orders, but did the guy really have to stand so close? Like, I-can-smell-what-you-had-for-breakfast-on-your-breath close. Every time Tsukishima stopped to show Kuroo something, when he turned to give an explanation, there Kuroo was. Right over his shoulder.
They were right about the same height. Tsukishima only knew this now because Kuroo stood so close to him that sometimes their noses bumped into each other.
It was the weirdest experience of Tsukishima’s life. Kuroo Tetsurou had no Godly idea about personal space. It was starting to get on his nerves.
By the time they made it to the training grounds (after covering the infirmary, the strawberry fields, the stables, and the forges), it was the Ares cabin’s turn to practice their sparring. They were all gathered in a loose group, stretching and passing out wooden swords and shields. When Tendou Satori spotted them, impossibly tall and lanky frame and flaming red hair making him easy to pick out among his siblings, his eyes gleamed and a huge grin spread across his face. Never a good sign.
Tendou was, in Daishou’s words, “one crazy son of a bitch” (he got a stern scolding from Sugawara for saying it, but the point remained). The son of Ares was lethal in battle, and obnoxious as hell in everyday life. However, when Tsukishima first arrived at camp all those years ago, it was surprisingly Tendou who was one of the first people to help him find his way at Camp Half Blood. While pretty much all the older campers pretty much adopted Tsukishima as their collective younger brother from the day he first stepped foot here, Tendou was always especially protective of Tsukishima. It felt like the son of Ares always had one eye on him, and any kids that ever made fun of how scrawny he was or the way his glasses looked, mysteriously ended up with black eyes the next day. People didn’t really mess with Tsukishima these days.
As annoying as he could be, Tendou had a soft heart deep down.
But today? Today, Tsukishima didn’t feel like dealing with Tendou.
“Let’s just keep going.” Tsukishima tried to usher Kuroo along quickly, but was stopped in his tracks by Tendou calling out his name.
“Little Kei Kei!” He taunted, using the same nickname he’d been using since Tsukishima was barely eight years old and couldn’t reach the sink faucets by himself. “Where are you going in such a hurry? You aren’t going to leave the training grounds without giving our new guest a proper demonstration, are you?”
Kuroo’s eyes narrowed, cutting between Tendou and Tsukishima quickly, like a guard dog preparing to attack. Tsukishima sighed and shook his head, signaling that Tendou wasn’t any sort of real threat. Nobody at camp really was, especially not to Tsukishima.
“It’s better to just play along with whatever he wants,” Tsukishima explained, leading Kuroo back towards where Tendou was grinning maniacally in the middle of the arena.
“This is supposed to be our training time,” Goshiki, a younger camper around Tsukishima’s age with a dark bowl cut and the most hot-and-cold emotions he had ever met, complained to their cabin leader, Daichi.
Daichi was at least a head shorter than Tendou, but built much more sturdily. He also had a much more level head on his shoulders, which is why despite being the same age, the Ares kids chose Daichi as their leader. Tsukishima hasn’t actually spoken to Daichi many times, but he knows all about how great he is from how much Sugawara tells him. They were very close friends, apparently.
“Hurry it up, Tendou,” Daichi called. His voice was stern and left no room for argument.
“Don’t worry,” Tendou’s teeth flashed white and wicked. “This will all be over in a second.”
If Tsukishima didn’t know him better, he might have been terrified right now. He could feel Kuroo tensing up beside him, like he was getting ready for a life or death battle rather than a sparring session with wooden swords. Tsukishima frowned and tried to position himself as casually as possible between Kuroo and Tendou. He wasn’t sure who he was trying to protect from who.
“Just give us your stupid demonstration so you can show off or whatever, we want to leave.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Tendou’s smile only grew.
“But I can’t give my demonstration without you!”
Tsukishima groaned. “No way, Tendou, not happening. I’m not sparring with you.”
“But Little Kei Kei, you haven’t sparred me in so long!” Tendou pouted.
“Because last time we sparred you made me eat dirt, you jerk!”
“Come on,” Tendou coaxed, eyes sliding over to Kuroo. “Don’t you want to give your new little friend the best tour you possibly can?”
“You don’t have to,” Kuroo said quietly behind him.
For some reason, those few quiet words were what spurred Tsukishima’s feet into gear. He didn’t need Kuroo feeling bad for him or thinking he was weak.
“Grab me a sword and shield,” he barked in Goshiki’s general direction. The Ares boy muttered something about not being Tsukishima’s “eunuch”, but went to do it anyways. Tsukishima didn’t know what that word meant, but Kyoutani smacked his little brother on the back of the head when he heard him say it.
Tsukishima wasn’t a bad fighter. He was, as many of the campers who trained him over the years described, “exceptionally decent” at it. He wasn’t the strongest kid at camp, nor was he the toughest or even the best with weapons, but he had some of the best instincts. He had been training much longer than even some of the kids years older than him. Undoubtably, though, his strongest weapon was his mind.
Child of Athena, and all.
As he and Tendou circled each other, sizing each other up with wooden swords in hand, Tsukishima’s exceptionally brilliant mind told him one, very obvious thing: He couldn’t win this fight.
If Tendou were a real enemy that Tsukishima was facing in battle, he would be smart enough to turn tail and run, or at least cause some kind of distraction so he could get away. Tendou was bigger than Tsukishima, faster and stronger, more well-acquainted with a weapon in his hand. Plus, he had the insatiable blood-lust and drive to win that only a child of Ares could posses.
In short, Tsukishima was about to get his ass handed to him.
He glanced over at Kuroo out of the corner of his eye, and from the wary expression on his face, the other boy had come to the same conclusion.
“Eyes on me, Kei Kei,” Tendou taunted, jabbing Tsukishima playfully on his exposed shoulder. Tsukishima tried to hide his wince as he turned his eyes back on his opponent, raising his shield a little higher.
That was the thing about wooden weapons - They weren’t very likely to kill you, but they still hurt like a bitch.
“You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?” Tsukishima huffed, barely blocking Tendou’s sword the next time it came arcing towards him. Tendou’s eyes opened comically wide.
“Such language! Who taught you to talk like that?”
Even as he rolled to dodge another attack, Tsukishima couldn’t help but grin. Tendou knew perfectly well that the first person to teach him how to curse was the son of Ares himself.
After a few more minutes of dancing around each other, their moves started to get increasingly faster and more forceful. Tsukishima knew that Tendou had been holding back on him at first, but he wasn’t anymore. He grunted as his shield was knocked back into his gut, forcing the wind out of his lungs. Tendou’s eyes flashed hungrily, and Tsukishima staggered back a few steps when his shield was met with Tendou’s sword again, then again, and a third time.
Tsukishima didn’t care about winning this fight. He almost never did. But for some reason (not Kuroo Tetsurou, obviously) he wanted to get at least one good hit in. One move that he could be proud of. The gears in his brain started turning.
The next time Tendou lunged to attack, Tsukishima stepped in closer to meet it. The older boy’s eyes widened in surprise. Tsukishima wasn’t known for offensive moves.
“Getting bold there, aren’t we, Kei Kei?”
“Just trying to get this over with.”
Tendou laughed, and sometimes when he laughed it was hard to believe he was the same person that tore a rogue Hellhound limb from limb when it broke past the barrier and almost killed a few campers.
“You wanna end this?” The son of Ares asked with a crazed grin.
“Yes!” Goshiki groaned from the sidelines. “Just wrap it up already!”
Tendou flipped him the middle finger without taking his eyes of Tsukishima. Then, he threw down his shield with a maniacal glint in his eyes. Tsukishima grinned to himself behind his own shield. Tendou was playing right into his plan.
This time when Tendou rushed him, Tsukishima let himself be tackled to the ground. There were a tangle of long limbs and wooden swords until Tendou wrestled Tsukishima’s shield out of his hands and pinned him down by sitting on his chest. The red-haired boy crowed victoriously, sword pointed at Tsukishima’s neck.
“Any final words, valiant warrior?” Tendou asked in an overly dramatic voice.
“Yeah,” Tsukishima grinned, making Tendou’s smile waver. “Never hesitate.” And then, he smacked Tendou right in the center of the face with the flat of his sword.
“OWWWW!” Tendou howled, grabbing his nose. “You li’l shi’!”
All of the Ares kids laughed and Tsukishima was pleased to find that even Kuroo was smiling a little at the display. If there was one thing weakness Tendou Satori had in battle, it was his pride and flair for dramatics, which Tsukishima wasn’t afraid to exploit.
Tsukishima tried to scramble quickly to his feet while Tendou was distracted by the stinging in his face, but a hand locked around his ankle and dragged him back to the ground, this time on his stomach with his arms pinned behind his back.
“That wasn’t playing very nice, Kei Kei!” Tendou chastised, knee pressing firmly into the center of his back. Tsukishima groaned and let his body go slack. He knew when he was bested, and it was futile to keep fighting at that point.
“Get off,” he whined. “You’re too heavy.” His lungs were quietly starting to protest the position, and his glasses were pressing into his face uncomfortably.
“Say I’m the best fighter in the whole entire camp,” Tendou sing-songed.
“Off,” Tsukishima groaned again.
“Say it! Say, Tendou Satori, you are the strongest warrior since Achilles - no! Even stronger than Achilles! Say it, Kei Kei, or you’re sleeping in the ground with the worms tonight.”
“Not on your life, weirdo!”
“Come on, Little - “
Before Tendou could finish his sentence, he was yelping in surprise and his weight was suddenly gone from Tsukishima’s back. Kuroo had picked up one of their discarded swords, and was now pointing it right under Tendou’s chin, close enough to dimple the skin there. One of Tendou’s hands was pressed against his sternum, and his eyes blazed like his father’s.
“He said ‘get off’,” Kuroo growled in a low, threatening voice, rumbling like thunder.
Woah. Okay then.
“What the hell is your problem, man!” Tendou grabbed the sword and thrust it away from his face. “We were just playing around! I would never really hurt Kei!” Suddenly, the rage on his face was replaced with confusion. Something almost a little gentle. “Hey, dude, are you okay?”
Tsukishima didn’t know what had caused Tendou’s sudden change in demeanor, but then he noticed Kuroo’s hand trembling violently, clutching at the hilt of the sword like it was a lifeline. In fact, his entire body was trembling.
Ignoring the aching in his bones, Tsukishima shot to his feet, rushing to Kuroo’s side. “He’s fine,” Tsukishima assured Tendou quickly. The last thing they needed after the stunt Kuroo pulled at dinner last night was for him to give everyone another reason to be wary of him. He wasn’t going to make any friends that way. Tsukishima gently pried Kuroo’s fingers from the sword, watching his reaction carefully. “You’re fine, right?” He asked more quietly. Numbly, Kuroo nodded, letting Tsukishima take the weapon from him.
“Yeah, I’m…” Kuroo’s voice failed. His eyes were somewhere faraway. Haunted.
Tsukishima had seen that look before.
“Let’s go,” he urged, putting a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder before he could even thing about the action. Kuroo didn’t shrug him off though, just let Tsukishima lead him away. Tendou raised a hand in a confused wave goodbye, while the other Ares kids watched them carefully, murmuring amongst themselves. Tsukishima felt oddly protective of Kuroo in that moment.
Kuroo didn’t talk again until they were sitting by the lake, side by side, but not so close that an inch of them was touching.
“I’m sorry.” He sounded miserable and worn out, his head hung low. “I don’t know what happened. It was like I was…somewhere else.”
“PTSD,” Tsukishima nodded in agreement. Kuroo looked up at him, face scrunched in confusion.
“What?”
“I’ve seen tons of campers come back from quests and act the same way you just did. After living through something really scary, sometimes your brain forgets that it’s over. Like, when campers go out and fight monsters, when they come back to camp, they still feel like there are monsters everywhere. That’s how Akaashi explained it to me, at least, and he’s the smartest person at camp.”
Tsukishima picked grass out of the ground while Kuroo processed his words.
“I guess that makes sense,” he said finally.
“You don’t have to be scared here, Kuroo.”
The other boy opened his mouth, then closed it again, settling his chin on his knees and looking out across the water. He looked more at ease than Tsukishima had seen him since he crash-landed in the middle of camp.
“I’ll adjust.”
“You will,” Tsukishima promised. “And if you ever need help, all of us will be here for you. Even if some of us are unpleasant to look at,” he couldn’t help but add with a wry smile. Kuroo’s head snapped up, frowning.
“Who’s unpleasant to look at? You?”
“Um, yes?”
“Did somebody say that to you?” Kuroo demanded, anger visibly rising. “Who said that?”
Tsukishima balked. “Uh, you did?”
Kuroo screwed his face up in confusion. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Except for you did.”
“Did not!”
“Just yesterday at dinner! You told me I was hard to look at.” Tsukishima tried to keep his pout out of his voice, but he thinks he might have failed.
Kuroo blinked at him. “You thought I was calling you ugly?” He asked in a slow, measured voice, like Tsukishima was some dumb kid. It made his defenses rise into place.
“What else is it supposed to mean?” Tsukishima snapped. It didn’t do anything to quell his anger when the corners of Kuroo’s lips started twitching into a smile.
“I didn’t say you were hard to look at. I said it was hard for me to look at you,” Kuroo explained, like that answered anything at all.
“What’s the difference?”
“Tsukki, I just got back from the literal Underworld. You were the brightest thing I had seen in months.”
Tsukishima dropped the blades of grass he had angrily ripped out of the ground and the breeze swept them away. Kuroo just kept looking at him with that valiant smile trying to conquer his lips.
“Oh,” Tsukishima said quietly. He rarely felt shamefully dumb, but in that moment he could feel the flush creeping up his face.
“Oh,” Kuroo agreed. “I find you perfectly neutral to look at.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Also, did you just call me ‘Tsukki’?”
Kuroo’s smile finally broke through, his face lighting up in a way that made him almost unrecognizable, and all of Tsukishima’s insides felt like how Kuroo’s eyes looked:
Liquid gold.
*
After getting past their initial miscommunication (which was 500% not Tsukishima’s fault, anyone would have misinterpreted Kuroo’s words in his position), Tsukishima was much less on edge for the rest of the day. Now that he knew Kuroo didn’t dislike him, he wasn’t constantly waiting for the other boy to act cruelly towards him. Now, they could just enjoy themselves.
Tsukishima took Kuroo to the top of the tallest hill in camp and pointed out all his favorite spots, and all the hidden spots that not many people knew about. Kuroo looked honored to be receiving such exclusive information.
“Those down there? All the red dots, do you see them?”
“Yup.”
“Those are the strawberry fields I showed you earlier. They look kind of like roses from up here, don’t they? The strawberry fields are my favorite place at camp, I go there all the time to be by myself and think or read or whatever. You can come with me sometimes, but you have to stay quiet.”
“Okay,” Kuroo agreed with an easy grin.
Below them, some kids from the Aphrodite cabin had laid out towels by the lake and were sunbathing and every once in a while there were bursts of laughter or shrieking, or splashing in the water.
“How old are you?” Kuroo asked, watching as one of the Aphrodite kids threw Shirabu into the water with a grin.
“I’m thirteen.”
“Wow,” Kuroo whistled. Tsukishima was jealous. He still couldn’t whistle. “You’re as tall as me, and I’m already fourteen!”
Tsukishima puffed up with pride. “Suga says I’ll be the tallest person in our cabin pretty soon.”
A flash of hurt crossed Kuroo’s face, and Tsukishima didn't know what he said wrong but he immediately wanted to take it back.
Oh. Of course. Tsukishima was so stupid today.
Kuroo was already the tallest person in his cabin. And the shortest. And the youngest. And the oldest. And he probably always would be. He was alone.
“Hey, Kuroo,” Tsukishima asked carefully.
“Yeah?”
“How did you get here?”
Kuroo let out a harsh bark of laughter. “You already know, don’t you? It was kinda hard to miss.”
Tsukishima shook his head. “Everyone said you fell out of the sky.”
“I did. Well, kinda. I actually fell out of a tree.”
“But how?”
“How did you get here?” Kuroo shot back.
“My dad dropped me off when I was six years old.”
Kuroo inhaled sharply, turning his face to look at Tsukishima, and he didn’t have any problem meeting the older boy’s eyes. He’d told this story at least a hundred times by now. It didn’t affect him much anymore.
“But - Don’t demigods not even start attracting monsters until they’re at least seven? And that’s only if they’re, like, crazy strong?”
“Which I’m clearly not,” Tsukishima shrugged.
“That’s not what I - “
“No, it’s okay. It’s the truth. I’m just a regular old son of Athena. Not a child of the Big Three, not someone with incredible power. Just me.”
“So then why…?” Kuroo didn’t seem to want to say the words.
“Why so young?” Tsukishima grinned wryly. “My dad didn’t bring me here because I was attracting monsters. I wasn’t really dangerous at all. I was just like a regular kid, basically. But my dad traveled a lot for his job, and even a regular kid was just too much of a burden for him. He didn’t bring me here because he had to, he brought me here to get rid of me.”
The sympathy in Kuroo’s eyes made Tsukishima want to vomit. “I’m so- “
“Don’t say you’re sorry for me, because I’m not,” Tsukishima cut him off sharply. “I like my life here. Camp Half Blood is my home and these people are my family, and if I was given the choice to do it all over again, I’d still want to end up right here, just like this.”
Kuroo nodded slowly. “You must have been the youngest camper to ever come here,” he noted.
“Almost.” This time, Tsukishima did have to look away from Kuroo’s eyes. This story was always harder for him to tell, and it wasn’t even his own. “The only person who came here younger than me was Oikawa. He was still really young, but he was already attracting…unwanted attention. He’s got strong genes for a child of Aphrodite.”
“Shit,” Kuroo breathed. Tsukishima felt so sick, like he did every time he thought about Oikawa’s childhood, that he wasn’t even impressed by the older boy’s cursing.
He spotted Oikawa down at the lake below them, the unearthly beautiful boy glistening in the sunlight. The mermaids splashed water onto Futakuchi, leaving the boy’s perfectly silky brown hair plastered to his forehead, and Oikawa’s breathy laugh carried on the breeze like wind chimes. Tsukishima would never admit it out loud, but he always sort of looked up to Oikawa. The son of Aphrodite didn’t remember a lot about his life before coming to camp, but he never once let himself be a victim. He didn’t act like one, or carry himself like one. He was proud. You’d never guess what he’d been through just by looking at him.
“Your turn,” Tsukishima said, eager to change the subject. There was no use dwelling on horrible things of the past if they couldn’t be changed. That’s what Akaashi always told him.
“Huh?”
“I told you how I got here, now you tell me.”
“It’s not a very nice story.”
“None of them are.”
Kuroo cracked another smile, but weaker this time. “I don’t want you to pity me or look at me any different.”
“We don’t really do ‘pity’ around here.”
It was the truth. Everyone at camp had been though one trauma or another - they had to get the name “Greek Tragedy” from somewhere, after all. But Tsukishima had a feeling that Kuroo had been through something spectacularly horrible. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by prying like this.
“My mom died,” was what Kuroo chose to open with. “Leukemia. My older sister, Mina, and I were going to be put in the system. Taken into homes, and probably split apart. Mina thought that - well, since Hades had loved our mom enough to come back and have a second child with her, if we went down to the Underworld and found her, that maybe he would - would bring her back.”
Tsukishima bit his tongue. Telling Kuroo that it didn’t work like that wouldn’t do him any good now.
“We barely even made it to California when we started getting attacked,” Kuroo said. The entrance to the Underworld was in Los Angeles - they must have been so close. His hands were shaking where they laid on his knees, and Tsukishima covered one of them with his own. “I guess we never even realized it, but our mom must have been doing something to protect us all that time. Maybe Hades was helping her, I don’t know. But the second we left home, it was like our scents were being projected directly to every monster in a one hundred-mile radius.”
“Children of the Big Three always attract more powerful monsters,” Tsukishima said quietly.
“Mina and I didn’t know. We had been so carefully hidden without even realizing it our entire lives, we had never even faced a single monster before.”
“But you fight so well?” Tsukishima couldn’t help but jump in. Kuroo had immense power, and more control over it than Tsukishima had ever seen from a camper their age. Plus, all those scars…
Kuroo gave him a hollow smile. “I had to learn on the fly.”
Tsukishima can’t even imagine it. Most demigods spend their entire lives in camps, training and training for the mere possibility that they may have to fight a monster one day. To just be attacked by so many of them, with no prior knowledge or training, and to survive…
Kuroo Tetsurou was a miracle.
“So… Did you make it to the Underworld? You said that’s where you were for months?”
A strong breeze pushed back Kuroo’s bangs so that Tsukishima could easily see the tears starting to pool in his eyes. “I made it to the Underworld. Mina didn’t.”
Tsukishima caught his breath and squeezed Kuroo’s hand tightly. He didn’t pity Kuroo, but he empathized with him. Nearly everyone at camp had lost at least one sibling, and it was never pretty. Suddenly, the fact that Kuroo stuck so closely to Tsukishima all day, and how quickly and savagely he had jumped to Tsukishima’s defense when he thought he was in danger made a lot of sense. The last person who stood by Kuroo’s side was killed right in front of him.
“Monsters?” Tsukishima whispered.
Kuroo nodded, and didn’t elaborate. Tsukishima didn’t ask him to.
“I made it to the Underworld alone. So many times, I - I just wanted to give up. To lay down and stop trying, let the next monster I crossed paths with just end it all. But something kept pushing me. I don’t know if it was my dad, or what, but every day I just kept getting up and fighting, and fighting, and fighting.”
“I’m glad you did,” Tsukishima said honestly. Kuroo gave him a watery smile.
“I… I think I am, too.”
“What happened in the Underworld?”
“Got lost.” Kuroo laughs self-depreciatively. “Honestly, not a single monster attacked me, because I was a son of Hades, I guess, but they weren’t very helpful with directions, either. I wandered around for so long, just trying to find my mom or my sister, or even Hades himself, but Gods, is it big down there. And confusing. I nearly lost my mind. Finally, I just prayed to him. My dad. I just begged him to do something, anything to make it end. I thought he’d let me die, but instead he dropped me here.”
“From the sky.”
“Shadow travel,” Kuroo explained with a small smirk. “I’ll be able to do it myself one day, I think. Just gotta keep practicing.”
“You said you met him? Hades?” Tsukishima asked, remembering the bold declaration Kuroo had made at dinner last night.
“Oh,” Kuroo scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I did, but not like, in person. It was in a dream, but I kinda wanna keep that part to myself.”
“Yeah,” Tsukishima nodded, trying not to take it personally. “I get it. That’s a private thing between you and your dad.”
“Exactly.” Kuroo sounded relieved, like he really was worried that Tsukishima would be offended. He wasn’t and he smiled reassuringly to make sure Kuroo knew. Kuroo smiled back, and they settled into a comfortable silence, hands still overlapped between them.
Tsukishima didn’t know exactly what happened up on that hill that day, how he had suddenly felt one of the strongest bonds of his young life with a complete stranger. It was like they had both picked their scabs open and made them bleed again to help each other heal a little easier.
They sat there together a little longer, letting their wounds air out until the sun started to go down.
*
“I’ll see you at dinner?” Tsukishima offered as he and Kuroo parted ways that evening. Kuroo’s face scrunched up like he’d tasted something sour.
“Yeah, I’ll wave at you from my lonely, sacrificial altar.”
“The sacrificial altar is the big one in the middle, actually.”
Kuroo rolled his eyes. “Okay, Smarty Pants.”
“Child of Athena,” Tsukishima retorted, and Kuroo’s face slipped into a grin.
“Okay, Child of Athena,” he corrected. They started walking in opposite directions towards their cabins, but Tsukishima couldn’t get the memory of Kuroo, a dark smudge hunched over at the Big Three table by himself, out of his mind.
“Hey,” Tsukishima stopped and turned back. Kuroo stopped, too. “I can, uh, ask Chiron if you can sit at the Athena table? You know, just until Bokuto and Sakusa get back. They’re children of the Big Three, too, so you wouldn’t be alone. But just, until then, if you wanted to…” he trailed off, not sure why his face felt so hot.
“Do you think he’d let me?” Kuroo asked, a hopeful lilt to his voice.
Tsukishima had no doubt that Chiron would be thrilled to let Kuroo sit at the Athena table with them. In the spirit of camp bonding, and all that.
“It can’t hurt to ask.”
“Okay.” Kuroo’s face broke into a real, genuine smile. “Thanks, Tsukki. I’m really glad we’re friends.”
And then the son of Hades practically skipped away, blissfully unaware of the way his words made Tsukishima’s stomach flip and roll like he was falling through the sky without wings.
Icarus. That was the story Sugawara was telling him last night.
Tsukishima felt like Icarus.
*
Akaashi came back to camp two weeks later, just like he promised he would, and Tsukishima felt another piece of his life slide perfectly into place.
He was taller than he was last summer, and his dark hair was a little longer, but his smile was the same and so was the fondness in his eyes when he spotted Tsukishima sprinting towards him, dropping his duffel bag so he could catch him in a bear hug.
“Hey, Kei.” Akaashi stepped back, putting him down and giving him a quick once over, like he was checking for any major changes or injuries. A doting habit both he and Sugawara shared. “Did you get taller?”
Tsukishima beamed. “Suga says that - “
He was abruptly cut off by a very familiar shout.
“Hey, hey, hey! You miss us, Tsukki? Huh, Tsukki, did ya?” Bokuto wrapped both Tsukishima and Akaashi into his beefy arms, lifting their feet off the ground. “I sure missed you!”
Tsukishima groaned, feeling a few joints in his back crack with the force of Bokuto’s hug. It was almost as if he sometimes forgot that he was the son of Zeus, and thus strong enough to break pretty much anyone’s spine in half if he felt like it. Tsukishima wasn’t sure how he could forget who he was though, when his hair constantly made it look like he had just been struck by lightning, with the way the silver strands stuck straight up into the air.
Bokuto and Akaashi were from the same area, and even went to the same school. They always left and came back to camp together. Actually, they did pretty much everything together. It took a while for Tsukishima to get used to, since he had grown up so accustomed to having all of Akaashi’s attention on him when they hung out. But one fall, after Akaashi left for school, he wrote back to Tsukishima with letters about a boy he met who he thought might be a demigod, like them. The next summer he showed up with Bokuto Koutarou in tow, and it kind of just stayed that way. Wherever Akaashi went, Bokuto was never far behind.
(Tsukishima would never admit that Bokuto had kind of grown on him. Might even be one of his Top Five Favorite People. He would never admit it, but he was pretty sure Bokuto already knew anyways, which just made it twice as annoying.)
“I missed Akaashi,” Tsukishima grumbled when Bokuto finally released him. Bokuto just laughed and ruffled Tsukishima’s hair affectionately.
“Man, I missed this place! I’m gonna go drop off my bags real quick, and then you gotta tell us everything that happened while we were at school, okay?”
They spent the rest of the afternoon like that, with Tsukishima and Bokuto sitting on his bunk cross-legged together while Akaashi unpacked. Tsukishima talked the most, words spewing out of him like a leaky faucet as one story turned into another and another. Some of the stories were just told in fragments, as he got distracted by tangents that he suddenly remembered, but neither of the older boys seemed to mind. Bokuto pitched in enthusiastically with commentary, or his own stories from his and Akaashi’s school, while Akaashi just nodded and hummed in all the right places to show he was paying attention.
“Oh!” Tsukishima exclaimed. He wasn’t sure how he had forgotten to mention this already. “There’s a new camper who’s a child of one of the Big Three!”
Bokuto’s jaw dropped. “No way! Who are they? Who’s their dad? I didn’t see anybody else’s stuff in my cabin, so it must be - “
“Hades.”
Akaashi’s shut his drawer a little too sharply, the sound echoing in the cabin. Tsukishima shrank a little when his brother turned his intense, dark eyes on him.
“Come again?”
“His name is Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou. And his dad… Is Hades?” Tsukishima shrugged meekly. Bokuto still hadn’t picked his jaw up off the ground.
“Hm.” Was all Akaashi said, before he turned back to his unpacking like nothing had happened.
“Is something wrong?” Tsukishima asked hesitantly.
“No, nothing.” Akaashi shook his head. “It’s just unusual. I’ve never seen a child of Hades in the camp’s records before.”
“You’ve read the camp’s records? Like, all of them?” Bokuto gaped.
Akaashi shrugged. “A few times. Helps me sleep.”
“What a nerd,” Bokuto breathed, but it didn’t sound like an insult. Bokuto probably couldn’t insult Akaashi if he wanted to, almost everything he said to him was always in that same awestruck voice. Tsukishima didn’t get it. “So, what’s he like Tsukki? Is he scary? Is he mean? He must be pretty strong, huh? Wait - He’s not stronger than me, is he?”
Tsukishima couldn't help but laugh, shoving Bokuto’s face away when he pushed too far into his personal space.
It was funny how just two weeks ago, Tsukishima might have answered ‘yes’ to a lot of those questions. Kuroo was the boy who fell out of the sky and opened a chasm to the Underworld in the middle of dinner. Scary? Yes. Mean? Tsukishima did think he called him ugly, so yes. Strong? Undeniably, and terrifyingly yes.
But now, when Bokuto asked about Kuroo, the only images his mind could come up with were of the older boy crying for his older sister, and the way he’d first looked at his bright orange Camp Half Blood t-shirt with so much visceral distaste that Tsukishima got a stomachache from laughing so hard. How shy and unsure he looked approaching the Athena table for dinner that first time, and how impressed he had been when Yamaguchi turned his shoes into cabbages. The way he smiled, and the way he laughed, and the tremors that sometimes still made it hard for him to hold a weapon. And mostly his piercing gold eyes.
“He’s not mean or scary. I think you’re gonna like him a lot, actually.” Tsukishima could feel the stupid grin on his face, but he couldn’t wipe it off, not even when Akaashi gave him a very curious look.
Bokuto sat back, seeming satisfied with the answer. Suddenly, he shot up straight as an arrow with an accusing finger in Tsukishima’s face.
“Wait a minute, you didn’t say if he’s stronger than me or not! Is he? Do I have to make him my mortal enemy? My sworn rival? Tsukki, I need to know!” Bokuto fell dramatically across his lap and Tsukishima pushed him onto the floor. Akaashi delicately stepped over his body as he continued unpacking his things.
Tsukishima smiled to himself. He hadn’t been this excited for a summer in a long time.
*
As a child of Athena, Tsukishima was used to being right at least 99.99999% of the time. Most of the time, he reveled in it.
Not this time, though. Tsukishima had never been more distraught about being right about something in his entire life.
Bokuto did like Kuroo. Liked him a lot, just like Tsukishima predicted.
Liked him too much.
“Oh my Gods, what have you done,” Akaashi whispered next to him in horror. Tsukishima was so unnerved by the scene in front of him, he couldn't even find the words to answer.
Bokuto and Kuroo were, to put it in the lightest of terms, best friends at first sight.
Tsukishima had gone by the Hades cabin that night to walk with Kuroo to dinner, like he did every night. He hadn’t really thought anything of it until they entered the pavilion and Kuroo stopped dead in his tracks. Tsukishima turned to ask him what was wrong, when he noticed that the older boy’s eyes were wide and trained solely at the Big Three table at the front of the pavilion. Bokuto was sitting on one side, silver hair glowing in the moonlight, talking animatedly to the tall, dark-haired boy sitting across from him. Sakusa looked uninterested in whatever Bokuto was saying, but politely nodded along.
“There are people sitting there,” Kuroo said, sounding shocked.
“Oh, yeah. That’s just Bokuto and Sakusa. You can, uh, eat with them now, if you want?” Tsukishima offered hesitantly. Kuroo frowned.
“Instead of eating with you?”
“Yeah,” Tsukishima swallowed past the lump in his throat. It was stupid, they were just seating arrangements. It wasn’t like he was never going to see his friend again, plus Akaashi was back now. It made sense for Kuroo to go back to his own table. “Chiron just said you could sit with us so you wouldn’t be alone, but you won’t be alone now. So…”
Kuroo still hadn’t taken another step forward.
“What if they don’t want me there?” He asked in a quiet, unsure voice, so unlike himself.
“Why wouldn’t they? You’re just as much of a child of the Big Three as they are, you know. You have a right to sit there. And even if you didn’t, they’re really nice guys.” Tsukishima elbows him lightly. “I’ll introduce you, okay?”
He knew the Kuroo wasn’t a baby, he didn’t need Tsukishima to do anything for him, but he didn’t mind doing it. He’d been here longer than almost anyone else, he knew this place and these people better than anyone. Kuroo was fourteen years old and never met another demigod besides his sister in his life. Tsukishima was just happy to be able to help. It made him feel older, more experienced, which he almost never got to feel.
“Hey,” Tsukishima knocked Bokuto on the back of the head as they approached. “This is Kuroo, the new camper I was telling you about.”
Bokuto turned, eyes narrowing as he took in Kuroo slowly from head to toe, tapping his chin and making curious humming noises. Tsukishima rolled his eyes, and Sakusa lifted his hand in a disinterested wave before going back to his food.
“This can either go one of two ways,” Bokuto suddenly said very seriously. Kuroo straightened up and held his shoulders back. “One, you will become my destined rival for all time. Two, you will become my best friend for all time. The choice is yours.”
Kuroo smirked, a dangerous curve of his lips. “Well,” he said casually, “I’ve never had a destined rival before. Could be fun.”
Bokuto gasped, eyes lighting up. “That’s exactly what I was thinking, dude!” He grabbed Kuroo by the arm and dragged him into the seat next to him, already launching into some over-excited tirade that Tsukishima couldn’t keep up with even if he wanted to. Despite being the least occupied, the Big Three table easily became the loudest that night.
“Look on the bright side,” Tsukishima said. “At least we aren’t Sakusa.” The son of Poseidon looked like he was currently considering taking a dive into the deepest nearby body of water he could find. Or like he was almost considering actually taking up the seat on Atsumu’s lap that the son of Hermes kept offering him with a lewd smile.
Akaashi nodded solemnly. “Thank the Gods for small miracles.”
“I think it’s nice!” Sugawara chimed in. “I haven’t seen Kuroo look that happy since he got here, have you?”
Tsukishima felt something heavy and sticky like tar settle in the pit of his stomach.
It didn’t take him long to realize it was jealousy.
Because now that Sugawara mentioned it, Kuroo did look happy. Not the weighed down, damp kind of happy he had been these past two weeks. Just genuinely, carefree, no-childhood-trauma-attached happy. He laughed with his head thrown back, like his body couldn’t contain his joy, and boy was he loud. He punched Bokuto, and got punched in return. They shouted over each other, more boisterous than Kuroo ever was with Tsukishima.
Tsukishima suddenly felt very, very young and very, very small.
“It’s because they weren’t here,” Suna, another one of Tsukishima’s brothers who had just gotten back from school, said quietly. Tsukishima looked at him in confusion.
“Who wasn’t where?”
Suna smiled patiently at him. “Bokuto. And Sakusa, too. They weren't here when Kuroo first arrived. I heard he made…quite the impression at dinner.”
Tsukishima shrugged. “He broke open the ground and summoned the undead. Just a little bit, though.”
Suna laughed, shaking his head at Tsukishima fondly. “Just a little, huh? Still, he probably thinks some of the other campers still see him that way, don’t you think? But Bokuto has no preconceived notions of what Kuroo is like, all he sees is what’s right in front of him. He’s simple and lives in the present. Sometimes people who have been though a lot need simple and present, so they don’t think about other stuff.”
Tsukishima looked back over at the Big Three table, where Bokuto was currently putting french fries up his nose while Kuroo laughed so hard, tears started to stream down his face. He always looked much older to Tsukishima before this moment, but now, he truly seemed his age. Kuroo was just a kid like him. It was easy to forget sometimes.
He didn’t feel quite so jealous anymore.
“You, on the other hand, are the exact opposite of ‘simple’.” Suna added with his usual sly, knowing grin that made him look like a fox. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who thinks quite as much as you, and that’s saying a lot coming from a child of Athena. But sometimes, Kei, people need that, too. From what I can tell, it seems like Kuroo needs a lot of different kinds of people to make him whole again, but you were the first part. The biggest one.”
An image of Kuroo popped into Tsukishima’s head, then, of a puzzle still mostly undone. Just the outline of his body visible, but the inside missing pieces. But right there, in the middle of his chest, there was just one big piece and Tsukishima knew it belonged to him.
He kicked his older brother lightly in the shins under the table, refusing to show the affection that was about to burst his chest cavity open in any other way. “Thanks, Suna.”
“You can thank me by stealing me an extra s’more at the next campfire.”
“Deal.”
“I knew you had a favorite brother!” Sugawara wailed.
*
That Friday, Chiron finally declared that enough campers had come back for the summer that they could have a real game of capture the flag.
There were always a few games played sporadically throughout the year, but it was much less serious and well-organized than the summer games. They switched teams around for fun, split cabins in half, tried out all their new tricks, and sometimes just stopped playing halfway through before either team even won. The summer games were when people came for blood.
Also, this would be Kuroo’s first time playing.
“I think we should take the Hades cabin,” Tsukishima announced the night before, when he and his siblings were all sitting up late talking strategy by flashlight. The Athena and Ares cabins were the main organizing forces behind capture the flag, due to their superior war knowledge. And as a result, they had the biggest rivalry. The Athena cabin were the captains of one team, and Ares was captain of the other.
“Is that a personal preference or a game plan?” Sugawara teased. Tsukishima hoped the dim lighting hid his blush.
“A game plan!” He insisted. “The Ares kids are all still a little wary of him. He’s a wild card, and obviously a good fighter.”
“We always get Bokuto, too, though,” Daishou pointed out. “The Ares kids will definitely complain if we get two children of the Big Three and they only get one.”
“There are three children of the Big Three at camp now, it’s inevitable that one team will have more than the other.”
“Well the Ares cabin will say it should be them.”
“We give them the Apollo cabin for him.” All of his siblings looked at Tsukishima like he’d lost his mind.
The teams were usually split like this: Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, Zeus, Demeter, and Hypnos vs Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, Poseidon, and Dionysus.
Because of the sizes and fighting abilities of each cabin, the teams usually ended up being pretty even. The Athena team got both Demeter and Hypnos because they were some of the smallest cabins, and Ares got Hermes, the biggest. Apollo, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite cabins were pretty evenly spread, and each team got an overpowered child of the Big Three.
The Apollo cabin were some of the Athena team’s biggest numbers and fighting ability, and Tsukishima was suggesting they hand them over to Ares.
“You think Kuroo is worth the entire Apollo cabin?” Akaashi asked with a half-smile.
Tsukishima looked around at each of his sibling’s faces in turn.
“I think he’s worth finding out.”
*
They had perfect capture the flag weather that day. Just on the hinge of late spring and summer, the heat was finally kicking up that extra notch that made little beads of sweat roll down Tsukishima’s spin when he was just standing there doing nothing. It was gross, but it was a familiar sensation, one that reminded him of many other summers just like this one.
Their proposal had been met with a lot of grumbling from the Ares team at first, but when they offered the Apollo cabin, Daichi’s eyes lit up at the sight of Hinata Shoyou bounding over to his side of the field. Hinata was short, but he was quick and agile and easily the best archer at camp.
“So we’re on the same team?” Kuroo asked him with a small, pleased smile that yes, was worth the entire Apollo cabin.
“You better not mess this up, Death Boy,” Tsukishima warned. “My reputation is riding on you kicking ass today.”
“Consider their asses kicked, Smarty Pants.”
Sugawara waved their team to gather around so he could give them all the strategy. Tsukishima only half paid attention (he did help make the strategy, after all), instead watching Kuroo’s profile while he listened intently. His eyebrows were set in a serious line, eyes dark and shining, jaw tight. It was a new look on him that Tsukishima had never seen before. He was pretty glad Kuroo was on their team, because he didn’t think he would want to face that look in battle.
“Alright, besides those few changes, everything will carry on business as usual,” Sugawara announced. “Hephaestus cabin, you guys run ahead and set the traps. Don’t forget to cover the stream this time, since Sakusa is back now. And as always, for the love of Gods, make sure to keep Oikawa from getting within 100 feet of Iwaizumi, or he will Charmspeak him into confessing where all of the traps are laid. Again.” Sugawara gave the boy in question a pointed look.
“It was one time!” Iwaizumi defended, cheeks growing suspiciously ruddy while the entire team laughed at his misfortune.
Kuroo nudged his side and asked, “What’s Charmspeak?”
“It’s a gift some of the Aphrodite kids have,” Tsukishima explained quietly, not wanting to interrupt Sugawara’s speech. “They can put this, like, magical charm in their voices so that they can persuade you to do anything they want.”
Kuroo nodded. “So why is he the only one who has to look out for it?” He jerked his head in Iwaizumi’s direction. Tsukishima smirked, leaning in a little closer so he was speaking right into Kuroo’s ear.
“Oikawa’s Charmspeak isn’t actually that strong yet,” he whispered, and thought that he felt Kuroo shiver in the summer heat. “The rest of us can resist him just fine, it’s only Iwaizumi that can’t.”
Kuroo pulled back sharply, eyebrows creasing. “Oh, are they -?”
Tsukishima snorted. “Oikawa wishes. Children of Aphrodite are rarely wrong about this kind of thing, though. It’s only a matter of time now.”
“Hm. I kind of prefer the mystery of it all, I think.” Kuroo said thoughtfully.
“Mystery of what?”
One side of Kuroo’s mouth lifted in a lopsided grin. “Romance. Love. Soulmates. All that good stuff, you know?”
The beads of sweat rolling down Tsukishima’s spine suddenly felt ice cold. No, he really didn’t know. He didn’t know anything about all that stuff. He never even really thought about it before, except for maybe that one time when he was eleven and broke his arm in three places falling out of a tree. He had to spend two days straight in the infirmary with Ennoshita looking after him, and Tsukishima’s traitorous mind chose then and there to realize that the son of Apollo had very nice brown eyes and the softest hands he’d ever felt. It was a crush, probably, but quick and fleeting. Once he got discharged, the feeling all but fizzled away, pushed to the back of his mind once he returned to his normal life.
Did Kuroo know about these things?
Tsukishima shrugged tightly. “Not really,” he admitted. Kuroo didn’t laugh at him, or look at him like he was a little kid like Tsukishima worried he would. Instead his grin just got bigger.
“Yeah, me neither. I guess we’ll find out one day, huh?”
“Hm. Maybe,” Tsukishima agreed halfheartedly. He was only thirteen, he wasn’t all that concerned with romance or love or soulmates right now. What he was worried about was winning capture the flag.
*
Tsukishima, as a rule, did not like being woken up in the middle of the night by Sugawara sitting on top of him shining a flashlight directly in his eyes.
“Ack! What the hell, Suga?” Tsukishima sat up so fast he hit his head on the bunk above him, groaning in pain as his older brother jumped off of him.
“Sorry! Sorry, Kei, jeez are you alright? I didn’t mean to scare you so much,” Sugawara apologized.
“What did you mean to do?” Tsukishima groused, rubbing his forehead with one hand and pushing himself upright with the other. Sugawara looked flightily over his shoulder, face creased with concern.
“You have a, um, visitor?”
“At - “ Tsukishima checked his alarm clock, - “Three in the morning? I swear to Gods, if it’s Bokuto with another stupid joke, I’m going to - “
“It’s not Bokuto,” a familiar placid voice came from the darkness. Kenma stepped closer so that Tsukishima could see his faded blonde hair and tired eyed in the glow of Sugawara’s flashlight.
“Uh, hey Kenma? What’s up?” Tsukishima asked, even more confused. He and Kenma liked each other just fine, but it wasn’t like they were good friends or anything. Kenma barely spoke to him the light of day, let alone the middle of the night. Then again, the son of Hypos didn’t speak to anyone much at all since he was sleeping the majority of the time.
“I can’t sleep.”
Well, that got Tsukishima’s attention.
“Since when do you have trouble sleeping?” He sat up further, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed.
“Since the son of Hades won’t stop screaming,” Kenma informed him calmly. A rush of adrenaline seemed to flood Tsukishima’s system, and he was on his feet in an instant.
“Kuroo? Is he hurt? Is he okay?” Tsukishima asked hurriedly. Sugawara put a comforting hand on his shoulder and it took all of his respect for his older brother not to shrug it off and go running to the Hades cabin.
“Physically? Yeah, he’s fine.” Kenma shrugged. “Inside his head, though? Not great.”
Realization dawned on Tsukishima. “You’ve been Dream Walking.”
“He’s been asking me for help falling asleep ever since he got here.” Kenma started to crawl into Tsukishima’s now vacant bed, pulling the comforter over himself. “I have no problem helping him fall asleep, but it’s his nightmares that have been making it impossible for me to sleep. They’re so jarring. Lots of screaming. Hard to ignore in the Dream Realm. I figured since you’re his friend and all, you could go over there and help him out.” Kenma fluffed Tsukishima’s pillow a few times before snuggling in with a large yawn. “Thanks, Tsukishima.”
And then he was out cold.
Tsukishima didn’t know how long he stood there, still in shock, processing Kenma’s words. It made sense, of course it did. Kuroo had been through months of horror before getting to camp, it was no wonder he was having nightmares. Honestly, sometimes Tsukishima forgot about that part of Kuroo’s past. He had been adjusting so well, his personality had done a complete one-eighty since the first day he arrived. He was all smiles and jokes, especially with Bokuto. Kuroo always kept up such a strong facade of being okay in the daytime, it made it easy to forget.
Tsukishima felt like the world’s worst friend.
“Go,” Sugawara said quietly, breaking Tsukishima out of his downward spiral of self-hatred. “I’ll cover for you.”
“But what about the - ?”
“Kuroo needs you,” Sugawara said firmly. “That’s all you need to worry about right now. I’ll take care of the rest, okay?”
Tsukishima hesitated, but only for half a second. At this point, he hardly even cared if he got caught or punished for being out of his cabin past curfew. His blood was rushing in his ears.
Sugawara told Tsukishima he would create a distraction for him (he didn’t want to know what that meant) to keep the Harpies from seeing him leave the cabin, but warned that he would only have a few moments to get to the Hades cabin before they were looking for campers breaking the rules to sink their teeth into again. With his heart pounding in his throat, Tsukishima waited for the signal.
The “signal” ended up being a very loud explosion from somewhere in the distance. He heard the Harpies shrieking get fainter as they headed in that direction, and made his move. It felt like he was at the Hades cabin in the blink of an eye.
“Kuroo?” Tsukishima knocked on the door, whispering urgently. He didn’t know how much longer he had. “Kuroo, come on, I’m gonna get eaten if you don’t let me in, you jerk!”
The sound of shrieking in the distance slowly started getting closer, so with a silent apology, Tsukishima slipped into the Hades cabin without waiting for an invitation. He could ask for Kuroo’s forgiveness for breaking in later, when he was still in one piece.
It took a few seconds for Tsukishima’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. He had never been in the Hades cabin before, it kind of gave him the creeps. The entire room was hauntingly beautiful, like something you saw in a picture and thought about forever, but never really wanted to touch. The interior was painted all black, with a large four-poster bed right in the center. Deep red velvet curtains were draped over all of the windows and across the back of the bed. Jars of bright green Greek fire lined the wall, giving the room an eerie glow.
And there, laying in the middle of the bed, limbs sprawled out with one arm flung over his eyes and his pajama pants twisted around his hips, was Kuroo. His breathing was jagged, and in the low light, Tsukishima could see that his entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Cautiously, he started toward the bed.
“Kuroo?” He whispered. Kuroo groaned like he was in pain. “It’s okay, Kuroo, it’s me. It’s Tsukishima. You’re just having a bad dream, you big dummy.” He was nearly at Kuroo’s bedside now, and could hear the pitiful whimpers in the back of his throat. Tsukishima reached out with one hand, fingertips just barely grazing Kuroo’s shoulder before the son of Hades was gasping, clutching at Tsukishima’s arm and screaming.
“MINA!”
Tsukishima jerked backwards, startled by the shout, but Kuroo kept a viselike grip on his arm. His eyes were still closed. He was still in his nightmare.
“Kuroo!” Tsukishima called his name a little louder this time, his heart beating like a jackhammer in his chest. “Wake up, you’re hurting me!” Tsukishima tried to twist his arm free, and Kuroo’s nails dug in. Tsukishima winced, feeling the skin break.
“Don’t!” Kuroo groaned. “Don’t, don’t hurt her!” Dark wispy tendrils started to pour off of him, snaking around the darkness of the room, swirling around in a circle like a typhoon. Tsukishima had seen what Kuroo could do with his Underworld powers in the daytime when he had complete control over it. He didn’t want to see what they could do when he was trapped in a nightmare with no control over them whatsoever.
The bottom of the cabin began to crumble, and the boney white hands of the undead started clawing their way out.
“Kuroo!” Tsukishima started smacking him with his other hand, sharp hits to his face. It pained him to hurt Kuroo, especially when everything happening wasn’t his fault, but panic was starting to creep into the edges of Tsukishima’s logical thinking. “If you actually kill me, Death Boy, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life!”
Okay, think. Think, Tsukishima, think. How can I wake him up without hurting him or myself in the process?
Abruptly, he stopped smacking Kuroo in the face, and instead used that hand to pinch his nose. He let out a startled yelp when he felt something cold and very much not living grab him by the ankle, but he refused to let go. A few seconds later, Kuroo’s eyelids flew open, lips parting in a deep, ragged gasp. His eyes were wide and startled, darting around the room frantically until his golden irises landed on Tsukishima.
“Tsu…Tsukki?” Kuroo croaked.
“Yes, hi, it’s me,” Tsukishima said in a rush. “Do you think you could, um, un-summon the undead before I end up joining them?”
Kuroo’s eyes widened even further, taking in the state of the room and the boney fingers crawling up Tsukishima’s calf now.
“Away!” Kuroo barked. “I order you to get away from him right now!”
Tsukishima let out a breath as the fingers of death released him from their grasp and slithered back to where they belonged. The floor closed up not even a moment later, sealing them away. There was silence left in its wake.
“I’m so - I didn’t mean to - “ Kuroo’s face was deathly pale in the firelight.
“I shouldn’t have barged in like that,” Tsukishima said, voice trembling. Kuroo frowned and instinctively flexed his fingers tighter around Tsukishima’s forearm. Tsukishima winced and Kuroo looked down, his expression morphing into horror.
“Gods, Tsukki, shit.” He gently released his grip, little beads of blood pooling in the indents he left behind. His eyes starting pooling with tears, too. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Ignoring the stinging in his arm and the awkwardness of the action, Tsukishima sat next to Kuroo on his bed and threw his arms around his waist, tucking his face into the juncture of Kuroo’s neck and taking a deep, calming breath. He could still feel his pulse fluttering erratically in the aftershock of what had just happened, and he secured his arms tightly around the firm body in front of him, desperate to ground them both.
Tsukishima hated this needy, clingy feeling, but he was scared. As long as he had been here, and as experienced and smart as he was, he was still only thirteen. There was only so much that weapons training and arts and crafts could do to prepare a kid for almost being dragged into the Underworld by his friend’s skeleton minions.
“It’s okay, Kuroo.” He forced himself to try and comfort Kuroo, as well. “Everything’s okay.”
The son of Hades slowly wrapped his own arms around Tsukishima’s shoulders, trembling as he clutched at his back. If he cried that night, he was silent about it, but Tsukishima just kept holding on anyways.
“Everything isn’t okay,” Kuroo whispered, what might have been hours later. Tsukishima wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
“No, it’s not,” Tsukishima agreed. “But it’s going to be. We’re going to get you through this. Me and you and Bokuto and Akaashi and everyone else at camp. But we can’t help you if you don’t talk to us.”
Kuroo exhaled shakily and didn’t say anything else for so long, Tsukishima eventually fell asleep. He woke up with his arms still around Kuroo’s waist and his head resting on his chest. It was warm and familiar, reminded him of when he was younger and he and Yamaguchi used to have sleepovers in the same bunk together.
And the next day they talked about the nightmares for hours and hours, until Kuroo’s voice was cracked raw and his so was his chest, exposing all the sticky, dark parts of his heart. Tsukishima could tell he felt a lot better afterwards. Maybe not perfect yet, but it was a start.
*
“They still don’t like me.”
Tsukishima looked up from the book in his lap to find Kuroo unhappily kicking his bare feet in the lake water, scowling down at his reflection.
“Who?” Tsukishima placed a bookmark between his pages and set the book down beside him, pulling his knees up and tilting his face towards his friend.
“The Ares kids. And the Aphrodite. And Hephaestus.” Kuroo continued to splash. “Just because I’m a child of Hades.”
Ever since he had almost accidentally gotten Tsukishima dragged to the Underworld during his nightmare, Kuroo was especially sensitive about the whole “child of Hades” thing.
“They don’t dislike you because you’re a child of Hades,” Tsukishima said. “They don’t like you because you were rude to Oikawa.”
Kuroo’s head snapped up, frown still firmly set in place. “What?”
“I mean, that first night you got here you did all that Underworld-y stuff, just to freak Oikawa out. Therefore, Oikawa doesn’t like you, therefore, the entire Aphrodite cabin doesn’t like you. They’re pretty protective of him, you know? Iwaizumi doesn’t like you for the same reason, therefore, the entire Hephaestus cabin doesn’t like you because they respect him so much.” Tsukishima smirked. “The Ares cabin just doesn’t like you because we’ve been beating them in capture the flag nonstop since you joined our team.”
Kuroo’s frown broke a little, probably at the memory of how badly they’d crushed the Ares team the past few weeks in a row. Tsukishima would never let his siblings forget that it was his risky strategy that got them on this winning streak.
“So…” Kuroo hedged. “What should I do?” He looked off his footing, like he wasn’t used to people not liking him, or at least not used to caring about it.
“Are you asking me for a strategy?” Tsukishima couldn’t help but grin smugly. Kuroo laughed, kicking up some water so that it splashed Tsukishima’s legs.
“Yeah, Smarty Pants, I’m asking for a strategy. You got one?”
Tsukishima hummed thoughtfully. “I have an idea. It’s pretty simple, but you’re probably not going to enjoy it.”
And that was how Tsukishima found himself, half an hour later, hidden behind a tree watching from a couple hundred yards away as Kuroo apologized to Oikawa. Iwaizumi was there, too, of course. Though Tsukishima had a feeling even if he wasn’t invited, he wouldn’t have left Oikawa alone with Kuroo, anyways. He was standing close over Oikawa’s shoulder, impressive arms made firm with muscle from endless hours spent in the forges crossed over his chest. Oikawa had his head cocked to the side, a polite grin on his face, but expression otherwise giving away nothing. Oikawa was skilled at hiding his emotions like that.
As for Kuroo, Tsukishima couldn’t see his face from his hiding spot, but his hands were waving emphatically as he explained himself and tried to earn Oikawa’s forgiveness. It took quite some time to convince Kuroo that this was the simplest way to get in both cabin’s good graces. If Oikawa forgave him, so would his siblings, and so would Iwaizumi and the rest of Hephaestus. That was just how the politics of a bunch of teenagers worked.
After a few minutes, Kuroo’s hands stilled, then were promptly shoved straight into his pockets. Oikawa’s face didn’t change for a few moments, though Iwaizumi looked less inclined to pounce at any moments now. Finally, Oikawa’s lips spread into a genuine, breathtaking smile, perfect straight white teeth on full display as he grabbed at one of Kuroo’s arms, nodding his head and talking quickly. Tsukishima let out a relieved breath.
Then, Oikawa’s deep smokey eyes slid over Kuroo’s shoulder and locked right on Tsukishima. He froze, quickly ducking back behind the tree so that only one eye peeked out. Oikawa’s expression went apologetic, and he held up a finger to Kuroo as if to say One moment. Iwaizumi stepped forward in his place and he and Kuroo shared a strong handshake before the two of them were off talking like old friends.
Oikawa strolled right up to Tsukishima’s hiding spot, one hand resting delicately on his hip. “I take it this was your doing, huh, Kei?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Oikawa laughed, bright and fluttery. “Don’t play dumb, darling, it doesn’t suit a child of Athena. You put him up to this, didn’t you? Kuroo doesn’t exactly strike me as the type to kiss and make up.”
“And I do?” Tsukishima challenged. Oikawa laughed again, waving his hand in front of his face.
“Gods no, you’re about as stubborn as they come, Tsukishima Kei. But you are smart enough to when you should. Strategic alliances, and all that.”
“He didn’t apologize for some kind of stupid alliance,” Tsukishima bit out. “Kuroo isn’t - He’s not like that.” Not like me. “He did it because it was genuinely bothering him that you guys didn’t like him and he wanted to make it right. Because he’s a good person.”
Tsukishima didn’t know where all of that had come from, or why his heart was now beating so fast, but Oikawa’s expression had suddenly changed completely. He wasn’t smirking at Tsukishima with amusement, he was full on beaming with excitement, his eyes sparkling with intrigue.
“You don’t say,” he murmured, studying Tsukishima like he was a shiny new toy. “And what else do you think about Kuroo?”
Tsukishima shut his mouth so fast his jaw made a loud clacking noise. Oikawa’s smile grew impossibly larger.
I think he’s the most bizarre boy I’ve ever met, and possibly the most broken, but still the strongest. I think his hair is ridiculous, and so is his laugh, but I like them for some weird reason. I think he’s good and brave, the kind of person that they write epic poems about and put on vases. I think he could be a hero one day - and I want to be there to help him do it.
“I think… He’s going to steal your boyfriend if you don’t go break them up soon.” Tsukishima nodded over to where Iwaizumi and Kuroo were comparing bicep sizes. Kuroo was hopelessly losing, but laughing and not looking too upset about it.
Oikawa’s smile fell into an immediate pout. “Oh no, he isn’t!” He turned on his heel and started to storm away. Tsukishima felt an uncomfortable pulling sensation in the pit of his stomach, mouth opening before he could even think about it.
Children of Aphrodite are rarely wrong about this kind of thing.
“Hey, Oikawa?” He asked, voice wavering and tongue feeling too big for his mouth. Oikawa looked back at him over his shoulder with a smile much gentler than before.
“Yes, Kei?”
Tsukishima’s mouth opened, then closed again. He had no idea what he wanted to say next. He didn’t even know why he called Oikawa back, there was just something buried down deep inside him that needed an answer to a question he didn’t even have. It was the most frustrating feeling Tsukishima had ever experienced in his life.
I kind of prefer the mystery of it all.
“Um.” Tsukishima shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “Just - Never mind.”
Oikawa’s eyes softened. “Gods of Olympus, Kei, you’re going to be quite an interesting one to watch, aren’t you?”
*
On the last day of that summer, Bokuto told Tsukishima a secret.
Only, he didn’t know it was a secret. He thought Tsukishima already knew, because apparently, everyone else did. Everyone but him.
“I’m so excited for Kuroo to come to school with me!”
It felt like there was a boulder sitting on Tsukishima’s chest when he heard that. Like the icy hands of death were wrapped around his lungs and he couldn’t breathe. Like tiny needles were jabbing him repeatedly in the backs of his eyes.
“Kuroo’s - What?” His voice cracked on the last word. Stupid puberty.
“Nice going, Bokuto.” Akaashi sighed, scooting closer to Tsukishima on his bed to wrap his arms around his shoulders. Bokuto looked confused between the two of them, eyebrows furrowing in concern.
“But - Didn’t you already know that, Tsukki? You’re Kuroo’s best friend!”
“Apparently not.” The words tasted like acid on Tsukishima’s tongue.
The end of the summer was always bittersweet for Tsukishima, with the majority of the campers, including Akaashi and Bokuto going home for the school year. He had never even considered - he had just assumed that Kuroo would be staying at camp. With him. Kuroo didn’t have any family or home to go back to, just like Tsukishima.
But he was - He was leaving?
Tsukishima always took into account every possible outcome to every situation, but he hadn’t expected this one. Not even a little.
It made sense, in a horrible, logical way that Tsukishima couldn’t argue with. Bokuto’s family was well-off, and very nice from what Tsukishima heard. He and Bokuto were the same age, they would be in the same class, and Akaashi would be there, too, and they could all look out for each other. Kuroo had gotten close with all three of them that summer, and the four of them spent almost all of their free time together, when Tsukishima wasn’t hanging out with Yamaguchi. Tsukishima knew that Bokuto and Akaashi were his friends, too, now. That they would take care of him.
But it didn’t make it any easier for Tsukishima to breathe. He didn’t want to miss another person for a whole year. He didn’t want to miss Kuroo.
“Don’t cry, Kei,” Akaashi’s gentle voice soothed in his ear. Tsukishima reached up under his glasses and was surprised to find his fingertips wet. He didn’t even notice himself start crying.
And just like that, some sort of dam inside of him broke open and he was sobbing, curled up in Akaashi’s lap like he was a little kid again. Bokuto was at his other side in an instant, rubbing circles into his back and apologizing profusely, but it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but Tsukishima’s, for not seeing this coming.
“I don’t want him to go.” Tsukishima choked out the words, feeling like they were strangling him. He hated this, hated looking and feeling so weak. If anyone but Akaashi and Bokuto were around in that moment, he never would have let himself break down.
“I know,” Akaashi said quietly, tucking errant strands of Tsukishima’s blonde hair behind his ears. He hadn’t gotten it cut all summer. “It’s alright to be sad.”
“We can Iris message all the time!” Bokuto promised. “And letters! You know we always write you tons of letters!”
But Iris messages and letters wouldn’t be the same. After that summer, after meeting Kuroo Tetsurou, nothing in Tsukishima’s life would ever be the same again.
*
“I thought I’d find you out here.”
Tsukishima wasn’t surprised that Kuroo had found him. He had brought the older boy to the strawberry fields with him dozens of times over the summer, so much so that it stopped being ‘Tsukishima’s Place’ and started to be ‘Theirs’. Kuroo settled into the soft grass beside Tsukishima, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his elbows. Tsukishima didn't dare look over at his face. He didn’t want to start crying again.
“Hey, so listen…” Kuroo started hesitantly after a few minutes.
“I already know.”
Kuroo sucked in sharply. “You do?”
Tsukishima nodded, keeping his gaze on the field in front of him. “Yeah. Bokuto told me.”
“Oh.” Kuroo didn’t say anything else, leaving an awkward, heavy pause hanging between them.
“You should have told me yourself,” Tsukishima whispered, breaking the silence. His voice was still rough from crying, but he thought he hid it well.
“I’m sorry,” Kuroo said softly. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You had no problem telling literally everyone else,” Tsukishima accused. He sounded whiney, even to his own ears. Sugawara would have told him off if he were here.
“It’s not - “ Kuroo struggled for a moment. “You’re not like everyone else,” he settled on.
“Why not?” Tsukishima finally peeked at him out of the corner of his eye. Kuroo was already looking at him. He had the same look on his face that he did before his first game of capture the flag. A look of intense concentration.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. Tsukishima would have pushed harder, but he could see it in Kuroo’s piercing gold eyes that he was telling the truth. “I really am sorry, Tsukki.”
“That you didn’t tell me, or that you’re leaving?”
“Um. Both?”
Tsukishima shook his head, smiling a little at Kuroo’s hesitance. “You don’t have to be sorry for leaving. I get it, really. I’d probably do the same thing if I was you. You’re going to live with Bokuto and his super rich, super nice family, and get to go to a normal school with your best friend. You don’t have to apologize for that, Kuroo. I’m happy for you.”
And that was the truth. After getting all those dark, bitter feelings cried out of him, Tsukishima truly was happy for Kuroo. It was like Suna said, there were a lot of different pieces that needed to come together to make Kuroo whole again. Tsukishima could be one of those pieces, but he couldn’t be all of them. Kuroo needed the chance to experience life with a family again, going to a normal school and making normal friends. To study for Algebra tests instead of training with swords and shields, to go to school dances instead of capture the flag games, to have a mother cook him dinner instead of buying smuggled bags of chips from the Miya twins.
If Kuroo wanted that, a chance at tasting a normal life again, even if it was only for a few months out of the year, Tsukishima wanted that for him.
Kuroo smiled at him, soft enough to make his stomach do somersaults, and put his hand over Tsukishima’s on the grass between them. Just like the first day they met, it was bigger, broader and tanner than Tsukishima’s. It was still littered with scars and calloused with stories behind them that Tsukishima might never know.
But this time it wasn’t the hand of some mysterious stranger. It was the hand of someone Tsukishima held very dear to his heart.
“Thanks, Tsukki. I’ll write all the time, you know I will. And you’ll keep me up to date on everything going on back here, right? You’ll tell me all of your new capture the flag strategies? And whether Oikawa and Iwaizumi ever start dating? And what new plants Ushijima and Yamaguchi start growing? And if anyone ever beats Terushima at a burping contest? And - “
“Yes, yes,” Tsukishima cut him off with a laugh. “I’ll tell you about everything, I promise. It’ll be like you never even left.” He let out a little huff of surprise when a pair of arms were suddenly thrown around him, holding him close to a solid, warm body. He pretended not to notice when Kuroo started sniffling a little, because not everyone had the luxury of getting all their tears out in front of Akaashi and Bokuto like he did.
“I’ll miss you,” Kuroo said quietly into his shoulder.
“You better, Death Boy.”
Kuroo pulled away with a slightly wet laugh, and Tsukishima felt cold all of a sudden, though he didn’t feel any breeze. Kuroo took a deep breath, in through his nose, and Tsukishima watched as his face scrunched up like he was deep in thought. Before Tsukishima could ask what was going on in that thick head of his, Kuroo was ducking in once again, pressing his nose to Tsukishima’s neck and taking a deep inhale.
“Hey!” Tsukishima instinctively swatted him away. “What are you doing, you freak?”
Kuroo laughed again, this time without any trace of tears. “That’s it! I can’t believe it took me all summer to figure it out!”
“Figure what out?” Tsukishima frowned.
“Why you always smell so sweet! I couldn’t put my finger on it for the longest time, I’m so stupid for not realizing it sooner.” Kuroo poked Tsukishima in the cheek and grinned at him. “You smell like strawberries.”
Tsukishima blinked at Kuroo and didn’t move for a very long moment. It felt like, possibly, the longest moment of all time. Sitting there in the strawberry field, subjected to Kuroo Tetsurou, Lord of Darkness, beaming at him with his kilowatt smile, his finger pressing a dimple into Tsukishima’s cheek, being told that he’s been thinking all summer about how sweet Tsukishima smells.
“You…are so weird,” Tsukishima said faintly. You’re amazing and fantastic and I’m going to miss you so much, danced on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back down.
Just then, there was shouting from the top of the hill, and they both turned to see Bokuto waving his hands and gesturing to Kuroo that it was time to leave by making large circular motions, like a windmill or a baseball coach calling their player home.
Kuroo’s grin fell marginally. “Guess I better get going.”
“Guess so.” Tsukishima felt like a toy wound too tight. Like one more push and he might break completely. Kuroo gave him a final pat on the shoulder before climbing to his feet, brushing the grass of his pants and starting towards Bokuto.
“Oh,” Kuroo said suddenly, turning back to Tsukishima. “I forgot something.”
Tsukishima frowned up at him, shielding his eyes from the sun. “What?”
“Bokuto isn’t my best friend, Tsukki.” Kuroo grinned. “You are. You’re my favorite person in the whole world.” And then he was loping off again, his tall, lanky figure growing smaller in the distance, the late afternoon shadows dancing around his feet.
Tsukishima watched him go, with this horrible, stabbing pain somewhere in his abdomen.
It was just beneath his ribcage.
A terrible ache.
Right in his heart.
Tsukishima didn’t know anything about romance or love or soulmates, but he had a funny feeling he was going to learn all too soon.